What is up hockey fans and welcome on into the latest installment of the Mile High
Sports Colorado Avalanche AMA.
I am filling in for Miss Kim Becker alongside Eric Dean.
We should have followed him online at Run Right Air.
If I am at media by AP, Eric is holding everything down for us online when it comes to our coverage
of the Colorado Avalanche host of the Hockey Mountain High Podcasts.
Obviously, right in all the great articles and whatnot.
He was in attendance at last night's game.
We will cycle through a few questions and also a handful of big talking points in the
world of Colorado Avalanche Hockey.
It has certainly been a little bit of a rollercoaster ride over the last two or three weeks or so.
The high of the highs, the lows of the lows will break it all down here.
Be sure to get those questions in each and every week when Eric puts out his tweet at
Run Right Air.
And away we go.
Kim Becker will be back next week.
What is going on my man?
An exciting game to cover last night.
I would imagine.
Yeah.
Honestly, exciting might not even be the word to say it because it was kind of goal, goal,
goal and then the atmosphere.
Everybody knew the Avalanche.
We are going to come away with two points after those early goals.
It was kind of a dud of a game in terms of excitement but in terms of the result, getting
your top guys rested, getting two points in the standings and doing it in great fashion.
It was exactly what the Avalanche needed.
Yeah, a six to nothing victory.
And look, San Jose is not the team they once were.
They're definitely in a struggle this year.
Only 19 wins on the year for them right now.
The Avalanche of 35.
And on the radio show with my guys Cody Rourke, Danny Bailey and all of them, like we like
at the end of the show, we're like, who's scoring tonight?
And like, you know, we kind of threw out a couple of different names.
We each picked a different name and all four players ended up scoring.
Last night was an absolute barrage for the Colorado Avalanche.
A goal for Kelmo Carr, nice to see him get back in the group down in Chewsk and Lecken
and McKinnon and the handful of other players as well.
What was the energy like set the scene for us in ball arena last night?
And really, you know, kind of a strong way for the Avalanche to snap that losing skin.
Yeah, it was the game kind of started a little bit slow.
Neither team had a shot for the first.
I want to say two, two and a half minutes before Colorado started to kind of get rolling.
At the four minute mark, I think the shots were one nothing for the abs.
So not really much going on.
But then they got a goal and they got another one and they got a third one.
They outshot them 19 to two.
They had a 21 or 22 to two shot advantage when it was four to nothing.
They had a 24 to three or four shot advantage when it was five nothing.
And they just kind of ran away with the game.
I mean, the mood around the team in the atmosphere was look like the San Jose Sharks, like you
said, 19 wins, only team in the NHL without 20 wins.
They played the night before, which I know is a funny stat because there's like a couple
of them with exactly 20 and they're the only ones at 19.
So just picking an arbitrary number there.
But it was, the Sharks had played the night before.
It's funny enough, they had beaten the Winnipeg Jets in overtime, which was helpful for the
Avalanche granted when a peg continues to fall.
They had beaten the Winnipeg Jets in overtime.
They were traveling.
They got in late from Winnipeg.
So they had to go through customs.
They got in really late to Denver.
They didn't have a morning skate.
The Avalanche were rested.
Colorado, the last three weeks has played four back to back where they were the team that
traveled to face a rested team.
And there were 3011 in those games.
The only 01 was the Seattle game a couple days ago on Sunday that they blew it late.
Otherwise they would have went four and no.
But the Avalanche having the opportunity to be the rested team and face a team traveling
with only 19 wins coming from Canada, going over the border, over customs, playing the
night before being one of the worst teams in the NHL already and then selling at the
deadline.
It was a game where everybody in that dressing room knew.
Like we're going to get two points here.
We have to do it.
It's just a matter of how we do it and how they did it was the ability to pile it on
early.
No forward played more than 16 minutes and 14 seconds.
No forward played fewer than 11 minutes and 48 seconds.
They were able to roll their lines, roll the defense, get everybody involved.
No crazy hits, no crazy injuries.
Curtis McDermott took a little tumble, so we'll see on him.
