Passengers

I guess we were over all thought to the team how you guys have won the game. I think right now it hurts. It hurts. We should remember that feeling because I think we're going to run into them again down the line. I don't know when, but what we're going to do, we're going to remember tonight. We're going to have a response next time we play them. That's kind of what's in my head right now. Huge divisional game. Chance for first, but we worked hard for the last couple of weeks to put ourselves in that position. So I just heard someone talking about that much more when we lose the ball. We're going to lose that next time we play. Welcome back into Hockey Mountain High, your go-to avalanche podcast presented by Superbook Sports. JJ Dres here, Air of Dean. We just heard from Lars Eller following the 4-2 loss to the Minnesota wild. A lot on the line in that game and, Air of last week, we talked about how upset the team was after losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins. I think they were probably twice as upset considering what was up for grabs last night against the wild. Yes, second Wednesday in a row that the Avalanche had a chance on national television to win a game and leap Minnesota slash Dallas slash whoever to be first in the Central for the first time all season, by the way. And second Wednesday in a row, they come up short. Yeah, I mean, you can hear it in Lars Eller's voice, right? Not only what he said, but how he said it. I mean, he was genuinely upset, genuinely rattled. I mean, you're the one that had the little one-on-one there. I went off and talked to Bow and Byron a little bit of Miko Ranton in after that game. So I guess going to give me the vibe of having that one-on-one with Lars Eller because my interviews were a little bit more scrum style. You don't get quite that same vibe from a player when you got multiple people around him. Which is why I wanted to go to Lars as soon as he scored that second goal. I decided I was going to talk to him when or lose because I felt like, you know, the usuals are the people that everybody usually goes to and the scrum style isn't. It doesn't come off as well. I mean, the best interview that I've had this year from a post game was Nathan McKinnon when Kael Makar got called for the interference penalty at the Blue Line on the Power Play. The same one that Minnesota took yesterday on the abs. When Kael Makar got called for that and the Avalanche ended up losing that game, everybody wanted to talk to Kael. I wanted to talk to Nate about it and he was just so great with explaining what happened and how he disagreed with it and how there's inconsistency on it. So like those one-on-ones, you get players to really open up. So I just decided, you know, what Lars Eller is, is a different voice. It's not someone that I talked to often. I talked to him, obviously, when he was first acquired. I chat with him a couple of times at practice, but that's about it. When I went to him and I asked him that first question, that audio you guys just heard literally all I asked him was, what were your overall thoughts on the game and how you guys performed? And he went right into that. His lip was quivering. He was still on that adrenaline rush and he was really pissed. Like he was angry you could tell and it wasn't like anger of like they, you know, cheap shot at us and dirty players and like it wasn't even that. It was like they beat us and were embarrassed and were angry about it. And that's the feeling that I got from him the entire way and he kept repeating it. Like he was doing that thing that people do where he like licks it inside of his like cheek, like, you know, that tough guy, like, like was just so upset and the adrenaline was still there. You know, they had just come off the ice like 90 seconds before. Literally tongue in cheek, right? Yeah, so I mean, we heard from Jared Bednar. He really put it on the players and the team itself, right? The direct quote I like that he said is just that it's on us. We heard him bring up passengers again and it sounded like there were a handful of guys early on in that game that he just didn't like what they were bringing to the table. You know, who knows what the factors are for, for, I guess, that lack of execution, that lack of intensity to start the game. But I guess let's just look at usage time on ice. Who do you think Jared Bednar was referring to as the passengers that perhaps he just wasn't pleased with and maybe even pointing the finger a little bit at? I love playing this game who had a little bit of time on ice and it's probably the reason. One of them that sticks out to me right away is Dennis Malgin. It's not just his ice time of 634, but it's a fact that he just didn't have a good game. He wasn't that good. Matt Nieto wasn't that good. Lars Eller obviously had a goal, but his goal was assisted on a nice play by Devon Caves. So Eller, I don't know where he was with him, but Eller also had four shots. You know, he was in the play a little bit, but I think Eller's wingers were a little bit of an issue. I also kind of personally believe that Evan Rodriguez did have that good of a game, but obviously he played 17 minutes because he's in the top six right now. Alex Newhook was okay, but he can't catch a break and friggin find the back of the net this guy. So it could have been any number of guys because he did. He did specify and went out of his way to specify that he didn't feel like it was the top guys that were the issue. So the guys that stick out to me are the Malgans, the Nietos and the Rodriguez's. I mean, the errors were so slim, right? And I think, you know, I don't often throw respect this way, but DMACC had a great question following the game. Just saying, is this a game a perfect example of how slim the margins are, right? You make an error here, you pay for it, you make an error there, you pay for it. And that's exactly what you saw, right? And I saw it from the top guys. I mean, let's look at that first goal. Alexander Georgiev making a turnover, a mistake that's probably out