Yelle’ins: Fine Tuning Edition

WAIVERS

Have you ever received a present that is so good that you don’t want to touch it, use it, or waste it?  That’s not quite the situation that the Colorado Avalanche find themselves in right now, but it is similar enough to give you a visual of what may happen with Avs waiver priority.  For those of you who may not know, the team who finishes last in the NHL the previous season carries the first waiver priority for the entire month of October.

Dead last in the league last year by a wide margin, the pundits that be have already declared us dead last in the league (below an expansion team that appears to not care about this seasons results), vastly inexperienced across the D and F corps, and a goalie situation that is best described by: I hope a guy who has trouble staying healthy, stays healthy.

Surely (that’s not my name and I am serious) this team could find some players with their first waiver priority to improve the team?  Well, yeah, but should they?  I say no.  All off season we have read about the need to be a young and quick team.  We have cultivated some talent in the AHL for a few years.  We have drafted well recently.  There will be bumps and bruises along they way, but this year is best left to the evaluate the young players we already have, not the retreads another team deemed surplus to requirements.

The only exception I could see the team making would be to pluck a 3rd string goalie from another team, keep them on the roster for 30 days and hope they pass through waivers at that point in time.  We are badly in need of organization depth at the goalie position.  Yes, I understand that means carrying 3 goalies for a month, but in this case I think it’s worth it.

Don’t expect much in the way of waiver claims while we have the first priority.

AVS WEEK IN REVIEW

• The preseason is over, capped off by a rather lackluster performance that still resulted in a 4-2 win.  This game had shades of “Varly, Varly, Varly” to it, which, while encouraging for Varly, is not what you want to have happen to carry you through the season.  The world is not caving in, the sky not falling, but here’s to the season…good, bad, or ugly.
• The Roster has practically set itself and most if not all of the camp battles have either been decided by on ice play or by injury.
• Much has been made of the temptation of the organization to fall back into it’s old habits of giving veterans guaranteed roster spots and playing time.  This week has seen a real commitment to the words that Joe Sakic has been preaching since the end of last season.  Cowen has been cut, Soderberg scratched in the last dress rehearsal, and Alex Kerfoot and others were legitimately given a shot to earn their playing time.  Kudos to Joe!
• The final piece of unfinished business (and perhaps largest) for the off season is still unresolved.  Matt Duchene is still an Av and it appears it will stay that way during the early stages of the season.  All sides have played nicely, things appear to be okay on the surface and all sides will benefit from Matt going out on the ice and playing his best hockey.

 

HERO OF THE WEEK

Alex Kerfoot is this weeks hero of the week.  Last week in this space I talked about the grit and determination of AJ Greer.  This week the space goes to an individual who all throughout camp has emulated (albeit in a different manner) the qualities that Greer brings to the table.  I’ll admit I was skeptical, even if given the chance, that Kerfoot would have been able to seize the opportunity.  Some of my thoughts were based off of complete ignorance, but I just saw too many guys ahead of him on the depth chart.  Credit Kerfoot, he worked ass off for the last three weeks and earned a spot playing in the Top 9 of the Colorado Avalanche to start the year.  I love a good story that is born out of hard work.  Getchu some Alex!

FRIENDS OF THE BLOG

This week we have two friends of the blog who are either starting or ending wonderful work covering the Avalanche and generally enhancing the fan experience.

Today we say hello to Burgundy-Rainbow dot com’s very own Vladimir Poutine.  His work with the website may not always show up on these pages, but he is committed to making sure that Avs fans get a full experience on game days.    He will be doing features on Periscope (for now) and perhaps YouTube live (in the future).  Before the game, live from the Pepsi Center, you can expect video rundown of the rosters and maybe a few pressing themes of the game.  Post game he will be sticking around and doing video recaps of the events that just transpired.  Set the link below as a favorite and make sure to check in with Vlad about 30 minutes prior to game time.

https://www.pscp.tv/AvsBRblog/1ynJOVqZPwVGR

Unfortunately, with most hellos there is a goodbye.  Today we say goodbye to one of our small communities favorite writers:  Cole Hamilton.  Cole was a staff writer and former Managing Editor at Mile High Hockey and has been producing great content at BSN since making the switch.  He has vast amount of knowledge about writing, hockey, and the Colorado Avalanche.  His services to this community will be dearly missed but not forgotten.  Wish Cole luck as he moves on to his next steps but before you do, check out his final piece for BSN which much more eloquently covers the waiver topic from above.

http://bsndenver.com/leave-the-waiver-wire-be-avs-youngsters-have-earned-their-spots/

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

PENALTIES STILL ISSUED FOR SIZE:

Rudo3 – Last Monday at 10:49 PM

2 minutes for being zadorov

ictavsfan – Last Monday at 10:49 PM

Z wouldn’t do that.

Xoth – Last Monday at 10:49 PM

2 minutes, height violation

+/- ARGUMENT RAGES ON:

andidee15 (GWG) – Last Monday at 10:36 PM

@fiveholio   Yeah, it can be telling, but there are stats that do what it’s supposed to do (tell you who’s been a net good offensive contribution) better than it can.  +/- lies a lot

STRATEGERY:

earl06 – Last Monday at 9:04 PM

DONT FUCKAROUND D TO D ALL DAY GET IT GOING FORWARD

A NEW DEITY??:

Rhodler – Last Sunday at 9:31 PM

mack = god

godkinnon

EXPECTATIONS:

ictavsfan – Last Sunday at 9:25 PM I will not get excited about this team.  I will not get excited about this team.  I will not……  WHOOPIE!

THE MACK SPOT:

andidee15 (GWG) – Last Sunday at 9:24 PM

Did he score that from the Ovi spot?

ON FACEOFF VIOLATIONS:

Americanario–Yesterday at 11:19 PM

TUNE OF THE WEEK