But none of the top guys got into any kind of a physical matchup where they might be
hurt or might be dinged up outside of Renton and getting hit into the boards, but then
getting right back up and scoring.
So it was exactly what you needed.
A very quick, easy victory with no stress, no issues, no injuries.
Just take the victory and move on to the next one.
That's what they needed and that's what they did.
Yeah, I think you hit on the mark with the stress word.
That was, like you said, for lack of a better phrase, an avalanche of goals from them early
on.
And really, you mentioned the playing time and the ice time for some of these guys.
And obviously, that's critical for a team that has to deal with some injury problems
over the course of the season.
And we'll talk about some of those injuries here throughout the program.
But before we get into some of these questions, I started out saying the highs of the highs
and the lows of the lows.
So we had a six-game winning streak in the middle of February there, followed by a three
game losing streak to the Devils, the Stars, and Seattle, which is obviously fresh in everybody's
mind before the game last night against San Jose.
It's not easy to quantify, but what do you attribute that swing to?
How could a team go from playing so well, so locked in, maybe getting some good breaks
with a six-game winning streak, and then just collapsing three games in a row, allowing
14 goals in two games at one point and then losing it over time into Seattle.
How do you attribute the swing there for the avalanche over the last handful of weeks?
So in New Jersey, not to kind of pile on, use this in and in, but if that's any other
goalie, you're winning that game.
The avalanche had their game.
They were down five to, I mean, they were bad early.
Let's not sugarcoat it.
They were bad early, the New Jersey Devils took advantage of those breakdowns and beat
the goalie every single chance they got.
It was five won, you blink twice, you open your eyes, it's five four.
Then the Devils were able to make a six-four Colorado made it six-five, then the empty
netter.
So they were right on the cusp of tying it up every single time.
When it was five four, they had two or three really golden opportunities that were all
stopped by the goalie.
So they had their chance to tie it.
They couldn't quite get there.
The Dallas game was the one that is the biggest issue, and we'll talk more about that.
We'll talk more about why that is later on here in the segment, but in the Dallas game,
that was proof that the Western Conference is a very heavy physical conference.
They might not have the skill and the attack that the East has this year.
They may have not made those big moves at the deadline that the Eastern Conference did,
but teams like Dallas added guys like Max Stomie that play a more physical brand to hockey,
and they already play a physical brand to hockey.
And Colorado is already without their captain, Gabe Landis-Gog, who plays exactly that, a
physical brand to hockey.
And then they were also out Josh Manson, who was out of the lineup for the second time.
Val Nachushkin, who was incredible yesterday against the San Jose Sharks, missed that game
with an illness, so he didn't fly to Dallas.
So you lost three of your bigger, more physical bodies from the lineup.
And they felt two and obviously gave the entire season.
And Dallas handed it to you.
If anything, the game against Dallas was the wake-up call that, hey, you know, like they're
sitting back and thinking, we are the Colorado Avalanche.
Nathan McKinnon is playing incredible hockey right now.
Kel McCar is back in the groove.
You know, our goalie is one of the best in the NHL this year.
Bowen Byram has found it.
Miko Ranton, it's got 42 goals, but if we don't show up and play that physical game against
teams like Dallas, they're going to put us on our behinds and we're going to lose this
series quick.
If we play them.
So that game was the wake-up call.
The Seattle game was just a very strange, like, very funky game.
Back to back, not a lot of good passes throughout the game.
Just a sloppy hockey game on both ends.
I don't know if the ice conditions were bad.
We didn't really ask the players, but it ultimately ended because of a very unfortunate,
but also unlike him, turnover from Nathan McKinnon late in regulation and then over time, it's
a coin flip.
You win the face off, you control the puck.
You're probably going to win.
And that's what Seattle did.
So, of the three games, it's the Dallas game that sticks out.
It's just unfortunate the way it piles on.
You play your backup goalie, he gets lit up, then you go into Dallas and you have that
game, that red flag, and then you come back against Seattle, you have that lead late in
regulation and then things just kind of unravel in like a two, three minute span.
So the Dallas game's the one that's unfortunate.
The Avalanche already had a stretch like this earlier on in February where they lost that
close game to Pittsburgh and over time after leading late in regulation, then they got
like their butts kicked in Tampa Bay five, nothing.
