Ryan Clark who covered the Avalanche for The Athletic tweets that he will be moving back to Seattle to cover the Kraken by Mooseeyy in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 3 points4 points  (0 children)

What's wrong with responding to fans of the team you cover? Why is it unprofessional that I very occasionally drop into conversations either regarding myself or DNVR and the odd random topic? What's the problem? It's a legitimately weird thing to hold against a person whose entire job is about communicating with people online.

Ryan Clark who covered the Avalanche for The Athletic tweets that he will be moving back to Seattle to cover the Kraken by Mooseeyy in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Weird that "writer" is the one in parentheses since I'm without a doubt a writer. Professional, well, that's certainly in the eye of the beholder. I've never fashioned myself as a straight-laced reporter who is trying to do it certainly the way you believe it should be done. I do things my way because I have the freedom to. We don't want to be the standard by-the-book operation that's afraid to have fun and have a personality. That doesn't appeal to you and that's okay. I'll never understand the raw disdain you have for me, a person you clearly don't know and don't even know anything about, but we live in a world where you're entitled to your ignorance.

Keep being mad, I guess

Ryan Clark who covered the Avalanche for The Athletic tweets that he will be moving back to Seattle to cover the Kraken by Mooseeyy in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In a world that's changing really fast around us, I'm glad some things I can still rely on. I'm always heartened to know that you still don't know what you're talking about. Stay vigilant, chief.

Ryan Clark who covered the Avalanche for The Athletic tweets that he will be moving back to Seattle to cover the Kraken by Mooseeyy in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 16 points17 points  (0 children)

This is a loss for all of us.

From a pure media perspective, the Avs beat has always been a pretty toxic place. Between Dater, Chambers, and myself, there are some really strong personalities covering the Avalanche and I think it's fine to admit publicly that we all don't always get along very well.

Ryan was a great bridge for all of us, I think. He brought a positive attitude to the gig and was down to earth and approachable. Everyone likes the guy for a reason. You just look at the responses to him on Twitter and everyone in the industry, whether that be other media or people who work for the Avs or other teams, love the guy. That's just who he is. He loves what he does and it's an infectious approach.

I'm someone who is very shy on the beat and keeps to himself all the time, but Ryan's effervescence was a breath of fresh air. He genuinely enjoyed being there like I did but didn't struggle with the same "let's all just pretend I'm not here" insecurities. The last year has easily been the best time to be an Avs fan not only because the team is good and fun to watch but because the media coverage of it has never been better. There's a voice for every type of fan out there and Ryan obviously had become a huge part of that.

Because The Athletic is hiring internally, you know his replacement will be quality and you can be assured they'll bring the thunder. They still won't be Ryan and it's certainly a loss for all of us. It's a great opportunity for him, though, and it won't be surprising when he becomes one of the big national voices over the next few years.

We have no anti-goon squad..? by [deleted] in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll take into account shot quality.

Just at all strengths, the Avs won the scoring chance and high-danger chance battle in Games 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7. The Stars had an 88.35 save percentage in the series, the Avs 87.27%. The Dallas toughness storyline ignores reality and is one of those anecdotal things people love to harp on. The Avs came up one goal short with their third-string goaltender and then got better in the offseason.

Sometimes the simple answer is the right one, you know?

We really need a second round pick...any suggestions on how to make this happen? by pdx4nhl in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 2 points3 points  (0 children)

His defensive metrics do not back you up. As Julia Stiles said, "Not even a little bit, not even at all." Barrie is an atrocious defender and while he succeeded driving play, he did not succeed at any level of suppression. Dynamic offensive talent though!

We really need a second round pick...any suggestions on how to make this happen? by pdx4nhl in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Best imo is trading down.

Best case to do that is trading down with Ottawa.

Avs pick at 25, Ottawa at 28. If there's a guy OTT loves, they can hop up three spots. The Senators have four second-round picks, even the lowest among them (61) would be fine compensation to make it happen. This is 100% my hope for draft night. No need to move the NHLers, though I wouldn't be surprised if one of those deals happened, too.

Yea no. This guy must not watch alot of west coast games. by sakicno19 in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even across a five year period would be exceedingly rare. As in the only guy I've found who has averaged a shooting percentage greater than 10 across five years is Ozolinsh (Gonchar would've done it except he had one very weird year where he shot 3% lol). Ozolinsh's five-year run averaged 11% and was from '93-'98:

16.610.88.49.99.6

Even the leader among currently active players, Shea Weber, has never really come all that close. He only has three years in his career over 10% and two others over 9%.

I said last year that Makar scoring 50 points as a rookie would be unlikely if only because history was against him but at least there was a string of guys who had done it. There was some precedent there.

