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Colorado Avalanche: Blaming Nathan Mackinnon?

By Tony Cimato

DENVER, CO - MARCH 23: Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche stands during the National Anthem prior to the game against the Chicago Blackhawks at the Pepsi Center on March 23, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - MARCH 23: Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche stands during the National Anthem prior to the game against the Chicago Blackhawks at the Pepsi Center on March 23, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Avalanche Lost 2-1 in Overtime on Sunday Night to the Chicago Blackhawks. People blame Nathan Mackinnon. Is it justified?

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

On Sunday night against the Blackhawks, the Colorado Avalanche survived regulation and stole themselves a point. After the game I was reading through some comments and posts from Colorado Avalanche Fans and Media, and there were some comments blaming Nathan Mackinnon.

Here were some of the comments, they will remain anonymous.

“29 needs to play with a little pride when it counts!”

“Mackinnon so bad on defense in OT.”

“Mackinnon needs to skate more pout less in this situation.”

…Are you Joking?????

Nathan Mackinnon Played 24 minutes on Sunday. He played 24 minutes the night before. Two nights prior to that he played 23 minutes in the win against Dallas.

If my math is correct, thats 48 minutes in the span of 24 hours in two games against the Blackhawks, and 71 minutes within a four day span.

Not only does he lead the Avalanche forwards in ice time, he leads the ENTIRE team in ice time.

Name me another forward who leads his team in ice time?

Waiting…

Exactly.

Nathan Mackinnon leads the team in ice time, and he also leads the team in different line combinations per game. Every other shift since Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen went down, Mackinnon has played with different forwards. He slots into each line whenever Jared Bednar tells him to.

Sometimes he’s out with JT Compher and Derick Brassard, other times with Gabriel Bourque and Andrew Aggozino, etc. It is extremely difficult to get things going when you are bouncing around from line to line every other shift.

Some may say “oh well, he’s a professional athlete, he’s a superstar, he should be able to play with different line mates all of the time.”

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That is true, however those are the same people who criticize him for his little scoring drought and for his loss of energy toward the end of games and have no idea where this loss of production and energy comes from.

Weird.

Nobody’s perfect.

He is a superstar, not a superhuman.

While we are on the topic, he is the superstar.

He is the best player in the NHL.

@cimato_19 is my twitter handle if you think otherwise. I’ll fight till the death defending our Colorado Avalanche Superstar Nathan Mackinnon.

Anyways, if we are going to play the blame game, why not blame Jared Bednar for choosing 11 forwards and 7 defenseman every game. There is no chemistry that can be built throughout a game with this sort of lineup.

Why don’t we blame Tyson Barrie? He seems to be out there for every overtime goal against this season as well? (I for one, do not blame Tyson Barrie, but its just another example of how this is a team sport and not one player can take all of the credit or the blame.)

You can play the blame game all night long, but us Colorado Avalanche fans are a family and we need to protect our own.

Next. Playoff Push at Season's End. dark

Nathan Mackinnon is ours and we’ve got 5+ games left this season to see him do his magic.

LET’s GO AVS.

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