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Avalanche Training Camp thoughts (with preliminary line combos) |
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Well the Avs' training camp will culminate tonight with the annual Burgundy/White game down in Colorado Springs this evening.
It was a really good camp. Fast-paced, spirited with a lot of hard work. Coach Joe Sacco and his staff are really cracking the whip to the team, stamping out any lazy plays.
Whether he's a seat warmer for Patrick Roy or the coach for the foreseeable future will be seen but from camp, he's the right man for the job.
During drills, Sacco isn't afraid to blow the play dead when he sees the player doing something wrong. For instance, on Sunday, Matt Duchene was playing defense on a drill. Duchene had the puck and was skating up the left wing. Instead of chipping it off the boards and out of the zone he passed it straight to the attacking defender in Scott Hannan.
Sacco whistled the play dead, skated over to him, put a hand on him and told him what he did and how to do it better. Anyone who's taken a leadership or teaching course of some kind knows that what Sacco did was great. He used their name, made physical contact and then made corrections.
The Avs might be really bad this year but, under Sacco, they certainly will not be lazy.
Centers of Attention
Duchene looks to be NHL ready. He played on a scrimmage line with David Jones and Milan Hejduk and looked positively comfortable out there. He still made the occasion mistake but he got better each day. He still needs to work on keeping his feet moving and protecting the puck but the odds on him staying are about 70/30 for.
While Stastny was in top form, he pulled a Joe-Sakic-during-training-camp and took it easy. It didn't stop him from scoring or playing well defensively, he just wasn't playing his hardest. He looked really good though. He really did look like the six million dollar man (6.6) actually However, the two centers the really stood out apart from Duchene and O'Reilly (see below) were Galiardi and Justin Mercier. Galiardi is bigger, stronger and faster while keeping his hands silky soft with the puck.
Mercier is the complete package. Passing, scoring, skating defense, he does it all.
The three Ryans, Stoa, O'Reilly and Wilson:
Stoa was a little bit slow in the scrimmages but used his size well. He'll need to spend the first part of the year in Lake Erie.
O'Reilly was a standout. His stickhandling rivals Wojtek Wolski's (yes you read that right), is good on faceoffs and has good instincts. Give him another year in junior to develop but he's looking like a great third line center behind Stastny and Duchene.
Wilson is an odd player to watch. His skating style really looks like he's doing stairs on a flat surface. However, he isn't all that bad. He's good average speed and good shooting.
Speaking of defensemen, the real standouts were Stefan Elliot and Kyle Quincey. Elliot will need to bulk up a little bit, as he gets pushed around right now but he has smooth hands on of the smoothest strides I've seen for a defensemen.
Quincey will be a hit this year. He's got a great shot and also is pretty physical. On the last day of rookie camp, after the rookies left the ice, he went out with a few others and just practiced shooting. It's not the hardest shot but he's really accurate with it.
As for the goatenders, the Avs really should give a look to Tyler Weiman. He's much better than Budaj and has put up numbers to warrant a trial. Budaj quite simple looks like a guy who thinks he won't have to work and still get a roster spot.
Speaking of goaltenders, Trevor Cann is back out on the ice. After taking a Duchene wrister during Friday's Rookie Camp, he collapsed and it was feared he broke his collar bone.
Cann said it was just a "deep bruise" and that he reinforced his pads in the area to cover it up.
Lastly, Anderson looks really good, as does Brandon Maxwell. Anderson should help to shore up the goaltending, provided the defense plays up to their potential. Maxwell was sent back to junior but he's got a good chance of becoming an NHL goatender.
Line predictions
After watching camp, the Avs' lines should look something like this:
1. Wolski-Stastny-Hejduk- it's got top line talent, just need health and dedication from Wolski
2. Galiardi-Duchene-Jones- Gali plays both C and LW but he should play LW to give help to Duchene. Jones could be switched with either Svatos or Stewart but Jones has looked the best in camp.
3. McLeod-TBD-Stewart- Now that Shawn Bates is gone from the roster, there's a gap at center (okay, so that was there while he was here). Stoa's an option but not an ideal one (though it would be a big line) but McLeod and Stewart have skated on a line through camp and should continue to do so.
4. Tucker- Mercier- Svatos/Hensick- Don't like this line whatsoever. I'd prefer to keep Mercier in Lake Erie to learn the game and put Dupuis there but I'm doubtful it'll happen. Look for Koci to spell Tucker.
Defense:
1. Foote-Quincey: It's a decent pair and has an offensive component and a defensive as well.
2. Liles-Hannan: Can't stand this line. Liles is inconsistent and Hannan is, well, a thesarus of words that mean the same thing (crap).
3. Clark-Salei- Would like to see one traded to make room for Peltier but for now, it'll be a passable third pairing.
The defense isn't really strong but maybe a new system will help all of them. However, with Macias, Skinner and Peltier waiting in the wings, not to mention Elliot, Shattenkirk, Cohen and Gaunce on their way, look for one or two to be traded this year.
Goaltending:
1. Anderson
2. Budaj
Like Anderson, Budaj's overpayed and overplayed. Anderson will probably get in the realm of 50 ish games while Budaj gets 30 ish (still hoping for Weiman to get a shot but it's unlikely). It'll either work or it won't but there's nowhere to go but up.
The lines are still very rough. The forwards are young, the defense is aged and mostly overpayed and the goaltending is unpredictable. Regardless, let's get this the season started and let them show us what they can do.
Colorado Avalanche Blogger • 
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