And then they came back to Denver, had a lead against Tampa Bay and then lost it in the
shootout.
So they already had a similar stretch to that, but then they came out of one sixth straight
and yesterday was kind of the exact type of game you need to break out of that funk and
get going.
Yeah, you know, we'll see how they shake out moving forward games against the Kings on
Thursday.
They take on the coyotes on Saturday and then we move on to the next week with games against
a handful of Canadian teams, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.
But let's dive into that big four game road trip.
That's going to be the big one.
The Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Detroit.
I'll be at two of those games, but that's going to be the tough one.
That's going to be the one that with that back to back mixing, you don't want to fall
behind there.
Right.
Yeah.
No, we'll definitely keep an eye on it.
Like I said, it's been kind of a whirlwind of a season for Colorado and we'll see what
they can do here down the stretch.
But let's dive into some of these questions, my man.
And be sure to tweet at air of Dean at run right air of each and every week when we do
these AMAs so that way you can get your question in.
We're going to talk a lot about the injuries and let's start with the big guy, the captain,
Gabriel Landeskog.
Do you think the team is overselling it?
Landy might not return this season at least.
And obviously, there's been kind of a question mark.
I feel like I've had you on the radio show probably a dozen times over the course of
this season and this question always comes up.
A little status update on Gabriel Landeskog.
Do you think that they're playing a little safe?
Where do you think the team's out with them?
They have no reason to bluff.
I mean, in the NHL, there was a feature story by the average reporter at the Colorado Gazette
last week where he talked about how practicing the NHL for most of the teams is an open practice.
It's not like the NFL where they build 15, 20 foot walls and they give the media a little
small portion and no fans get to like, it's not secretive in that way.
There really is no way to be bluffing and pretending like Gabriel Landeskog is more hurt
than he actually is or taking that extra precaution.
There was a clear timeline on Landeskog's return.
They would have said it by now.
And it's not even like they did any long-term injury reserve kind of shenanigans at the trade
deadline where they're like, when, when he's out until the playoffs.
Like there was nothing there for them to bluff.
I think truly, genuinely what's happening is, Gabriel Landeskog shot his season down on
March 12 last year in Carolina.
He shot his regular season down.
He had knee surgery.
He was out until the playoffs.
He came back.
He played all 20 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
And he played like the best hockey of his career.
He was unbelievable.
I believe it was 11 goals, 11 assists, something of that nature.
He didn't participate in a single practice or a single morning skate.
All he did was play the games.
They load, managed him through any skate that wasn't a game because they knew he was dealing
with this knee issue.
Then he comes back to skate in August.
He realizes the knee is acting up.
He has knee surgery again in October.
And now here we are.
He still has it played.
So whatever is going on with this knee issue, just like last year is not worth him coming
back into the lineup and playing while her.
I think genuinely there's two ways this is going to go about.
Either he's going to play in the playoffs like he did last year and load managed through
it and figure it out in the off season.
And this time actually, whether they win the cup or not, whether they're celebrating all
of June and July or not, they're going to get to this right when the Stanley Cup final
ends because they waited until August without realizing his knee was going to act up again.
They're going to figure it out as soon as the off season starts.
So I think one or two things are going to happen.
Either he's going to play the entire playoffs.
Also load managed for morning skates and practices.
And he's going to be gay, bland, as God, like, yeah, I know he missed the year, but we've
seen this in the NHL before.
Players miss an entire year.
They come back for the playoffs.
They're still their same all star self.
He's either going to do that or if we don't see him play at all, it's because he cannot
do that again this year because if he does, it's going to affect his long term health.
It's going to affect his long term career.
So it's ultimately a coin flip.
Like I'm giving you exactly what Jared Bender, Chris McFarland and everybody in the avalanche
is brass gives us whatever we ask.
There's no clear answer yet on what's happening with Gable Andes because nobody knows the
way he's been skating.
He has been ramping it up, which is good.
He has been on the ice consistently.
No setbacks where he's had to come off, but nothing to say, you know, circle this date
on your calendar.
He's going to play.
