Colorado Avalanche: Thoughts for the Playoff Push
With only nine games left and the Colorado Avalanche clinging to the final wild card spot, there are plenty of talking points heading into the final weeks.
As the 2015-16 Colorado Avalanche season winds down, the team is gearing up for the final stretch of the race to the playoffs. So let’s get after it with an Avalanche of Thoughts.
*I want Mikko Rantanen to succeed, but that’s not going to happen on a line with Cody McLeod and Jack Skille. Rantanen has proven to be a very good two-way player in the AHL. He’s a rookie and has looked lost at times in the NHL, but it’s clear that the kid has a bright future. He needs to be surrounded with talent though.
Skille and McLeod play a completely different game than Rantanen. They don’t complement each other at all. John Mitchell would be better suited playing on the fourth line with Rantanen playing alongside Carl Soderberg and Gabriel Landeskog, moving Shawn Matthias to center Andreas Martinsen and Jarome Iginla. I know Patrick Roy is in a tough bind without his top two centers, but now is when he has to get creative with line combos (something he’s never had trouble doing) and he needs to put Rantanen in a position to succeed.
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*With Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon out of the lineup, the captain has to step up even more. He did that against Edmonton. Hopefully his strong play continues and he doesn’t get himself suspended again.
*I know my editor Nadia goes overboard with her Erik Johnson praise, but it’s been completely justified for most of this season. Yes, he’s had a couple of bad moments and games, but for the most part he’s been exactly what the Colorado Avalanche paid for. He’s definitely been the leader on the back end.
*Speaking of guys who have been “exactly what the Avs paid for,” I can’t say enough good things about Francois Beauchemin. He’s been the perfect partner for Johnson and a steady hand on the blueline. The extra year on the contract might come back to hurt the Avs, but they have to be pleased with what he’s done this season.
*This injury bug is hitting the Colorado Avalanche at the worst time. They’ve been pretty healthy all season, and in the final weeks they lose their top two offensive players. Let’s face it, the Avs aren’t a deep team. They can’t lose top end players and hope to replace them with bottom six guys because their bottom six, especially the bottom three, aren’t that good to begin with. This is when the team needs to come together and play smart hockey, and the goalie really has to bail them out.
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*Can Semyon Varlamov bail them out? The Philadelphia Flyers game is very important, but the following game against the Minnesota Wild might be the biggest game of the season. A win gives the Avs a little bit of breathing space and makes them less reliant on other teams to beat the Wild. A loss puts a lot of pressure on them to win out. I’ve already written about Varlamov’s “big game shrinkage” so it’d be nice if he could finally rise to the occasion.
*Avs fans, we can’t expect other teams to handle our business for us. Sure, it’d be nice if the Minnesota Wild just lost every game for now until the end of the regular season, but they are a good hockey team with a lot to play for. There is no point in blaming other teams for not beating the Wild.
Just root for the Avs and if they handle their business, then we don’t need to worry about what Minnesota does. A Minnesota loss doesn’t make an Avs loss sting any less. It actually makes it worse because you realize that if the Colorado Avalanche won, they could’ve put more distance between themselves and Minnesota.
*Is Roy’s’ job in jeopardy if the Colorado Avalanche don’t make the playoffs? I thought about this really hard over the past week or so. I don’t think it is just because this team is more competitive than anyone thought they would be, and Roy is still a national hero in Denver. However, he’s got to enter next season on a pretty hot seat, right?
Patrick Roy led the Avs to the playoffs and a division title in his first year, but a first round exit in a series they were leading can’t be overlooked. Last year was a mess. This year they’ve been in control of one of the two wild card spots for a month now, but if they blow it, it’s not going to look good.
Maybe the Duchene and MacKinnon injuries earn him a small pass, but that doesn’t explain the team’s mediocre play despite strong health for the majority of the season. The constant losing to the Wild definitely isn’t helping his case either. I’m 100% sure he’ll be back behind the bench next season, but a slow start could have him permanently in the front office.
What are your thoughts heading into the final stretch?