Colorado Avalanche: The Death Watch Begins

The Colorado Avalanche are winding down their worst season in the team’s 21-year history. Find out why you should keep watching the death spiral.

Some Colorado Avalanche fans have stopped watching games altogether while some go to every home game and watch the others religiously. Most of us are somewhere in between.

Some fans are pessimists and can’t stand to watch their team play so badly. Others are eternal optimists and think this time will be better. Again, most of us are somewhere in between.

In truth, I watch about half the games on television, go to a handful every season and watch highlights of all the rest. And my rationale for watching games this last month or so should provide the reason for you to watch the final ten games of the 2016-17 season:

"Bad Colorado Avalanche hockey is better than no Colorado Avalanche hockey, and come August all of us will be lamenting, “Is it October yet?”"

Well, I’d like for it to be September so I can see what GM Joe Sakic has done with trades, free agency and the draft. Not to mention the coaching situation — and yes, there is a coaching situation. By then we’ll have a better idea of whether we’re in for another painful season or a step in the right direction.

At the time of writing the team had long since been eliminated from playoff contention but had a 17.9% chance of getting the first-overall draft pick in the lottery. (When I ran the NHL Lottery Simulator the first time, it selected the Avs — I’m sticking with that.) Nonetheless, there are still ten games left, and it’s a long, long way from October or even September.

So, here are some events to watch for as the 2016-17 season goes into its death spiral.

1: Will Nathan MacKinnon reach 200 points?

Center Nathan MacKinnon has 198 points to his name. He should be able to reach this seemingly easy career milestone in the last 10 games.

However, it was seven games ago that I made a celebratory graphic for MacKinnon’s milestone because he’d reached the 195 mark. Yes, he’s got to achieve 200 points this season… hasn’t he?

2: Will Matt Duchene get 20 goals?

I haven’t made this celebratory graphic, and I’m thinking I shouldn’t. Maybe I jinxed MacKinnon. Plus, it really isn’t such a milestone for Duchene. He’s reached 20 goals in all but two other seasons, and those were shortened seasons for him.

He’s hovering at 17 goals. Come on, Dutchy. You can get three more in 10 games, right? (Special thanks to Jeremy Lambert for inspiring this question.)

3: Will the Colorado Avalanche reach 50 points?

This one is more of a stretch than the previous two. The Avs currently have 43 points. Technically there are 20 points available, so they could achieve 50 points. However, as I observed in a previous post, they’re on pace to finish with 49.

4: Will defensive pairings be consistent for two games in a row?

I always thought conventional wisdom stated you can mix up your forward lines, but defensive pairings should stay the same as much as possible for consistency. Yet Jared Bednar doesn’t just change pairings every game, he changes them mid-game as well. I don’t know how two defensemen are supposed to get used to working in tandem if they’re not used to working together at all.

5: Will we see Duncan Siemens play in the NHL?

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Duncan Siemens during a preseason hockey game. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /

One reason it would be ok if the defensive pairings changed again is if Duncan Siemens were finally being given his shot. The Colorado Avalanche selected him 11th-overall in 2011. Since then, he’s played in exactly one NHL game.

Last summer he was a restricted free agent. The Avs qualified him. Might as well give the

kid

young man a chance. The Avalanche have two more non-emergency call ups available to them. I hope they use one on Siemens.

6: Will Francois Beauchemin make any more own goals?

If he does, for the love of hockey call up Duncan Siemens. Can he really be any worse than Francois Beauchemin?

Alternatively, if he does make more own goals, can he at least go for the own-goal hat trick? That at least might be morbidly fascinating.

7: Will the NHL officials give the Avalanche a make up call for that blown goal vs Chicago?

Speaking of weird goals, the Chicago Blackhawks scored illegally against the Avalanche in their Sunday game. Jonathan Toews was clearly offsides.

Now, prior to that, Chicago had had the exact same call go against them while playing the Minnesota Wild. The Wild had the exact same call go against them while playing the St. Louis Blues.

So, it seems to me the Colorado Avalanche have a make up call due to them. They just have to score an offsides goal. (Please don’t tell me this is all payback for the Matt Duchene offsides goal — that was before the Coach’s Challenge era!)

8: Will the Avalanche Twitter account continue to be so interactive with fans?

More from Mile High Sticking

In previous years, there were a chosen few Avalanche fans on twitter that the team account interacted with. The rest of us couldn’t even get favorited, no matter how much we loved on the team.

Well, about a month ago someone else must have taken over the Twitter account because all of a sudden any Avalanche fan could get some interaction.

This seems trivial, I know. However, I’m hoping this change represents bigger changes to come. The team’s public relations have been pretty bad in recent years. You can’t do that when your team is also pretty bad.

Come on, we want a bobble head night!

9: Will Avs fans outnumber opponent fans at Pepsi Center?

This might be a stretch, maybe an even bigger stretch than the Colorado Avalanche achieving 50 points. The team is bad, so not a lot of Avs fans want to attend games. And there are so many out-of-staters living here in Colorado.

There’s a game against the Edmonton Oilers tonight. I don’t think there are so many Edmontonians living here. But they do have Connor McJesus, er, McDavid…

10: Will the Colorado Avalanche win their final home game of the season?

This is the one I hope for as much as MacK and Dutchy’s milestones. This has been a horrible season, so little good to take from it. The one thing that could make it relatively ok is if the Colorado Avalanche can win the series against that pesky Minnesota Wild, their final home opponent.

They’re already 2-1 with a game away and at home against the Wild. They can blow that away game and still win the series with a win at home for the final game of the season. The Colorado Avalanche could have started and ended the home season with a win against two green-wearing teams, the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild.

Heck, the final home game of the season is fan appreciation night. Maybe there will even be more Avs fans than Wild. One can dream.

Next: Hope from the Last Goal at the Joe

Remember, as bad as this season has been, Colorado Avalanche hockey is better than no Colorado Avalanche hockey.

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