So who knows?
But if you're going to be that dynasty team that you want to be the Tampa Bay Lightning
once won a Stanley Cup where Stephen Stanquos played like two shifts of one game in the
Stanley Cup final, missed the entire playoff score to goal and that was it.
And if that's what you have to do, that's what you have to do.
But right now, there's no answer.
Nobody knows if Gabe's coming back.
He's obviously a huge part of the team and will inject a lot of life into a team that's
already playing well, but we just don't know when it's going to happen.
Yeah, you know, he's kind of a heartbeat of this team to an extent, you know, him being
the captain.
I'm curious to see how it shakes out, but it has been quite a bit of time and you've
got to kind of trust the process here.
And you know, the luxury is when you're a Stanley Cup or defending Stanley Cup champion,
it's more about getting into the big dance, suppose, you know, being the best team in
a conference or whatever it might be.
Just get in, roll the dice and see where you go from there.
And I think if Gabriel Linus got to play, that obviously builds very, very well for
the Colorado Avalanche.
All right, let's move along here.
Questions from my guy, Logan, he says, which team presents the toughest matchup in a seven
game series?
Is there one team in particular you'd like to avoid seeing early in the post?
Season.
And I'm curious to see your answer here because looking at the standings, you got Dallas
with 81 points, Minnesota with 79 points in the central division.
And then the Pacific division, you got Vegas with 82 points, the Kings with 82 points and
the Kraken with 80 points.
And then you've got the Oilers as well as 78 where you go in here in regards to this
answer.
Is there any team early on you think the avalanche should try to avoid or would like to avoid?
Early on doesn't really concern me.
It's just in general, in general, the only team right now in the West that I think scares
the avalanche and not scares them because if you asked them, they can beat anybody and
why wouldn't you have that kind of mentality?
But the only team that in my opinion should scare them is the Dallas Stars because look,
like right now the playoffs is shaping up in a way where Colorado could potentially end
up first in the central.
And if they do, they play the second wildcard team and that second wildcard team, like you
just listed the Pacific division standings.
I think it's three points that separate the top four like Vegas can fall down in the wildcard.
Edmonton can fall down, Calgary could come up, Winnipeg can switch with Nashville or Calgary.
There could be any number of thieves if you're the number one team in the West or the number
one team, I guess, in the division, whether you're first or second.
Any one of those wildcard teams could be your matchup, whether you're number one or your
number two.
You could be playing any number of teams.
If you don't pass Dallas, it's shaping up like it's probably going to be a Colorado, Minnesota
2-3 matchup.
Minnesota doesn't concern me.
Yes, they're a tough team, they're a heavy team, but the Avalanche could beat that team.
They could beat Vegas.
They could beat Edmonton again.
They could beat Nazem Kadri and Calgary if they find a way to squeak in.
They could beat the Winnipeg Jets.
They could beat the LA Kings, the Seattle Kraken despite that loss on Sunday and they're playing
LA on Thursday.
We'll see how they do then.
They could beat any number of these teams.
It's the Dallas Stars and their physicality is the only one.
It just seems to be coming full circle.
The last three series, the Avalanche have lost in the playoffs.
In 2021, they lost to Pete DeBore in the Vegas Golden Knights.
In 2020, they lost to the Dallas Stars.
In 2019, they lost to Pete DeBore in the San Jose Sharks.
Well now, Pete DeBore coaches the Dallas Stars.
It's two things that you haven't been able to beat in this stretch with this core and
it's probably going to be the biggest and toughest challenge for you.
So if you get Landis Gog back, things change, but even without Landis Gog, you can beat the
Dallas Stars.
You just have to take that wake up call from the other day very seriously.
You have to come out April 1st at ball arena against the Dallas Stars and play a much better
game than you did the other day in Dallas.
And you have to show that you can hang with this team because right now, the physicality
of the Dallas Stars is what could get the Avalanche.
They have to make sure that they can match up with that.
They have a good goalie in Alex Giorgiev.
They have that strong defense.
And even the Dallas Stars, ultimately, they can beat them too.
But that's the one that from the Western Conference, the Dallas Stars should present the only issue
for the Avalanche this year.
