Colorado Avalanche : Reviewing the New Guys

The Colorado Avalanche made good acquisitions in the off-season. Find out how the new players are doing a third of the way into the season.

The Colorado Avalanche have made it through a testing first third of the season. It has been a grind, especially with the number of man-games lost to injuries

Last off-season, General Manager, Joe Sakic made some wholesale changes to the lineup. Some older players were shipped out, others were not re-signed and allowed to leave via Free Agency. Through players acquired via the draft, trades and free agents, Sakic re-stacked the lineup to address some issues that had plagued the Avalanche in seasons past.

I’m going to look deeper into the players who put on Avalanche colours for the first time this season and see how well they are adjusting to life as an Avalanche.

Players Lost

The Avalanche released several contributors from last season at the end of the playoff run against San Jose. Andrew Agozzino, Sven Andrighetto, Gabriel Bourque, Derick Brassard, Patrik Nemeth and Semyon Varlamov were all allowed to leave via free agancy. Varlamov had been supplanted by Philipp Grubbauer and the Avalanche were eager to save their salary cap dollars for a run at some of the more lucrative free agents, who did not materialize. I can’t fault them for that.

The Sven Andrighetto experiment worked better than other of Sakic’s reclamation projects of recent years. He was a decent acquisition for Andreas Martinsen, moving towards younger, faster players, away from the big bruiser of a player that Martinsen represented. The winger just never made quite the impact we hoped for.

Patrik Nemeth was a player I was sorry to see go – the fact that he was a dependable defenseman, finishing his Avalanche tenure with a +32 rating in 142 games, his detractors cry out at only the 25 points production. Not every man on the blueline is Cale Makar, but someone needed to make space for the new kid on the block.

So, after clearing house with the free agents, Sakic also had a few more cards up his sleeves. He got rid of another four players from the roster via the trade:

Carl Soderberg was shipped to Arizona for defenceman Kevin Connauton and a 2020 3rd round pick. Having just marked a career year as a second line center, Soderberg had his trade value peak and Sakic chose to take the team in another direction. I applaud this move, based on later deals, though at the time, I was somewhat dumbfounded to see such a trade.

Dominic Toninato was somewhat of a depth forward within the Avalanche organisation and was deemed surplus to requirements, earning himself a trade to the Florida Panthers for Jacob MacDonald on the 29th of June. Shoring up the depth of the Eagles organisation, trading away a center, who has struggled to make it to the Avs and stay there.

Then the blockbuster came. As we all remember, on the first of July, Tyson Barrie and Alex Kerfoot were no longer a part of the Colorado Avalanche – they were packaged off to Toronto (along with a chunk of retained salary) for Nazem Kadri and defensive prospect, Calle Rosen.

So, now we remember who we lost, lets focus on who we brought in to fill those holes:.

Joonas Donskoi

Last season (SJS): 14G; 23A – 37 Pts; +10 rating in 80 GP.

This season: 13G; 14A – 27 Pts; +6 rating in 30 GP

Cap Hit – $3,900,000

Donskoi is on pace to add at least 50% to last season’s production, when he was playing for San Jose. The big problem he faced in that organisation was the limited ice time, due to players further up the pecking order.

This has been well and truly addressed, with Sakic creating an entire new second line for this season and the results are plain to see.

Given that there have been substantial injuries to the wingers on the first line, Donskoi has benefited from seeing ice time alongside MacKinnon, which while probably representing a slight decline in his production numbers with the return of Rantanen and Landeskog, I think that we will still see a marked increase in the career numbers for the 27 year old Finn.

He should still be able to approach his career high of 25 assists from his Rookie year, but being only 1 goal away from last season’s career high, that should prove easy to surpass, hopefully before the end of 2019.

Donskoi has benefited from increased minutes on the Power Play, with a career high of 4 PPG already this year. How much this is down to playing alongside MacKinnon, I am sure we will see as the season progresses.

Quarter-Season Grade: B

“Hold on Will, that’s a little harsh, isn’t it?” I hear you cry. Not really, as Joonas is playing as advertised. He has justified his $3.9 million salary well enough, but he could shoot the puck more (57 shots in 30 games) which would lead to more goals.

Nazem Kadri

Last season (TOR): 16G; 28A – 44 Pts; -2 rating in 73 GP.

