Good:
- Landeskog, McClement, O'Reilly, McGinn, Downie. This 'new-look' offense is fantastic... I've always loved the hard-working players, and while I find grinding systems pretty boring, players who can bring an offensive edge while being fantastic on the forecheck, making the other team work hard and keep their heads up... that's good hockey.
- Greg Sherman. The unassuming accountant who has basically not made a bad trade yet... lots of criticism around his ballsy moves last year and this offseason, but I don't think you'll find many on this board who still doubt his ability to manage this team.
- EJ/Varly... the big pieces from the 2 big trades. I hope to God they lock EJ up for 5 years this offseason, he's shown flashes of brilliance since he first got here but he's only getting more consistent, and the harsh words he's gotten on these boards will make it all the sweeter when suddenly we're getting stupid trade proposals for him every 2 days. As for Varly... who's left that doesn't get that we have our best goalie since Roy?
- The penalty kill! Holy fk, we HAVE to have been top 10 after the ASG, even if it wasn't reflected in the overall numbers... I've never felt so confident watching the Avs PK as I did second half this year. You can chalk that up to good point #1, I suppose.
The Bad:
Duchene... is the obvious choice. Tough season. Injuries, early season line juggling, playing out of position to fill a hole in our top-6, lack of confidence as a result of all those factors. All I'll say is that those who are talking about trading him are disgracefully short-sighted... this kid is a talent. He'll bounce back and in a big way.
Shano: To his credit, he played pretty well for the first 3/4 of the year, particularly after finding his role in the team (3/4D, not Bobby Orr incarnate), but it fell apart in the end of the year. Seriously I think there was a point where in 6 or 7 games it must have been only Shane and Mark Olver getting ANY penalties... and even then I'm willing to cut Olver some slack because that's a part of his game, which helps us more than hurts us. O'Brien down the stretch... not so much. I'd like to see him brought back if we can somehow relegate him to the 3rd pairing, but with as many great D-prospects as we have, he might get a short contract at best.
The Ugly: Seeing all the "season over" posts after every goal against for the last 15 games... we need to have some G.D. faith in this team boys (and girl)! Living in Edmonton, I can reeeally appreciate a team that finished in 29th last year nearly making the playoffs. Look at the standings, we WON more games than LA! If Duchene has a bounce-back season that isn't offset by a massive sophomore slump for Lando, we'll be in the playoffs next year, don't even worry. Not calling anyone out or accusing anyone of being a bad fan, I guess I'm just a little more optimistic than some on here.
The Real Ugly: I'm likely going to be playing guitar on a cruise ship next year during October-March/April, and in a timezone that will make it damn near impossible to follow the Avalanche as closely as this season... looks like a year of highlights and following these forums to get any idea of what's going on with the team