And I say should because you never know hockey is a coin flip in the end.
So the Western Conference, is it as strong as the East, the Avalanche, in my opinion,
or so the class of the West?
But just because you're the class, it doesn't mean you can take any team lightly.
So to kind of feed off that, let's go to the other question here.
Asked by our guy, Michael Ferreira, he says, do you think there is any chance that the
apps could catch Dallas in the standings?
I believe five points separate the two teams here.
Dallas atop the central division with 81 points with a record of 34 and 17, the Avalanche at
35 and 21 with their 76 points.
What's kind of your gut feeling here about the Avalanche's chances to potentially catch
Dallas in the standings before the regular season is over?
It's very doable.
They're only five points back, but the key is they have two games at hand and they play
the points.
So look, put it this way, five points back.
Had Colorado won that game in regulation in Dallas the other day, you take two points
away from Dallas, you give it to the Avalanche, they're one point back with two games in
hand.
One game makes all the difference.
If that game on April 1st happened tonight and the Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars tonight,
they would be three points back to the Dallas Stars with two games in hand.
It's very reasonable and very doable.
Those San Jose sharks that they played yesterday, they played them two times in a row on the
road in San Jose on a California road trip.
They also have the Anaheim Ducks.
They also have the Arizona Coyotes that you just mentioned.
They have, I believe in other game against the Chicago Blackhawks if I'm not mistaken.
They have the Detroit Red Wings.
They have the Montreal Canadiens.
They have a lot of easy, simple games coming up.
I believe Colorado has top three in terms of easiest schedule the rest of the way.
So you can very much make up a ton of points here.
Even if you lose that game to Dallas, it's still within reach, but it's a little bit
harder because then you're seven points back with two games in hand.
So aside from that game, you only have another 19 games where you got to make up seven points
in the standings with the two games in hand.
So three to four points better than Dallas and Dallas has the tiebreaker.
So aside from that game, I don't see it to be as unreasonable as many are saying.
I mean, yes, Colorado just went on a stretch where they pick up one of six points.
But before that, they won six straight games.
They are 15, four and three in their last 20 to the math, 22 games.
It's very reasonable.
Like there's 20 games left.
Is it crazy to think Colorado can go 15 and five?
Not really because if they go 15 and five, given how easy their schedule is the rest
of the way, 15 and five brings you up to 50 wins.
And suddenly this poor season full of injuries and issues and bad luck and they still hit
50.
It's very reasonable to do that.
But I will say it all starts with, well, obviously it starts with tomorrow against LA
Kings, but it all is going to be centered around, I should say, the game on April 1st
against the Dallas Stars at ball arena because you need to win that game and preferably in
regulation.
But even if you don't win it in regulation, you need to get that game over the Dallas
Stars because that one is going to be important for you.
Right.
Yeah, I'm excited, man.
I mean, this is the best part of like when the winter sports, you get down and dirty with
the, you know, between the nuggets and the avalanche here.
I know you and I were talking about, you know, you've got the avalanche, you were, you
know, getting healthier as a season progresses.
You've got the nuggets on the other side of things.
And I'm just both teams simultaneously playing well ball arena is a rock in place right now.
I'm not giving against Dallas is going to be electric.
So I am looking forward to that.
Just you talking about it.
I'm like, yes, I can't wait April 1st.
Circle it on the calendar.
Here we go.
But let's end it on an injury note here.
A couple of updates and I'm going to sneak one in myself here.
It sounds like Eric Johnson is already back in skating cover athlete of my high sports magazine.
Go check that out on the website.
We've done some cool stuff with EJ.
And chance we see him and or Josh Manson returned before the playoffs.
And the kind of the second part to this question is, do they need to return before the playoffs?
Kind of talking to them, you know, about that luxury with the avalanche of having one of
Stanley Cup.
Do you think you want to prioritize, you know, rest and recovery, make sure these guys are
healthy or is there a desire to get these guys back before so they can get their feet
under them?
If they're ready to go, there is a desire to get their feet on.
Like, you know, the whole game land is got scenario that I played out earlier of him potentially
returning in the playoffs and jumping in game one.