of character for him. Let's up the ensuing goal. We saw him a card turnover that led to a goal, a McKinnon turnover that led to a goal. So I saw the top guys making some mistakes not to say that they were having a bad game or being the passengers by any means, but it was just a sloppy game overall from a lot of the guys, not just the depth player. Not just the depth players, not just Morgan, Nieto. I think top down, nobody brought their A plus game. Yeah, I mean, look, when you're playing catch up hockey, that's what's going to happen. And I don't consider one goal deficit to really catch up hockey. That's just, you know, the next play decides a lot. But when you're trialling by two goals, especially entering the third period against a team with a goalie with a 932, safe percentage, yeah, it's a catch up hockey. And you saw that from the avalanche, you know, even when they were generating, even when guys like McKinnon, and McCar were rolling in the third period where they outshot them 19 to four with one of those four shots being the empty net goal. Even during that stretch, you still saw a lot of fumbled pucks. You saw a lot of the avalanche playing with that stress factor of we're down a goal. We're down two goals. We got to find a way to get something going here. So even when they were pushing at their best, it still wasn't the loose at their best avalanche that we're used to because of that two goal deficit where the doubt starts to settle in against the team. That has one regulation loss in 21 games after that victory against the ass, which is wild, literally the Minnesota wild. They're unbelievable right now. And their goalie is red hot. So even, you know, even at their best, they weren't really their best. I thought it was interesting what Jared said because he said, like you said, the first part of his quote was as a group as a whole to start the game, they were more competitive than we were. I felt like we had some passengers for the first period plus. And when you're playing a game like this, like a playoff style game, you can't have passengers. And then he went on to say, our top guys know how much we lean on them. I thought they played hard tonight. It wasn't our top guys that I was concerned about. So it is interesting how he looks at it. The Kelma CarPlay was just a terrible, you know, read, which again, just uncharacteristic of kale. The GRGF play was very uncharacteristic. And then Sam Steele won a battle in front of the goal and beat GRGF for their third goal. Yeah, I mean, it's a game of mistakes, right? That's hockey. So you can't really point the finger at Kale McCar for making a turnover that leads to a goal. Yeah. And like you mentioned, their goalie was phenomenal last night. I think Gustafson had a really good game, really kind of, I guess, making a statement when it comes to the goalie situation up there in Minnesota. But let's dive into the passenger concept a little more. I mean, ever since Jared Bennar got here, it's a word he likes to use, right? And I don't know. It feels like at a point, you know, as the coach, he has to kind of ensure that there are no passengers getting ready for the game, right? And then I'm also kind of curious about once he does kind of realize that there are some passengers playing or, you know, kind of locates him. Is it a situation, do you think, where he addresses it on the bench? He says, hey, you're looking real slow, or does he just simply sit him, say you're not bringing it tonight, we're going to keep your use limited? Obviously, that's probably a question for Bennar, but I had my wheels were turning last night as he's sitting here diving into the passengers. And I just, it's been five years to still have passengers in a game that matters this much. I just wonder where the communication was broken. Yeah. And I'm not going to do the thing, not that you're doing this, but I'm not going to do the thing where I'm going to blame Jared for that. I don't think that I think it's impossible to ever, and this is something that happens with the Tampa Bay Lightning too. You know, we saw them bench, Steven, Sam, Coach, Brandon, point, and Nikita Kucharoff for an entire third period of a game where they got, where they responded by coming out the next game and getting shut out six, nothing and having a full period, a full frickin' period without a shot on goal against Caroline Hurricanes. That was the response to the bench. So I don't want to do the thing where it's like, well, Jared, Ben, or can't get this team ready to play. Like, eventually it's on the players. What I love about Jared is it's not on the players, it's on us. He always includes himself with the team, which is what good leaders do, which is what leaders in this generation know you have to do to get through to your guys. So, you know, Jared has a lot of expectations and a high standard for himself and for his team. We saw it in the beginning of the season, you know, whenever the avalanche would have a bad game back in October, excuse me, it wasn't, you know, where the defending Stanley Cup champs will figure this out, it was, look, we played a bad game this morning and we expect our, or this evening and we expect ourselves to be better than that. So I love the high standard and the high expectations he has for himself and his team, but it is ultimately impossible. You know, we've heard Nathan McKinnon say it over and over again. It's 82 games, we play a lot of games, a lot of back to backs. You're not always gonna have your best night. And that's the realest thing Nathan can say. Because usually your star players don't say that. You sit there and you expect Nathan McKinnon is this bull of a man who's gonna come out 82 times a year, not that he's ever healthy, only two games, but he's gonna come out only two times and he's gonna play his ass off and he's gonna go into the playoffs that he's gonna will his team to another cup like the reality is that is just not how it goes. So the issue to me is the unfortunate issue, I should say, is they knew how big this game was, just like Pittsburgh. And