This season: 10G; 10A – 20 Pts; +3 rating in 27 GP

Cap Hit – $7,250,000 ($4.5 mil + Tyson Barrie’s $2.75 mil retained salary)

In the off season, various media outlets identified the need for a bona-fide second line center. Joe Sakic went out and shopped around, eventually settling on Ontario native Nazem Kadri to fill the void. Certainly, he has come over as billed, netting 10 goals and being around the pace to match his career best of 32.

Yes, I agreed with the idea of trading Tyson Barrie, rather than lose him for free. More on that later. I didn’t like losing Alexander Kerfoot, either,but that is the business side of the sport. What really irked me over the acquisition of Kadri was the retained salary, particularly as he found his scoring touch just in time to help the Leafs beat us in our own barn. To be paying a player’s wage so he can beat you just doesn’t seem right at all.

Kadri is winning faceoffs (57%) and as a result is finding time on the first powerplay unit, to take faceoffs in MacKinnon’s stead, where normally Gabe Landeskog would slot in. This seems to be working a little, as Kadri has 7 power play points this season. I think that I would rather see him center the second PP unit, but as I’m not the coach, that isn’t my call.

He has formed a nice chemistry with his new linemates of Donskoi and Burakovsky, though all three have seen significant time this season on the first line, due to injuries. When the dust settles and the lines return to full strength, that time spent playing with MacK should have paid some dividends and allowed the three of them to come back more confident than they were at the start of the season.

Quarter Season Grade: B+

Just the shot in the arm the Colorado Avalanche second line needed, though there are issues with penalties being accrued. The refs aren’t very forgiving when you’re in Burgundy & Blue, so Naz needs to learn that and adapt his game slightly, without losing that gritty edge.

Andre Burakovsky

Last season (WAS): 12G; 13A – 25 Pts; +2 rating in 76 GP.

This season: 12G; 11A – 23 Pts; +3 rating in 27 GP

Cap Hit – $3,250,000

The third component of the second line and another George McPhee theory graduate. Basically, this means taking a talented young player from an organisation with too many talented players ahead of them, give them a bunch of ice time and look like a genius when their points totals climb massively.

As you can see, Burakovsky’s career high for goals is only 17. He already has 12 in a third of the games played. According to Hockey Reference, his average ice time has only risen by about 3 minutes per game, but it is enough to be playing alongside players such as MacKinnon due to injuries, but mostly Kadri and Donskoi.

Another low shooting guy, Burakovsky needs to get the puck on net more. If he does that, there will be a lot more goals coming his way, as we saw with his incredible game winning goal against Arizona – he picks perfect spots to score goals, if only he would trust himself more often, he would score more goals.

Quarter-Season Grade: B+

Proof positive that he is more than the 12 goal scorer that he had become in Washington, now the challenge is to see how high he can fly. I would like to issue the challenge for Burkie to set new career highs by the end of January. 17 more points; 6 goals, 11 assists will tie him with his 2015-16 numbers.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

Last season (VGK): 6G; 9A – 15 Pts; +2 rating in 76 GP

This season: 4G; 5A – 9 Pts; +6 rating in 29 GP

Cap Hit – $1,800,000

A less expensive version of Carl Soderberg, Bellemare was acquired as a free agent in July, when the window opened. With Soderberg’s contract being traded to Arizona, there was suddenly an opening for a third / fourth line center.

Belly is a very team-centric player. His playing style is to play hard for his teammates, but his behaviour off the ice is also exemplary, such as his urging of the media to present the player of the game award to France’s netminder, Florian Hardy, who made 42 saves, helping France beat Finland 5-1 at the World Championships in 2017. Bellemare had a goal and an assist in that game. These acts build team chemistry and that is a great reason outside of the numbers to recruit someone like this.

While his numbers will never be fantastic and comparable to the second line, as mentioned above, Bellemare is still an integral part of the Colorado Avalanche, featuring on the Penalty Kill with a tenacious style of play that has been described as “really tough to play against” by both former teammates and new ones alike.

Quarter-Season Grade: B+

Extra points for effort here, but the bar is set low for points, due to his team role. The fact that he is already on pace to shatter his previous career high of 16 points by the end of the season has me excited, as any Avalanche player doing well means the team is as well!