Like, if that's what you have to do, that's what you have to do.
And you'll take it like game land is called number 92.
Let's bring him back in.
But ideally you want him to come back a little bit earlier and get a little ramped up a little
up to speed here.
Get your feet under you.
Same thing with Josh Manson and Eric Johnson.
So Jared Bedner was very open about both of these guys.
The other three updates were land is got no timeline, helm no timeline, Frankie no timeline.
But the three guys that matter or the two guys that not matter most but had the most positive
updates.
Number one was Eric Johnson.
He said that when Eric Johnson was injured on February 11, the initial timeline was eight
to 10 weeks.
We are coming up on Saturday of four weeks of that.
And he said EJ is doing a lot.
He's doing a lot better and ramping it up a lot quicker than he expected.
He still said I'd be surprised and it would be kind of surprising to see him back before
the eight week comments or before the eight week timeline.
But it's looking like between eight and nine weeks from February 11, you're going to see
Eric Johnson which brings you to right around games 80, 81, 82.
So there is a big chance that Eric Johnson plays before the playoffs on Josh Manson.
And I know the avalanche have been really bad with injury timelines.
But the upfront and very forward response that Jared gave makes me think that they are
feeling a lot better about Josh Manson because he straight up said he expects Josh Manson
to play by the end of March.
Okay.
So in this month, which would give him five, six, seven, eight games to ramp it up.
Josh Manson is a big part of the team.
Here's the key of the avalanche.
They have not had and I'm going to include Eric Johnson, but you don't even have to include
Eric Johnson in this bunch.
They have their top five horses on defense.
It's Taves McCar, it's Byron, it's Manson, it's Sam Gerard.
And then whether you want to plug an EJ or JJ at number six, Eric Johnson or Jack Johnson,
those top five guys are always going to have more ice time than that guy at number six.
They haven't had all five of their horses in a game at the same time since November 4th.
Oh my gosh.
That sounds awful when you're freezing that way.
Yeah, because Manson and Byron missed a ton of time.
But when Manson and Byron came back, Cal McCar had his concussion issues.
When Cal returned from his concussion and choose issues, Josh Manson was injured again.
They haven't had a game with all five of their defense.
Like this is something that I talked about early in the season from pre-season in September,
I've been harping this.
The avalanche this year don't have the same offensive power that they did a year ago.
Obviously they still have Mikko Renton in scoring 42 is going to be on pace for more than
50 goals.
Nathan McKinnon's Nathan McKinnon, Kilmakar's Kilmakar, but when you lose cadre and you lose
Barakovsky and you know, things aren't the way they were a year ago offensively.
But defensively they have one of the best defenses in the NHL when healthy, which I know Gabe
Landis, Gog and Darren Helm and Pevall France, who's all have that who knows timeline.
But those guys are in defense men.
The defense men have the clear timelines as long as knock on wood, nobody gets hurt along
the way.
While you're waiting for EJ and Manson, you have an incredible defense.
And then you have one of the best goalies in the NHL this year that nobody is talking
about an Alexander Georgiev who was third in the NHL and wins.
He's fifth in the NHL and safe percentage.
He's third in the NHL and shutouts.
He is playing lights out hockey.
The Avalanche are going to be carried by their defense and their goal tending this year as
compared to what they used last year in the playoffs with their offense.
So if they can get their five horses back and EJ at number six and even if EJ is not
ready, you got Jack Johnson at number six, you're going to feel a heck of a lot better
about this team with Georgiev and goal and all those horses in front of him.
Yeah, and you kind of just alluded to it.
One kind of thought that I have here is at the goal tender position because Georgiev has
been fantastic.
What you've seen when you don't have Frankie that you know, you kind of let go of the rope
with the team.
I know there's no update on getting Frankie back right now, but how do you feel the Avalanche
will continue to, you know, monitor the situation with Georgiev giving him night soft?
I forget which game it was this past weekend, but you know, Georgiev was pulled at one point
because they were just down a handful of goals.
I mean, you don't want to ride the guy too much because he's been fantastic, but you
also want to make sure he gets his rest, but your backup isn't necessarily getting the
job done.