you saw it in the way that they reacted after the loss. Like you said, the locker room against Pittsburgh and then again against Minnesota. There was an aura to it that you don't often see in losses. So, you know, and it kind of sucks. We were in the dressing rooms last year because I would have left to see how they would have reacted to losses. Let's say game five against Tampa or game five against St. Louis would have loved to feel that energy in the locker room to see how it was. But obviously we can't compare it to that because we were, we didn't have that access last year. But what you can see from the way that they reacted was they didn't take the loss lightly. They knew it was an important game, but for one thing or one reason or another, there were guys that didn't have their best effort in the biggest game. And that's the unfortunate part. I would say the difference between the vibe in the locker room after the Pittsburgh loss and last night's loss after Pittsburgh, it felt like anger. The team was angry. Last night it felt like disappointment. Like they let themselves down, right? Whereas Pittsburgh, they didn't really feel so much like they are the ones that shot themselves in the foot. But like you look at that first power play from each team, right? The Avalanche had a power play early. Just sloppy. Didn't look good. Then Minnesota steps in on the power play. They're whipping the puck around, making it look like, you know, they were ready for this penalty kill unit and they had a good game plan settled for the power play. So I don't know if it's just preparation. I don't know if it's just the players not bringing it part of me even wonders about the Mile High Sports Gala, right? I'm curious. What is the Avalanche record after the Mile High Sports Gala? I'm not saying that's the fault here, but you know, something to consider. Mile High Dreams Gala. I don't think our company is. Oh, the Mile High Sports Gala? Is that what I call it? Yeah. I don't think our company is hosting the Avalanche. Maybe next year. We're not that big yet. We got a podcast. That's about what we do. The Mile High Dreams Gala. But yeah, I mean, look, it's the time of the year where every game, like you said, the margins are small and what you said is the most important thing. And what you saw in that game yesterday, look, the Avalanche played well. And this is a part where I'm going to throw a little positive spin into the game is the Avalanche played well. They had a very strong third period. They had a very strong second half of the second period, especially the last five, six minutes. They had a lot of opportunities where Gustavsson shut them down. Like the difference in that game yesterday, I did not see Georgiev make the saves that Gustavsson made. And he made five, six, seven of them. But here's the kicker. Georgiev didn't let in five, six, seven goals. He only let in three. So what that says to me, those golden opportunities, those high danger chances, Colorado outmatched Minnesota. They did. They outclassed them. And it was even before the third period where they were trying to really dig into the game because they were down by two goals. So what I saw from the abs was a team that played really well, but they were in a hole. And that was the problem was those, the early start, the passengers in the beginning is what led to it. But in the grand scheme of things, the avalanche had a strong gain and a Philip Gustavsson makes one fewer saves. It's an entirely different story. And I know that that's a game of ifs, but ultimately the avalanche did a lot of what they needed to do to win that game. They couldn't get the balance. Mecorretan and hit the post. But the funny thing is, despite all of that, which Jared did acknowledge, it wasn't on that. It was on, well, if we weren't playing terrible in the beginning, if we didn't have the pass, and if we didn't have the passengers or the slow starter, this or that, we could have won this game. Because we say this all the time, you know, whenever there's like a, let's say, you know, we hear it all the time in sports where it's like, you know, let's say you're winning three to nothing and then a team makes it three to two and then a missed call by the ref ends up leading to the game tying goal. And everybody's like, well, that's bullshit. We got, we got beat by the refs. We got beat by bad call. And then the response to that is always, you shouldn't have even let it get to that point. And that's the problem with the abs game yesterday. They let it get to the point where a goalie stonewalled them and they were already down two goals and they worked so damn hard for that Lars Eller goal, a sick feed from the Vavantaves. But they shouldn't have let it get to that point despite the fact that they were the better team for most of the night. Yeah, I guess more to that point, you know, when you have a game where Kayo McCar, Miko Renton and anything, McKinney combined for zero points, it's going to be a tough time. But had they scored, it would have been more of a bail out from their errors that they made right this was a game where the avalanche made mistakes and they paid for him. Had they gotten goals from those top guys, it would have been them carrying all the weight and bail in the team out from from those mistakes rather than just leading the way and, you know, carrying the flag. And you can't expect those guys to put up two points each every single night. So at some point, you know, the depth kind of has to hold some of the water as well. So, and they tried. They were right there. But the comfort line to me didn't do it, which again goes back to what I was saying about Rodriguez and about New Hope just having tough nights. You know, maybe maybe lump JT conference to there. He wasn't the best. He wasn't terrible. But just that line in general, when you're missing Arturio, liking it really ruins a lot of what this team has on the second line because they're already without Landis. Right. So that's kind of where I wanted to get to the next question is if you look at last night, do