Weekly Grades: Deadline Addition Edition

6 months ago  /  Mile High Hockey

Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports


The Avs are on a three game win streak! But were they any good? We’re back with the Colorado Avalanche weekly report card – on a Saturday because I wanted to grade the new guys after yesterday’s trade deadline. You can read about the trades for Sean Walker, Casey Middlestadt, Brandon Duhaime, and Yakov Trenin, or hear your Mile High Hockey staff talk through of them here!
THE GAMES
Saturday @ Nashville: 5-1 LMonday vs Chicago: 5-0 WWednesday vs Detroit: 7-2 WFriday vs Minnesota: 2-1 W
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Nathan MacKinnon: 4 Goals, 7 Assists
I don’t know how you can ask for more from MacKinnon than an 11-point week. He extended his home point streak to all 32 games this season and took the NHL points lead from Nikita Kucherov, all while dominating the underlying statistics and dancing through people like he’s playing pickup pond hockey with amateurs.


Nathan MacKinnon finds twine with a wicked power play one-timer for his 40th goal of the year, 2-2 game!#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/JfNUOfqV8A— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) March 7, 2024




He makes it look so easy. I’m ignoring the Nashville game where the top line got fully caved in statistically because I’m allowed to do what I want, but yeah I guess stronger play on the road is the more you could ask for. A+
STAR WATCH
Cale Makar: 4 Goals, 2 Assists
His first career hat trick powered the Avs to their win over Detroit and put an exclamation point on the sentence Cale is back! We all know he’s had a significant dip in his play since the All-Star break, but with a little help from a leaky Alex Lyon, it appears to be over.


It’s Cale Makar! #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/igW621Klrx— Mile High Hockey (@MileHighHockey) March 7, 2024




All three goals were point shots that found their way through, and maybe seemed to be more of a Lyon fail than a Makar success – but when he’s on his game offensively he finds ways to put pucks on net through screens and handcuff goalies like this. Beyond the offense, Cale just looked smoother and more assertive in his skating and decision-making and gave up fewer high-danger chances per game than he had been for weeks. A-
Valeri Nichushkin: 1 Goal
One game, one goal, one OT power play winner! I was going to write up Val as a guy who played through some rust in his return from an extended stint in the NHL Players Assistance Program, but then he got a chance on the power play in overtime and proved his net front excellence isn’t rusty at all.


WELCOME BACK VAL NICHUSHKIN#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/qi8ZPHXyuR— Barstool Denver (@BarstoolDenver) March 9, 2024




The rest of his game was definitely a slog, as he didn’t have his hands or feet going in full swing as he adjusted to NHL game speed and a new center in Middlestadt. But he delivered when it counted, and it’s wonderful to see him back feeling well enough to play. A
Mikko Rantanen: 7 Assists
Assists in every game, including four against the Red Wings, make for an excellent week. I liked his effort every night, and he chipped in defensively in a big way with multiple highly skilled backchecks and pass breakups. Mikko moosed as much as possible without scoring goals. B+
MINDING THE NET
Justus Annunen:
Another game against Chicago, another shutout, no big deal – Annunen did enough to keep the NHL backup job. The front office was interested in bringing in a vet but Annunen’s play made that a want not a need – good on him.


Justus Annunen was up to task against the young phenom Connor Bedard. I like what I'm seeing from this kid lately.pic.twitter.com/wNTYzWP9u3— Avalanche Forever (@citchmook) March 5, 2024




That’s a casual shutdown of the league’s top young star. You love to see a big goalie stay big on breakaways, and Annunen is doing it consistently now. He’ll need to show he can do it against better teams than Chicago and Detroit - the team clearly believes he can. A+
Alexandar Georgiev:
The team in front of him was not good in Nashville, and Georgiev failed to bail them out. Other than that, what a wonderful week. Georgie was the whole reason Colorado pulled out the OT win against Minnesota and this save when the Detroit game was still close sprung the Avs to that win as well:


ALEXANDAR GEORGIEV! WHAT. A. SAVE. : @NHL_On_TNT & @SportsonMax ➡️ https://t.co/EMMI8cYmyv pic.twitter.com/mJ1uAIBVer— NHL (@NHL) March 7, 2024




Wow. If this Georgiev is the one who shows up in the playoffs Colorado is in good shape. A-
ROLE PLAYER HONOR ROLL
Jean-Luc Foudy: Got 10 minutes in his callup and scored his first NHL goal! A+


Another look at Foudy's first NHL goal ⬇️#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/MJiy5keBBo— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) March 7, 2024




DUNCE CAP IN MY DOGHOUSE DUNGEON
Jack Johnson: His pair with Byram got wrecked in the metrics, and his pair with Walker did even worse. Oh, and it was also bad with Caleb Jones. I wonder what the common denominator could be… D
THE REST
Bowen Byram: Sad to see him go off to Buffalo! He had a rough final week in an Avs sweater, with no points and middling underlying stats in two games before getting traded away and scoring in his Sabres debut.