Yeah.
How do you feel like the Avalanche will balance the goal tending situation down the stretch
here?
That's a great question.
What they're going to do is they're going to give Anon and Johansson, Kincaid, whichever
one of them, if Frankie's not ready, they're going to give him some games against poor opponents
because you started two games.
He started the St. Louis Blues right after they traded Rhino Riley, a very beat up and
bruised and battered and emotionally gutted team.
And he came out, he came through and won the second game that uses in and played.
We just talked about it.
It was the New Jersey Devils.
Their third in the NHL.
Yeah.
They're the third best team.
They are an offensive powerhouse.
And that guy that San Jose sold off and Timo Meyer now plays for the New Jersey Devils.
Granted, he didn't play against the Avalanche, but they added that to that lethal offense.
So I just listed off all the easy games the Avalanche have.
Could you have played Keith Kincaid or used this Anon against the San Jose Sharks at ballerina
on March 7th and won that game?
Yes.
Yeah.
The clear answer is yes.
So you can play him against maybe the Detroit Red Wings, maybe Keith Kincaid or used this
in a Nureven, Ioannis, Johansson, whichever one of those guys you can play against the Detroit
Red Wings, Arizona, coyotes, two more games against the San Jose Sharks, two games in a
row on the road.
Like those should be easy games and a hind duffs.
You have a ton of opportunity to get Georgie some rest.
So you're give, I mean, right now he's at 40.
I want to say 44 games.
Yeah.
The Avalanche have 20 along the way.
So even if, or 20 to close out the year, even if he plays 15 of 20, 75% of the games,
then I'll put him at 59, which is a very reasonable, you know, maybe on the higher end in the
modern NHL of how much a Goldie plays, but it's a very reasonable number for a guy that
since training camp has been saying, I want to be the number one, I want to play games.
New York Rangers didn't give me an opportunity.
And every time you bring up these stats to him, like, you're the best at this and this
and this and this.
He's like, yeah, I know.
Like he's such a confident guy.
I'm talking about us in this preseason.
He knows that he's one of the NHL's greats.
And if he can repeat what he's doing this year, two, three, four, five more times, people
will refer to him as one of the NHL's greats.
He just needed that opportunity and he's getting it.
So again, even if he plays 15 of the 20 games remaining, he still won't even hit that 60
game mark that you rarely see in the NHL.
So I think they're going to be perfectly fine.
You don't want him to get hurt.
You don't want him to get mentally exhausted.
But again, the easy schedule helps.
Brandon McKinnon playing how they're playing help.
Getting Manson and EJ back helps.
Adding Josh, Jack Johnson, adding Lars Eller and Matt Nieto and Dennis Malgin and having
all this depth also helps.
Right.
Yeah, no, it'll be interesting.
You know, what did you say?
20 or something games left down the stretch here?
I need to go.
20 flat.
I mean, we're coming right down to it.
It's an exciting time to be an avalanche fan.
We'll see how they kind of monitor that goal-tending situation as well as getting some other players
healthy down the stretch and the way we go.
Be sure to follow my guy, Airf Dean, on social media at Run Right, Airf.
Check out his work online, milehighsports.com.
You can follow me at media by AP.
I'm on afternoon drive four to six PM Monday through Friday.
Check us out.
As much hockey as anybody in this town for the most part.
So always having fun with that.
Airfaman, great stuff today.
I appreciate you big time.
Anything you want to leave the listener with before we get out of here?
That's basically it.
Obviously, follow me on Twitter at Run Right, Airf.
Check out Hockey Mountain High, your go-to avalanche podcast.
We're ramping up this morning.
I was watching the documentary of last year's Stanley Cup Championship.
It just got me energized to travel and get into those games again because the playoff,
there's nothing like that atmosphere.
And I'm so excited for it.
We're five or six weeks away.
Good stuff.
That's going to do it for us here.
I'm the latest Colorado Avalanche AMA from milehighsports.
Appreciate everybody tuning in.
Be sure to get those tweets in next week.
Kim Becker will be back then as well.
And away we go.
Let's see how the rest of the game shake out for the abs.
Have a good one, folks.
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