Colorado Avalanche: Ian Cole’s 2018-2019 Season in Review

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ian Cole had a season with both ups and down. Here’s an informal look at how his 2018-19 season played out.

The Colorado Avalanche picked up defenseman Ian Cole during Free Agency Frenzy last summer. The signing seemed a little puzzling at first since Cole was 29 at the time, and the Avs were in a full-fledged youth movement.

However, it soon became apparent that Colorado wanted some size and veteran leadership. They certainly got size in the stocky 6-foot-1, 219-pound Cole. And with that came physicality. They also got veteran leadership in a man who’d won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Cole ended up playing 71 regular season and 12 playoff games with the Avs. Let’s review how his 2018-19 season went.

The Stats

Ian Cole played those 71 regular season games. In that time, he recorded 15 points (2 goals, 13 assists). But the Avs didn’t pick Cole up for his offense.His giveaway to takeaway ration wasn’t great — 27:46

During the regular season, he recorded 178 blocks and 107 hits. He also accumulated 115 penalty minutes. He participated in five fights and got at least a couple game misconducts to add to that total.

Let’s look at one of the “fights.”

The “Fight”

To be honest, Cole fought in four fights and got his, well, derriere handed to him in the fifth and final fight of the season:

No wonder it was his final fight of the season. Tom Wilson broke Cole’s orbital bone, and that’s the reason he missed 11 games.

I was pretty mad about this fight, and not because of Wilson. Cole hit Evgeny Kuznetsov in the head with his elbow with Tom right there on the ice. Ian had spent the last three seasons in the Eastern Conference, primarily with the Penguins. So I felt that one, he was hashing out old beefs to Colorado’s detriment, and two, he should have known Wilson would come after him.

Now, I agree Tom shouldn’t have kept pummeling Cole when the defenseman wasn’t fighting back, but the action only took 17 seconds. What’s more, pulling the jersey over the opponent’s head and punching is literally a cliche in hockey.

And Cole received a misconduct for his head hit on Kuznetsov, who had to undergo concussion protocol.

Well, Ian Cole was a relatively good sport about the beating, calling it a “hockey play.” I’d say that I hoped Cole learned from the experience, but the next item happened after he returned to the lineup.

The Dirty Hit

Just a couple games back from getting his butt beat for playing dirty, and Ian Cole was at it again:

He looks like he went straight for Devin Shore‘s knee. I don’t like that. I don’t mind when players are habitual line steppers, but I don’t want Colorado to have our own version of Matt Cooke on the team.

Cole received a game misconduct for this play, too.

Ok, enough ragging on Ian Cole. After all, the man has a family — specifically a father who’s got a bit of a sense of humor.

The Dad Commentary

Back in November, players’ dads and other family members visited for a few days. Well, at one point the family members were at Breckenridge Brewery at the Pepsi Center. They were going around introducing themselves, and the elder Cole, Doug, introduced himself with, “I’m Ian’s dad, the defenseman with the ugly beard.”

Oh, man, burn from your own dad. (Mr. Barberio thinks it’s hilarious.)

Fun fact: Ian Cole… doesn’t have a lot of teeth. He took a Roman Josi slapshot to the face, and he lost some teeth. That’s not the fun part — the fun part is that Doug Cole is a dentist! He always warned his son to wear his mouth guard…

The Gifs

Let’s finish Ian Cole’s season in review with a couple gifs that summarize a little how he’s fit in with the team. The first is being a “victim” to the menace of Nikita Zadorov:

Doug Cole could have a point about that beard. Nikita sure can’t seem to stay away from it. Ian, for his part, keeps his cool and just ignores his fellow d-man.

The other gif is a little more touching. (Ok, it’s a video, but that’s even better.) Ian Cole and Matt Calvert played with each other for part of a season in Columbus. So, when they both got signed by the Colorado Avalanche in the same offseason, it’s natural they may have gravitated toward each other.

Actually, gravitated isn’t quite the right word:

As part of their pregame routine, they actually jump at each other and hit shoulders. You can see from the video that they did it several times throughout the season. And, as another Avs fan pointed out, Cole kept the tradition alive even when Calvert was out with an injury:

That really is a cool little pregame ritual.

So, Ian Cole offered us a mixed bag during the 2018-19 season. And, unfortunately, the Colorado Avalanche will not get any more from the defenseman right away because he underwent surgery on both hips right after the season ended. He’s not expected back until December.

I guess we’ll see what the truncated 2019-20 season brings with Ian Cole.