Oh, and he can score against the Wild

Pavel Francouz

Last season (Colorado Eagles): 27-20-1 in 49 games played; 2.68 GAA; .918 Sv%

Last Season (Avalanche): 0-2-0 in 2 games played; 1.94 GAA; .943 Sv%

This season: 7-2-1 in 12 games played; 2.50 GAA; .923 Sv%

Cap Hit – $950,000

Yes, I know that Frankie played last season in the organisation, even seeing game time in an Avalanche sweater, but 2 games in relief does not give us very reliable stats. Now we can really see what he’s made of!

A bargain compared to making Semyon Varlamov into a hugely overpaid backup goalie – he signed a $5 million per year deal to play backup to Thomas Greiss in New York. I prefer this move, as the Avalanche now have more money to play with, come trade deadline time. I know that this will only fan the fires of people saying that the Avs make a fantastic trade partner with the Devils for Taylor Hall. My opinion remains the same – why would you trade for Hall, to put him on the 3rd line? See my comments on the two new second line wingers we signed in the off season earlier in this article.

But I’m getting off topic here. Francouz has played well this season, making the switch to North American Hockey rather well, he was unlucky not to pick up more of an opportunity last term when both Varly and Gru were injured. But instead, he went back to Loveland and used that opportunity instead to hone his craft. He was on a 1 year deal, to show the organisation that he was worthy of a chance to play for the big club. He earned another 1 year deal this year, so I would say that this season is the chance to earn more money and term for the backup job.

I think so far this year, he has done that. So much so, that Sakic is probably looking toward the checkbook to make an offer on his services for at least another few years. We have had a chance to see both Adam Werner and Antoine Bibeau play in goal this year and both players produced mixed results. Werner would benefit from more seasoning down in the AHL, being only 22 and Bibeau is not that much more experienced, being only 25. Perhaps these guys have a future in the NHL, but not with Francouz blocking the way.

I’m still saying that Francouz has done well this season. I am worried about the injury he suffered in Winnipeg , as concussions and Colorado Avalanche goalies don’t go down well. I’m having flashbacks to Jonathan Bernier and a playoffs with a depleted goalie corps

Quarter-Season Grade: B

Frankie is doing what he should be doing – playing good hockey against opponents he is thrown against and he is watching how Grubbauer plays when playing as his backup. Learning the opponents and he will continue to grow as a player over the course of the season. Keep doing what you’re doing – maybe pressing for those extra starts will keep Gru on his toes and make you both better for it!

Cale Makar

Last season (UMass): 16G; 33A – 49 Pts; +32 rating in 41 GP

This season: 8G; 20A – 28 Pts; +10 rating in 29 GP

Cap Hit – $880,833

Last on my list, but by no means least in any way.

Well, we all know about this young man. If not, you’ve been living far away from Avalanche territory. Last season’s Hobey Baker Award winner as the best player in the NCAA, Makar signed his entry level contract and promptly joined the Avalanche for their playoff series in Calgary. He scored on his debut and then subsequently terrorized the Flames and Sharks during both playoff series.

Most people were convinced he was the real deal. Those who were on the fence are certainly off of it now, as Makar has spent his regular season scoring at or about a point per game pace. His numbers trail only John Carlsson (43 points) and Dougie Hamilton (30 points) in the whole league for Defencemen.

https://twitter.com/avalanche/status/1194436134501339136?lang=en

Oh, and he’s done all of this without taking a penalty. That’s right, folks, he has zero penalty minutes in 29 games played. He plays 20 minutes a night without sitting in the penalty box. So far this season, he’s up to 9 hours of good clean hockey. This certainly helps his chances of securing the Calder Trophy and even being in the conversation for the Norris Trophy by the year’s end.

A word on the Calder – Makar appears to be in a two horse race at the moment with Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes. Not Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko, the latter of whom doesn’t even lead the rookies on his team in scoring. Of course, this could change over the rest of the season, let’s hope that changes in a good way and Makar shatters Larry Murphy’s rookie record of 76 points in 80 games in a rookie year on Defence.

I only hope that Brad Marchand didn’t injure him too badly. Yet another reason to hate Boston, I suppose.

Quarter-Season Grade: A

Keep doing what you’re doing, kid! Your time on the Power Play will help you get more points, particularly if you keep the attention on you, while making massive spaces for MacKinnon and Rantanen to roam about in.

I am sure that the hype will not go away and that there will be much to talk about with this young man as the season progresses.

The Colorado Avalanche really do look well-stocked with all the new talent on the team.