you feel like there were flaws exposed from the avalanche or it was just simply chalk it up as an off night? No, I mean, every team has flaws. And look, the avalanche aren't that deep this year. Like, we know that. We know that the second line entering the playoffs without gay, bland. This dog is probably going to be some combination or variation of like Rodriguez, Comfer and, you know, pick a guy, Nichushkin, or maybe lekken in Comfer and Nichushkin. And that's because Rodriguez is playing with McKinnon, right. So it is a little bit of a, you know, not as deep a team, but you know what, man, every team has this. Do you know who the very strong and amazing Toronto Maple Leafs that we keep talking about all the moves they made at the deadline and the depth and the depth and the depth? Who their top six wingers are to go along with the lender to various, Marner and Matthews are. It's Michael Bunting and Callie Earncroft. So every team has it. Every team has that. What the avalanche had last year, that's not normal. Look at the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Tampa Lightning lost Ryan McDonough and Andre Palat. And now they're replacing them with guys like Perbix and Cole, you know, Ian Cole, the guy that you supply here, like it's, you're going to have teams that look like that. The difference, what you saw yesterday and why you just chalk it up as a tough loss is the avalanche made one too many mistakes and their top guys couldn't get one goal and not that like you said, we have to rely on McKinnon, Miko and Nate to get McKinnon, Miko and Nate McKinnon, Miko and Kale to get two points every single night. But a goal would have been nice in a game like that. And again, I'm not putting it on them, but they were shut down. And when your top guys are shut down and out score two to nothing slash three to nothing when you include the empty netter. So they were all a minus three. But when your top guys are shut down like that and you give up a short handed goal, that's a lot of things you got to dig back from. And it's technically. Yeah, but I mean, like before the empty netter before the empty netter your top guys were out scored two to nothing and your top guys let in a short handed goal. And when those two things happen, it's tough to come back from. Yeah, the margins are so small. There could have been one or two plays different yesterday where the Minnesota wild podcast are the ones talking like we're talking right now like that's all it could have taken was if Freddy Goudreau did not have that break away on the shorthand of play and the avalanches that scored on that power play. Well, now they went three to now the Minnesota wild podcast is talking about how that bow and bottom break was shouldn't have happened. Ten thousand lakes, ten thousand takes. That's what I would name the podcast if I was an. But yeah, I mean, you said it kind of exactly when you were talking about Gorgia right not that he played a bad game by any means but a couple of the things he did were the difference in the game and maybe if he was just a little bit sharper. They wouldn't happen but not necessarily, you know, wow, we got a reexamine Gorgia and maybe even sit him in the next game because he really messed that game up. No, he didn't look like himself, but he wasn't, you know, the determining factor in the game. Yeah, no, absolutely not. And he didn't need to be for most of it. Like he didn't face a lot of action but when he did and when there was a lot going on in front of him, you know, you saw there was a lot of Coughta pucks loose rebounds like he didn't look as sharp and you know what, that could very well be one of the guys that Jared's talking about. That's a passenger the goal is part of the team and we often try to separate the two but he is part of the team and Jared likes to remind us of that all the time. And that could be one of the guys he's talking about as well. Yeah, I mean, kind of the back to the got to play a full 60 conversation right I mean the first period is really where they lost the game. The second period was a wash and the third period you liked the push in the moment and the avalanche were building just Like you said, Michael Renton and hitting the crossbar missing the net a couple times just weren't able to beat Gustafson but I like what I saw in that third period. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look, they, they really outclass the wild in that period and that's often what happens when you're the team trailing by two goals but the avalanche proved again that they can do it. They do have the talent to do it despite the all the guys that they're still missing. You would have left to have Josh Manson yesterday you would have left to have Arturia like it in yesterday. Those are two very reasonable guys in your lineup that you expect to be back here at some point. But you didn't and despite that you lost the one goal game and gave up an empty netter. Yep, indeed, indeed. And of course, even Minnesota was playing a little short handed right no cap resolve no Ryan Reeves. Yeah, they quote unquote second string goal at Ryan Reeves make me. Yeah, but not not especially against the avalanche not to the extent of of any of the game breakers. Not a police off is a different category. I just think, you know, Ryan Reeves knows how to get under the avalanche skin. Who knows what the playoff setting actually looks like but if he's not around, it benefits the avalanche. Yeah, I don't I don't think that's entirely true. Like what did he do in the Vegas series he pulled Ryan Grace's hair and got suspended like that. That's not why the avalanche lost. And then he came back last year with the Rangers and fought Curtis McDermott like hooray the two enforcers fought like I just don't think this goes back to the Curtis McDermott conversation I know Ryan Reeves has more skill than Curtis. But those guys are not that important. They are at times they are in some ways, but they are in the way of it's nice to have Curtis in the lineup when you know Reeves is on the other side going to try