On the Colorado Avalanche …
Darren Dreger: “Duchene, Landeskog…name a core player and the rumors will be flying once the roster freeze lifts. Something has to give in Colorado.”
Adrian Dater: There are 50 games remaining for the Avalanche, “but it really looks like their players have quit on it.”
Adrian Dater: (answering question) Not signing Alex Radulov was a factor in Patrick Roy quitting.
Adrian Dater: (answering question) Patrick Roy didn’t quit because they re-signed defenseman Tyson Barrie. “Anyone who says that doesn’t know ass from elbow about the Avs”
Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post: Firing head coach Jared Bednar isn’t the answer for the Avs. Trading Matt Duchene also isn’t the answer. The answer is at the top, as it’s “a poorly constructed hockey team.”
The issues on the blueline have been ignored for too long and are exposed even more now with Erik Johnson out.
Nathan MacKinnon said they “have no chemistry.”
If it’s time for the Avs to blow up their roster, should it be Joe Sakic doing it?
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Bob McKenzie on TSN 690 on Wednesday talking about the Colorado Avalanche and if it’s time for them to blow it up, or do they keep the core together and continue a rebuild.
McKenzie doesn’t know what GM Joe Sakic is planning.
“It’s a fair question to ask of a core that includes Duchene and Landeskog and MacKinnon. But I’m not sure that trading one of them is necessarily the answer, but I’m not sure that doing nothing is either. So I don’t have any first-hand knowledge of what Joe Sakic may be thinking. It’s one of the things I haven’t been able to get to yet in terms of actual knowledge versus just an opinion.”
Ryan O’Reilly was traded for financial reasons and the return hasn’t worked out. Would have thought with their core and the high draft picks, that they would be in a better position than they are. McKenzie thought the coaching change at the beginning of the year would have paid better dividends, but it hasn’t.
“So it’ll be a fascinating one in the New Year to see which way Joe Sakic is going to go on that, and we’ll have to try – in the absence of information, I’ll have to just plead the fifth.”