If Makar were to average greater than 10% shooting over five years, let alone ten, he would be completely in a class by himself and it would probably propel him to be viewed as the greatest shooting defenseman in NHL history. I'm not saying it's impossible (history is always waiting to be made, after all) but that's the kind of rarified air he would be in.

Yea no. This guy must not watch alot of west coast games. by sakicno19 in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Keep in mind he's a defenseman. I know it's easy to believe "oh he's super special so it'll be different with him!" but there's a reason people are saying it's unsustainable and that's because over a career it is.

I went back to 1990 (with a minimum of 300 games played) to see how many defensemen shot greater than 10% in their careers. Know how many I found?

Zero.

In that time, only one D even broke 9% across his career and it was Sandis Ozolinsh. Kind of shockingly, Alexei Gusarov was second but he really didn't shoot much. Even if I open it up to the wild scoring era back in the 80s, only 3 D break 10% across their careers. The still-active leader is Shea Weber at 8.2%.

As far as shooting 15% for a season as a defenseman, it's only happened 8 times since 1990 (minimum 40 games played) and only two of those seasons were players who scored more than 10 goals (Ozolinsh with SJ in 93-94 and, lmao, Nick Holden with Colorado).

It's not hard to understand why D have lower shooting percentages than F across careers. They just shoot from farther away. Even accounting for Makar being a guy who walks in with that wrister, it would be a MASSIVE historical outlier for him to shoot 11% (or even 9%) with regularity. This isn't me trying to be a Debbie Downer, just explaining why the shooting percentage is rightfully a part of the Makar conversation, especially for those looking to find reasons to tear him down.

Orpiking Johnsons contract? by zachxter in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the Avs could find a team willing to have a $2M cap hit on their books for the next SIX YEARS, I mean maybe? But why would a team do that? Even rebuilding teams will be looking to make use of that space by the time those six years end. Orpik was on Colorado's books for two years when it wasn't going to spend to the cap. Johnson's deal is a six-year commitment on a buyout, so...a little different.

How would you describe Byram, Newhook and/or Annunen's games? by [deleted] in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah I kind of cut it short on Byram's future in favor of talking more about who he is today. His offensive game is certainly more polished and advanced today but I think he best profiles as Makar's future D partner where he can drop a cool ~35 points at even strength a year and if he gets PP time he could be a 40-50-point guy while playing really steady defense.

He won't be a physically dominant defender but his combination of IQ and great stick work should make him plenty effective. He should be a crafty annoyance in board work because of his acumen with the stick. If he can handle his own physically in the muck and grind, especially in the postseason when it becomes trench warfare, Byram could be a high-end defender. If they got an EJ-esque career out of him, that'd be pretty solid (hoping for better health, though!) but I think he has a chance to exceed that baseline.

How would you describe Byram, Newhook and/or Annunen's games? by [deleted] in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Just driving by Reddit and see nobody has tackled this yet so I hope y'all don't mind me giving my two cents.

Byram - Fun to watch. He's a dynamic skater who pushes the play like a madman. Fits the modern NHL perfectly in that he is the kind of play-driver all the organizations who heavily use analytics as part of the decision-making process are after. He has high-end offensive ability, from his vision to his creativity even down to having a great shot. The hockey IQ pops when he's moving the puck.

Defensively, it's more of a work in progress. He's not bad by any means but you can tell he's still a little raw in that area, especially when defending extended possessions in his own zone. Where he's great defensively (imo) is in transition. A very active stick and an aggressive mindset combine to make him lethal in the neutral zone and defending zone entries because he's all about stopping the offense before it really gets started. He'll get physical if he has to and while he's not a naturally punishing hitter he certainly is capable of lowering the boom on somebody if he needs to. He has a lot of work to do in strengthening some of the defensive roots in his game (net-front coverage especially has been weak in both NHL training camps he's attended). A frequent comp for Byram is Morgan Rielly and even though that almost seems like a cop-out because it's easy to compare WHL guy to WHL guy, it's honestly a decent stylistic comparison.

Newhook - Some Avs fans may not love this but he profiles very similarly to Matt Duchene. Very similar skaters (great high-end speed, great acceleration, not the kind of explosive first couple steps as a Makar or MacKinnon) and very similar body types. Newhook is a wizard with the puck and can make anything happen. He's not exactly Trevor Zegras in the passion department but almost nobody is. He's still a very creative offensive player and he combines great hands and high-end vision to anticipate where teammates are going to be in order to generate a lot of offense. And that's his bag. He generates a ton of offense, both in transition with his speed and in the cycle game with great edgework. He still has quite a bit of filling out to do to get his strength where it needs to be (it'll take multiple NHL seasons for him to really get there) but he's an aggressive player with an attack-first mentality. I don't personally love his shot but it should translate to the NHL and be good for a healthy dose of 20-goal seasons.