to run around and, you know, get to your guys is get under your guys's skin but there's if there's no Reeves there's no McDermott if there's no McDermott there's you don't need Reeves so what came first and chicken or the egg to the Minnesota wild play Reeves and the abs respond with McDermott or do the Minnesota wild say oh they're not playing McDermott let's not play Reeves so like it just doesn't strike me again I go back to that Vegas series and a lot of talk around Ryan Reeves he was nowhere near the reason why the avalanche loss that series. I know but there's also you know an unmeasurable to speak of when it comes to a guy like Ryan Reeves and that's the locker room presence right I mean just simply having him in addressing room brings everybody up maybe brings everybody's confidence up a little bit and maybe even you know plans to seat in their head like hey we're playing a tough game tonight so we're playing it top to bottom not me out here no no that's totally fine and I get that and I understand that but they have a lot of guys that do that anyway they got the Ryan Hartman's help Mark Andre Flurry does that and I know Mark Andre Flurry is a goalie in a goalie that didn't play yesterday but he's still that locker room presence I mean it's a team up even little Jared Spurgeon was playing like a maniac last night. He's got a nastiness to his game that I was like the reason why Jared Spurgeon is the captain of that team he's a he's not a little guy he's a short guy but he's built like a dump truck and is just a big like he's a very thick dude that plays very thick style game like Demetrior love. Yeah he plays he plays like a prick right I like those prick style players. Let's take a quick pause guys. Superbook sports. I mean what what a what a time we're living in when you can just take action on any sport across the world at any time so make 2023 the year that you beat Vegas Superbook Sports gives you the chance every week to go head to head with the best odds makers in Las Vegas no fancy computer algorithms no guys across the pond setting lines for American sports just the best team of odds makers in the business behind the counter at the Superbook in Las Vegas plus Superbook features some of the best odds boosts and promo bets anywhere so download the Superbook Sports app or visit Superbook.com and start your battle against Vegas right now visit Superbook.com for terms and conditions gambling problem call 1-800-522-4700 I mean going head to head against the best odds makers sounds a little bit scary right I mean those odds makers are unreal at what they do and setting lines and over unders and spreads so it's always a challenge but there's nothing more fun in my opinion than throwing a little a little sprinkle of some dollars and some cents on your favorite sports yeah you know what's more hard than going up against the odd makers it's doing what I just did of comparing Jared Spurgeon to being as thick and as big as someone like Dimitri Ormoff where as soon as I said that I was like wait no that sounds a little off because I remember Orlov when he was here with the caps and I remember seeing Spurgeon at morning skate yesterday and looked it up Dimitri Orlov is 214 pounds Jared Spurgeon is 166 it's about a 50 pound difference so not quite the same but play a same style game what is Bow and Byron weighing in at? that's a good question that's a player that I could still see putting on some weight like remember McKinnon his rookie season just looked like a young 18 year old not that Bow is 18 anymore but he's listed at 6-1-1-90 190 that seems generous I mean I'm 6-2 195 and I feel like Bow is a lot tinier than I am not 5 pounds in 1 inch tinier like he just seems like a may smaller guy and it may just be because we see him on the ice around other behemoths like I I fawn over this all the time but like when you see Val in the Trujkin skate that dude is built like an aggressive hockey player what do you see Bow and Byron skate it's quite the opposite but he plays like an aggressive hockey player which is what you love about him absolutely I think he's maybe one guy you can definitely point to as not being a passenger last night sure he got the penalty early in the game but what does he do with it puts it behind him pops out of the box and buries a goal and that goal yeah he's on a breakaway yeah he's one on O with the goalie but with that kind of pressure and that kind of hey we really need this goal right now and his ability to just make an easy move look even easier and put that puck in the back and I mean I really loved Bow and Byron's game last night had everybody brought that same energy that same mentality that same intensity I think it would have been a much different story yeah absolutely and to kind of tip toe off of that until who I just mentioned Val in the Trujkin season high 25 47 of ice time he was all over the play as well so that was another guy that you didn't feel like was a passenger would have been nice to see him very wonder set one up but again the top guys were shut down the top line yeah and I mean Bow and Byron as of late he's been putting up points we've had a couple goals out of him recently and kind of exactly what he did last year right towards the end of the year each game he got better and better and better and better by the time the playoffs and the end of the playoffs were coming he was a mainstay and kind of a household name across the NHL so it seems like he's starting to get that same momentum again that same confidence and you know it's kind of the same story is last year too right he had some time off from injury then finally once he gets some consistency and playing time he really builds off of it it's you know you and I were just talking before we went on air about you know the next bow and byrum contract and it's such a fascinating contract to me because he's been stopped and started so many times that you just like stand like a final he was unbelievable stand like a playoff he was unbelievable especially after the Gerard injury in the second round and he's got 