Given how sparingly Martinez and Greene were used in the playoffs, Colorado actually has better depth on the back end. But the trio of Doughty, Mitchell, and Scuderi is way better than any three of the Avalanche's defensemen.
Hence why everyone says the Avalanche need another top pairing guy and hope they trade some of that depth away.
Given how sparingly Martinez and Greene were used in the playoffs, Colorado actually has better depth on the back end. But the trio of Doughty, Mitchell, and Scuderi is way better than any three of the Avalanche's defensemen.
Hence why everyone says the Avalanche need another top pairing guy and hope they trade some of that depth away.
Scuderi and Mitchell were nothing special before this years playoff run.
Ya, because Scuderi, Greene and Mitchell are All-Stars
Oh.....sorry mate - I thought you were revving people up. Ummm, ok, if your serious that our defense is better than LA's, that's cool, your entitled to your opinion.
What about this.
LA allowed 179 goals against
CO allowed 220 goals against
Plus / Minus
Doughty minus 2
Mitchell plus 20
Voynov plus 12
Greene plus 4
Martinez minus 1
Scuderi minus 7 Overall - plus 26
Plus / Minus
Johnson minus 7
Hejda minus 17
Wilson plus 11
O'Byrne minus 5
O'Brien plus 2
Hunwick minus 3 Overall - minus 19
Scuderi and Mitchell were nothing special before this years playoff run.
You realize Scuderi won a Cup a few years back doing the same exact job on the Penguins, right? Both those guys have been real steady, solid defenseman for a while now.
Scuderi and Mitchell were nothing special before this years playoff run.
They're both solid defensive defensemen and have been for quite some time. They're both better than Jan Hejda, and better than Ryan Wilson, Shane O'Brien, and co. by quite a bit.
The only guy who came onto the scene for LA was Slava Voynov, who averaged over 19 minutes per game in the playoffs. I could see a guy like Stefan Elliiott doing that for Colorado soon. But just because I can see it doesn't mean it'll happen.
So is the situation now that Avs are where they started from otherwise, but O'Byrne and Gaunce are now out of the way (whether that's a good or a bad thing, still)? Any huge swings in the order otherwise?
Given how sparingly Martinez and Greene were used in the playoffs, Colorado actually has better depth on the back end. But the trio of Doughty, Mitchell, and Scuderi is way better than any three of the Avalanche's defensemen.
Hence why everyone says the Avalanche need another top pairing guy and hope they trade some of that depth away.
Yikes. I used the word "depth" when describing this defense.
To be fair (to myself), Ryan Wilson is good when healthy, Jan Hejda and Erik Johnson are solid, and Shane O'Brien has been abused by the Avalanche this season like he's Curtis Joseph circa 2004 Detroit Red Wings.
It would have been good to move one of the meatbags with term left, but seeing as no one wanted to take on a useful player in Jokinen for free just because he was due to make $3M next year, it's very hard to move contracts this year.
I can say with 100% confidence that Jones is absolutely ready to step in and be a top 4 defenceman on our team. Especially if we decide to have him or Barrie play the left side.
Barrie - Johnson
Hejda - Jones
Maybe a new coach will accept that as it's been clear that Sacco doesn't approve of having D play their off side.
I'm pretty sure we lose the lottery. What's his name... pulock.. would be a good d pick up from what I've very briefly read but I'd not give up drouin for that. I'm not prospect wise though.
Barrie-Ej
Hejda-Jones
My concerns there is I don't feel Barrie is a top 4 YET and I'm not sire I see that sort of upside either, to be a true top 4.
Part of me thinks we've all been impressed so far because of the clowns we have around on d.
Mediocre girl with ugly friends turns pretty in comparison.
I changed the thread title, I think this is an interesting discussion of what happens during the next UFA / how things advance with prospects shortly / is any trades needed shortly. Also with d-men it is more interesting than with forwards because the slots are much more limited.
You just made me think of the world hero's, Paul Maurice. When do we feel Siemens is ready to jump? 3 years?
IMO Siemens needs a full year in the AHL, a year of spot duty in the NHL, and then he will be ready. The Avs may rush him a bit and rely on him being ready in 14-15.
Siemens will get a long hard look by the Avs at camp next year. If he has a good camp and plays well in his exhibition games he might stick around to start the year, as long as they are cautious of his minutes and keep him to around 14 per game.
If that's not the route they choose, I think he'll play top 3-4 minutes with the Monsters and get called up a time or two throughout the year.