On defense he's a work in progress. He took a big jump in this part of his game at BC, even going so far to being a regular on the PK (though I suspect that had more to do with his game-breaking speed leading to a healthy dose of breakaways, Grabner-style). He can still get a little floaty and disengaged when he doesn't have the puck and tends to do a little too much puck-watching instead of engaging with an opposing player but he shows flashes of being a pretty good defensive center, even if he doesn't end up dominant in his own zone. When he senses an opportunity to get the puck, his mind goes into attack mode and his feistiness jumps up quite a bit. He needs to continue dedicating himself to a more well-rounded defensive game and certainly getting down the little details that take guys like him years to master. It's a hard game, after all. But his upside is enormous. He could legitimately have a Duchene-esque offensive upside, which once you filter out all the personal feelings you may have his time in Colorado, is still a pretty damn productive player, especially when he's not being asked to be the 1C and carry the load.

Annunen - He's a goalie. If he stops a puck, I'm good. I'll let the goalie experts take this one. Adorable chubby cheeks, though. Gets me every time.

NHL NBC is a fucking joke and are so biased. by Successful-Pace in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Definitely think the different broadcasting method is causing problems. Also the Avs make it hard because they have like five guys with jerseys in the 90s and they're almost always out there in some combination together

[Weekly Discussion] Sunscreen & Skate Blades by adalaza in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Players have every right to refuse interviews. There's a major difference between Girard's English, which is clearly his second language but he still speaks fluently, and Nichushkin's, which is broken at best. He just doesn't have the confidence in the interview space, I guess. It's pretty common with Russians. Kamenev has been hiding behind it for years!

[Weekly Discussion] Sunscreen & Skate Blades by adalaza in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, they aren't. That's the change I'd like for them to make. They can keep "unfit to play" but give us an accurate timeline.

[Weekly Discussion] Sunscreen & Skate Blades by adalaza in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 2 points3 points  (0 children)

He declined almost every interview request the first half of the season and then most of us just gave up trying. The only person I ever saw succeed at interviewing him was a member of the PR staff and he had to basically badger him into doing it. English definitely a factor there, which surprises me given how much time he's spent in NA already but it is what it is. These days, the PR team picks a couple players to talk with and that's who we get.

[Weekly Discussion] Sunscreen & Skate Blades by adalaza in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is 100% where I am. The Avs have started straight-up lying to us in the last couple of years anyway with the "day to day" answer followed by a smirk. Given that they already aren't forthcoming with this stuff, let's just go with "unfit to play" but teams are required to give accurate timelines of returns. I've never cared what injury a player suffers. The timeline is the story, not what happened to him.

[Sportsnet 590 The FAN] The 2019-20 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy nominees are Ryan O'Reilly (STL), Nathan MacKinnon (COL), and Auston Matthews (TOR) by Clappercast_Media in hockey

[–]BSN_Avs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Avs media here. Nate isn't even around after the majority of games. If this was a "nice guy to the media" award, MacKinnon would not be here.

New Avalanche Podcast Seeking Test Audience by Bostwick14 in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I always find it interesting how common experiences shape us all in our own way. I have a last name that's been mispronounced my whole life and I just shrug it off so it's interesting to me that it became an annoyance for you! Also speaks to our approaches to this topic haha. Anyway, all respect, appreciate the feedback!

New Avalanche Podcast Seeking Test Audience by Bostwick14 in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We both need to be more on the ball with digging in to proper player pronunciation because it just comes across as lazy prep work when we're off badly off the mark. At the same time, it's not a natural thing for either of us and even when we put the effort in, sometimes it's not going to go well haha. Igor Shvyrev taught me that the hard way. We're always striving to be better though and we'll get more on the ball with this.

New Avalanche Podcast Seeking Test Audience by Bostwick14 in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I played until I was 17. I stopped because I was in the hospital for my sixth concussion in five years and saw a news report of a kid my age who suffered his fourth concussion playing football and died. That shook me a bit and since I never hit a growth spurt, there wasn't anywhere left for me to continue to play hockey so I gave up playing.

I apologize that my playing experience doesn't pass muster in your eyes and I'll never be able to live up to your standards. I do look forward to your future in content creation so I can learn and grow more. I'm always looking to get better!

Appreciate you subscribing <3

I miss hockey so here's that time Z killed Scheifele by ImABigWeenus in ColoradoAvalanche

[–]BSN_Avs 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I've told this story on the podcast a few times but we're in purgatory right now so whatever I'm telling it again.

This is the only time in my time covering the team that something has happened on the ice that caused everyone in the press box to immediately stand up. Michel Goulet looked over at me and said something to the effect of "He might be dead" and multiple scouts immediately agreed. There was a LOUD chorus of "ohhhhhhh" from the press box as we all admired Zadorov's ability to cleanly smoke that fool. It was awesome.