10 goals in 36 games and he's playing a great two way game but he's played 36 games and was the same thing last year so yeah it's going to be a very fascinating contract extension this summer alright well let's put that behind us that's all you can do to have a short memory and let's look ahead at Dallas right but just as important of a game coming up here Saturday night Dallas coming into town and Dallas luckily hasn't exactly been playing their best hockey I mean as we've seen in the last week and a half or so they went from first in the central to now they're hanging on the third so I guess a good opportunity for the avalanche to bounce back but you know you're gonna have to have another game with no passengers and everybody's gonna have to start the game on time this one that's gonna be a big one and look I know right now the avalanche are three points back of the Minnesota wild for first place in the central they still do have that game in hand but the division is not out of reach yet it really isn't and I know that's crazy to say but the Minnesota wild we were talking to their beat writer yesterday they've got it back to back coming up against the Vegas Golden Knights who are the team that Minnesota is gonna try to catch for first in the West so that they can get the lesser of the two wild car teams but a Vegas splits with Minnesota or somehow wins both but you know that's a little bit of a reach I would say they split and the avalanche beat Dallas well now you're right back to you know one or two games in hand and one or two points behind and you're right back to being able to catch them and especially if you can beat Dallas in regulation the regulation win tiebreaker you'll be tied with Minnesota so a lot could still happen but that just goes to show how important that game is against Dallas the interesting thing to me and we've noticed the soles that we've talked about it many many times but the record at ball arena this year's is a little puzzling because right now the avalanche on the road are listed as 24 11 and one one of those games is the game in Finland where both teams were on the road so in an NHL setting on the road the avalanche are 23 11 and one at home they are listed as 2013 and five one of those games is Finland take that out they are 1913 and five at ball arena which in other words is 19 wins 18 losses at ball arena it's really fascinating especially after what they did a season ago and I think wins and losses are super important right now but I think even more important is using this time is almost a pre-season for the playoff season right I mean you haven't playoff intensity games like last night in Minnesota probably another one coming up against Dallas another one maybe against the Kings and Edmonton and the Jets still down the line so I think it's just going to be important to shake this and just be ready for playoff intensity style hockey because you don't want to come playoff game one and suddenly you're on your heels because you spent the last couple weeks kind of you know trying to figure out the mindset and the intensity you needed to bring to the game so I think that's got to be the number one goal is just making sure they're playing that full intensity game and starting right out of the gate absolutely and look they're going to respond against Dallas I'm not saying they're going to win but they're going to come out flying like this team is not going to let and the crazy part about the schedule is after playing so many games and so many nights you know Jared referenced it yesterday 15 games in 26 days is just fricking insane but they have something now that they didn't have before and that's a Thursday and a Friday off before they play again on Saturday so two days off and then after the game against Dallas they have Sunday and Monday off before they play Tuesday in San Jose so they've got two full days before game day again to stew on this loss and you better believe if they lose to Dallas they got two more games to stew on that game as well but you don't want that to happen you know that having that extra day off keeps the last game in your mind for an extra day you don't want that against the Dallas Stars again so you got to beat that team you got to let these two days of stewing over Minnesota really help you win that next one yeah and props to the schedule makers right really making some important games here down the final 10 or so with you know with Minnesota and Dallas and like you mentioned Minnesota is about to go back to back with a Vegas series here and that's going to be very meaningful when it comes to the standings but throwing back to back with San Jose for the avalanche I wonder if the schedule makers were thinking oh San Jose be legit this year let's be yeah that that one is a little bit funny especially because you have Anaheim in there as well so it's three games at the avalanche really got a win but you want to know it's not funny next week in their San Jose San Jose LA trip 830 start 830 start 830 start all three you're yawning right now at 1047 imagine at 830 at night yeah I'm gonna take some pre pre game naps for those thankfully we're not on the road for those so I can actually enjoy a day in Denver and take a nap at home and then just turn on the TV while half a sleep you know it's great but the speaker of the schedule makers there's something at the end of the season that really sticks out to me the national predators end their season against Minnesota than Colorado Colorado ends their season against Nashville Winnipeg or other way around Winnipeg Nashville basically Nashville has the opportunity to help out one of the abs or the wild by defeating one and losing to the other so if you know kind of like last week the Pittsburgh Penguins they beat the abs the very next night they lost to the stars they helped Dallas twice so Nashville has the opportunity to do that they have the opportunity to beat the avalanche after losing to Minnesota or vice versa beat the beat the wild and then lose to the abs meanwhile the avalanche play Winnipeg before