Skate Around the Old Dudes
One thing you might notice about my description of Joe Pavelski — he’s a 34-year-old captain. His alternate is Logan Couture, aged 30. They also have 32-year-old Marc-Edouard Vlasic, 32-year-old Justin Braun, 33-year-old Michael Haley, 34-year-old Brent Burns, and the grandpa of the bunch, 39-year-old Joe Thornton.
Fun Fact: Thornton came into the NHL in 1997. Tyson Jost, Sam Girard, and Cale Makar were all born the next year, in 1998.
In fact, the Avs are know for being fully committed to their youth movement. Their cap, Gabriel Landeskog, is only 26. Our number-one star, Nathan MacKinnon, is 23 while his wingman, Mikko Rantanen, is 22.
Colorado has only four skaters 30 or older: Ian Cole (30), Derick Brassard and Erik Johnson (31), and the old man of the bunch, Carl Soderberg (33).
The average age among Avs forwards is 26.3 to San Jose’s 28.5 while Avs defensemen are 25.7 to San Jose’s 29.1.
The Avalanche are known for their speed, and they’ve got the young guys to do the skating. Keeping the tempo of the games high is going to be a big factor in these games.
The Colorado Avalanche have a real shot at beating the San Jose Sharks in Round 2. They just have to stick to their game and exploit San Jose’s weaknesses.