Colorado Avalanche: Three New Year's Resolutions
Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
2016 is now over for the Colorado Avalanche; it’s time for the Avs to consider some resolutions for 2017.
2016 was not successful for the Colorado Avalanche, but 2017 can be different if they vow to make some resolutions.
Unfortunately, this team seems helpless. Nonetheless, everyone makes resolutions, and the Avs should do the same.
They are now one of twelve teams in NHL history to lose ten games in a row on home ice. They are clearly the worst team in the NHL.
Still, the Arizona Coyotes keep losing as well. We all want a high draft pick for the Avs this summer, so perhaps the Avs should make no resolutions.
However, I am still going to propose some, just for kicks, and because the Avs are just an embarrassment.
Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Score More Goals
Kind of a cop out right? Well, I see your point, but when you’re last in the league for goals scored per game, this isn’t the worst resolution to consider.
Besides, it’s best if they keep the resolutions simple; they need to make sure they don’t take on too much to handle.
But how do they go about accomplishing such a thing? That’s the question isn’t it? I think it’s going to come in the form of a trade.
They need a defenseman that can get the puck up to the forwards. And, they need better defensive zone coverage so they can spend more time in the offensive zone.
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They need a lot of things. That’s the problem. And the other problem is that to get a defenseman they need to trade a forward. That’s addition by subtraction, and that usually doesn’t work that well.
However, in the Avs’ case, they have some young forward prospects coming in to help next year. So, trading a forward right now may be damaging, but in the long run it will probably work extremely well.
Plus, having a bona-fide No. 1 defenseman will help them with their next resolution.
Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Quit with the Odd-Man Rushes
Odd-man rushes have been the achilles heel of the Colorado Avalanche this year. There are — AT THE VERY LEAST — four or five per game, and sometimes they allow odd-man rushes in the double digits. They need to start allowing one per game, or maybe one per period.
I also think this is a resolution that the Avs can fix if they paid more attention in the neutral zone. or if they had better communication.
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No one on the Colorado Avalanche is covering the man they have to. They have the numbers back that they need to, but somehow someone always slips by and sets up an odd-man rush.
It’s ridiculous, and if there were a stat that measured the amount of odd-man rushes a team gives up, I am willing to bet that the Avs would lead that stat by a wide margin. They already lead pretty much every other awful stat by a wide margin.
Which begs the question, how seriously are the Avs taking each and every game, or this season in general?
Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Take Games Seriously
This is perhaps the most important resolution for the Avs to undertake. It should also be the easiest one for them to enact. How many times did you turn off a game in 2016 because the Avs decided they didn’t feel like showing up?
I’ll admit, I was at the Toronto Maple Leafs game, and I left…at the end of the second period. It was atrocious, and frustrating as a fan to watch that sort of incompetence.
Unfortunately, the TV is way more accessible, and much more frustrating because lack of effort seems to be a bi-nightly affair.
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It’s infuriating as a fan to watch your team — with a bunch of very skilled players — languish for whole periods, or whole games. The Avs having given up 122 goals this season! The Rangers — who lead the league in goals — have scored 135 goals this season.
The Avs have been in games recently — Calgary and New York come to mind — and then ended up giving up 6 goals to lose the game.
I don’t know what else to say other than to say that the Avs need to get it together, and they need to take this game seriously.
Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Conclusion
These resolutions are probably moot — totally worthless — because 2017 is not going to be any different for the Colorado Avalanche.
But, you can’t make change unless you try. Maybe the Avs will wipe 2016 from the slate, and start again. However, I highly doubt that will happen.
The only thing that is going to save this team is going to be a trade. And that salvation won’t come until next season, at the soonest.
What’s on tap:
The Colorado Avalanche will play the Vancouver Canucks in Rogers Arena at 8:00 pm MST on Monday night. It’s a road game, so at least the Avs have a chance at winning the game.
Oh, and the Canucks aren’t a very good team this season, so there’s that as well. Nonetheless, they are only 1 point off of a .500 record, and they have won three games in a row.
They are also 12-6-2 on home ice, so the more I think about it, the more I realize that this game is probably a bust as well.
However, this is the first game of 2017 for the Avs, so maybe they’ll make good, and give the TV fans a victory.