they play Nashville which is the team that they are fighting for as in the the preds for the last wild card spot so the avalanche have the opportunity basically to beat the jets and the preds have the opportunity to beat the wild each team has helped the other out going into a game 82 where Colorado versus Nashville for example could be a game where Colorado was fighting for playoff positioning and Nashville is fighting for their playoff lives they each helped each other in the previous game and now they're going head to head for winner take all winner wins what they want which is higher positioning or a playoff spot or maybe it's a scenario where if it gets over time they both get in they can shake hands and say alright we're doing this like it's just a very fascinating end to the schedule and by the you know by then it could get away the wild could build a five six point cushion or vice versa with the avalanche or vice versa with Nashville Winnipeg but until then it's looking like it can shape up to be something like that pretty fun great point I love that you pointed that out and noticed that and you know that's why I love this podcast that's why I'm a big fan of your show yeah so we'll see how all that shakes out exciting stuff I mean playoffs just around the corner you can smell them you can feel them the vibe in ball arena I mean you knew playoffs are right around the corner so getting geared up for that let's turn the corner here and talk about the latest signings that the avalanche have made out of the NCAA Jason Paulin out of Western Michigan and Sam Molinsky out of Cornell of course both these guys captains no surprises there I almost think next year when the NCAA season starts getting going let's just compile of lists of NCAA free agent captains and then we'll be able to to really narrow down who the abs are looking at yeah my favorite one of the one that the avalanche of sign in the past is Logan O'Connor because it's a guy that I think he was named captain and then signed with the abs before ever playing as a captain yeah so he's like all right I passed the test of what Colorado looks for so yeah it's really really fascinating I'm gonna share a couple words on both of these guys and it's not gonna come for me it's gonna come from the athletic who about a month ago get an article on all of the biggest names in college that are free agents from February 21st this article is and it gave a little bit about on each one and I'm gonna start with Poland because he was the first guy the avalanche signed so they got these guys split into three categories as athletic article they have projected to play NHL games and then they have have a chance to play NHL games and under the have a chance to play NHL games it starts at number let's see the first five names are the top list the projected to play the have a chance starts at number six and Jason Poland is way down at number 24 and what it says on him is Poland is a right wing on the top western Michigan line he's not as naturally skilled as McAllister who he plays with but he has a speed and compete level that could make him valuable as a pro plays a direct style often takes pucks wide into the net he has good hands and scores a lot of goals the last two seasons in college I do have some questions about how natural play driver he is and whether he will have offense versus men man obviously being the bigger game in the NHL Jason Poland leads the NCAA in goals right now he's got 30 second places Adam he's actually of the of the Michigan Wolverines with 29 and the reason why that matters is because eventually can still pass him because he's you know in the frozen for one goal ties him two goals passes him so Poland basically is gonna finish off either first or second or tight for first and then it's going for college hockey this year so still in some ways that's a big one for the avalanche now any comments on that before I get to Malinsky no no keep it going you're on a roll and it starts at number one it goes to five and then it switches to that second category starts at six Poland is at 24 it goes all the way down to 30 so basically these prospects are listed one to 30 well on this list Sam Malinsky's number two Jason Poland was 24 Sam Malinsky is two does that mean he's automatically going to be in any cell or we should all get excited no maybe Jason Poland ends up better than him but what they have on Sam Malinsky a right handed defenseman at a Cornell is Malinsky has been a top defenseman in college this season he has excellent playmaking abilities he makes a lot of difficult passes in the offensive zone and has the ability to run a pro power play with his vision and shot his skating is solid too and he can create with his skill and feet Malinsky isn't the biggest defenseman but he competes well enough that I think he has a shot to be a really good pro and there's videos online if you go on Twitter and you look up Sam Malinsky this is for a lot of time Malinsky this is for you JJ and for our listeners there's videos of him towing that blue line very kill my car ask with the way that he's shaken off you know the defender and playing up against that blue line to create opportunities on the power play so that's exactly what the athletic is talking about here where they say that he can run a pro style he's like a very skilled guy he seems like the type of guy that they feel could be more of a pro and the avalanche are probably going to have some turn over on their blue line here in the coming seasons not my car sorry Taves and Byron both need new deals are they going to sign both and you know potentially trade Gerard are they going to keep all three or they're going to get rid of one of bow and Taves like there's a lot of question marks there and that doesn't even include the fact that Jack Johnson there Johnson are both on the last legs of their careers you obviously still have Josh Manson so there is going to be some turnover and someone like Sam Malinsky would be great to have step in if he can kind of develop into that player he's 24 years also he's at the age where he should be there I think there's two ways to really look at these signings and I think both have a bit of merit I think the avalanche definitely see potential right they see projects that are maybe a bit raw with a little bit of work a little bit of coaching and I think that's the way they like the captains very coachable guys very professional mentalities they can potentially turn this guy into an NHL right see Ben Myers I think that's the definitely the thought process behind him at the same time we know how loose they've been with giving away their draft picks in recent years right so I see them trying to kind of cover up that mess a little bit by taking shots I mean I'm not saying they're you know blind shots here but I think they're not going to be able to get shots at hey let's see if we can get this guy to pan out and yeah I think it's interesting that the avalanche are the ones that are constantly able to sign these guys even though you might think that there's not too much room in the NHL lineup but you know I like the direction at least it's it's getting something in the farm system something in the youth that they can develop and you know fill some holes down the line if need be said because I remember for years and years and years whenever we would get to this part of the season Nick Benino was once a college free agent there was Matt Gilroy there was a lot of guys like that Toronto had a bunch Tyler Bozak was one from DU I think right yeah he went to DU so these guys always end up on the good teams and they used to always like make me question like why can't the abs get one of these guys and this is the Du Chain O'Reilly Stastner era of the avalanche like why can't get one of these guys they have a lot more opportunity to play but it's exactly the first part of the game the better teams trade off a lot of draft capital so they need to offset it somewhere else which is what the avalanche should last year with Ben Myers again he hasn't had a great season doesn't mean it's the end of the Ben Myers era but we'll see so the best teams trade off a lot of draft capital so they're finding ways to offset that but the best teams are also going into situations kind of similar to Ben Myers where they're telling these free agents like look you're coming to a winning culture you're coming to a winning team and you're coming to us where Andre Burakovsky's position is going to be up for grabs next year because we're not going to be able to afford that and lo and behold Andre Burakovsky left after the avalanche won the Stanley Cup so it was the winning guest of winning cultures for Ben Myers to sign with and then Ben Myers couldn't grab a hold of that spot so ultimately what you're doing is you're putting yourself in a position where you have more lottery balls at the table more people that can potentially grab those spots and Sam Olenski and Jason Poland or two more guys like that are they going to be stars no but hey Logan O'Connor was a college free agent and he's been pretty damn well for what you want from him so he's not playing on the top line and you know turning into the next Val in the Chewskinn or something like that or mini Val or mini Val but he is on the fourth line and he's an important piece of that line and he's a great player and won the Stanley Cup so all you can hope for with these guys is that they become contributors one way or another yeah I mean the Colorado Eagles are basically just going to look like an NCAA All-Star game out there right just yeah they're going to have a fun playoff run that's with all these guys coming in Matt Steinberg real quick a teammate of of Malinsky at Cornell he's an avalanche draft pick from 2019 he was 63rd overall that's a guy that there I think he was part of the Duchenne trade the 63rd pick from Ottawa if I'm not mistaken I would have to double check that but regardless Matt Steinberg is joining the Colorado Eagles on a professional tryout as well and he's expected to sign up the avalanche in the coming days they're negotiating a deal so it's not guaranteed but that's another free agent from Cornell Molinsky's teammate that the avalanche are looking to bring out of college and join him into the pros indeed indeed right on so yeah like I mentioned it's just about getting playoff ready at this point right yeah the lost to Minnesota stings a little bit but more importantly was just the effort to energy the lack of execution so that's got to be the focus for the Colorado Avalanche moving forward here and let's see if everything can get I mean not even like it's off the rails but everything can get back on the rails here soon yeah I mean look when you lose those tough games you're going to treat them like everything is off the rails and the avalanche after Pittsburgh what did they do they went out and be Arizona then Arizona then Anaheim you know easier teams but you responded with three big wins you want to do the same thing here all you can do is play the schedule ahead of you you can't choose to play Dallas after losing a Pittsburgh it's not the opportunity or the or something that you can do so they played the games ahead of them they want all of them heading into a game against Minnesota they lost that game you got to respond here with some victories as well I gotta imagine there's less stars fans in ballerina than there were wild fans yeah Minnesota wild fans are well traveled and they've always had a ton here so you knew going into that game Wednesday night TNT with all the all the marbles on the table for that game that there was going to be a lot of Minnesota fans and their shirts how it was indeed indeed well here's a good place to pause for the day we'll be back on Sunday for our typical Sunday show and see how we navigate the final eight games here of the season so thanks for hanging out with us today don't forget about our partners at Superbook Sports obviously great odds boost and promo is over there so if you made it this far in the broadcast the less pretty little heart let's make hockey for everyone we got you you ♪♪♪ Thank you.