Bo Byram has a goal in his 1st game as a Sabre pic.twitter.com/SuLsUQIMlZ— Drew Livingstone (@ProducerDrew_) March 8, 2024




I’ll give him an A for his career in Denver but a C for this week.
Andrew Cogliano: He continues to put up excellent defensive metrics at even strength but his declining puck skills and penalty kill struggles make him a scratch candidate as the roster gets healthier. Also what the hell was that penalty for shooting a stick at a guy? C’mon old man you’re smarter than that. C
Ross Colton: Two assists, but his metrics were brutal against Nashville and Detroit. They were excellent in a true third-line role in the Minnesota game, however, so I expect he’ll be trending up as we head toward playoffs. B-
Jonathan Drouin: Two goals, two assists, and very consistent forechecking and backchecking work. Drouin may not be on the top line anymore, but he hasn’t stopped playing like he belongs there.


Beauty of a shot from Jonathan Drouin! #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/DvZVHgDjW7— Mile High Hockey (@MileHighHockey) March 7, 2024




When he and Middlestadt find chemistry it’s going to be electric. B+
Brandon Duhaime: Played under five minutes at even strength and put up 90% xGF – that’s a tiny sample size, but a strong indicator that his speed on the forecheck and in the defensive zone is going to fit well here. Also had nearly three minutes of perfect PK work. B+
Sam Girard: Middling underlying statists, just one assist, and a couple of tough moments by the eye clouded a week where Girard provided a steady presence that freed up his teammates to flourish. I was surprised he didn’t have better metrics after generally liking the impression of his game each night. B-
Ryan Johansen: We’re finally free!!!! A+
Artturi Lehkonen: He is so good at what he does on the top line – digging pucks for the big guys both on the forecheck and in the D zone, and when he gets chances in front he capitalizes.


Colorado goal!Scored by Artturi Lehkonen with 19:20 remaining in the 1st period.Assisted by Nathan MacKinnon.Colorado: 1Minnesota: 0#MINvsCOL #GoAvsGo #MNWild pic.twitter.com/BtH31QzEAW— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 9, 2024




Love this goal. Love his motor. Love the player. A-
Joel Kiviranta: Wonderful assist on the Foudy goal. Otherwise solid B-
Josh Manson: Missed the Chicago game with an injury he may have picked up in Nashville, but put up an assist and excellent metrics when he came back. B+
Casey Middlestadt: Definitely will need some more time to adjust to the Avs systems, but his puck skills flashed in all three zones against the Wild. Excited to have him here. B
Logan O’Connor: Was ok playing hurt against Nashville, really struggled against Chicago, and then missed two games. C-
Ondrej Pavel: Played just 5 minutes in the Detroit blowout and put up great underlying stats – actually led the team in most metrics. B+
Zach Parise: Struggled in Nashville, but scored and excelled against Chicago and looked great before a knee injury slowed him down against the Wings. Sat out the Wild game to nurse that knee. B
Devon Toews: Had a would-be game-winning tip in goal against the Wild that my girlfriend said I got way too excited about taken off the board on offside review.


Devon Toews ties it with 2 minutes left pic.twitter.com/SEkjWFTMr4— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 9, 2024




He also had assists in the three other games and put up strong metrics. B+
Yakov Trenin: Played over 15 minutes in his debut and racked up very strong metrics on a line with Colton and Wood. That line led the team in xGF, and Trenin’s defensive zone work was a huge part of that. He also led all forwards in PK time. A
Sean Walker: Looked smooth in his debut, and I was surprised his metrics were brutal. Adjusting to a new defensive system could take time, and he definitely was playing more conservatively than he likely will when he gets comfortable. C+
Miles Wood: It’s been a while since he scored, but the metrics are good at even strength. He’s going to cede PK time to the new guys since he hasn’t been good there. C-
TEAM GRADE FOR THE WEEK
Three-game streak! It’s crazy how these win streaks seem to correspond to homestands – oh right, they suck on the road. That Nashville game was so horrible I wanted to turn it off but for you, dear reader, I persevered.



They did get back on track at home against a bad Chicago team:



And dominated Detroit with a depleted lineup. That Wings game might be the most dominant of the season, if not the last couple of years. Definitely the best single game since the Cup win.



And despite a truly dreadful second period and a called-back goal with just a couple minutes left in the third, the Avs eked out a win against the Wild because Alexandar Georgiev out-goalied Filip Gustavsson – and Gus was goalieing really really good!



Ultimately though, this week will be graded on the trades – I love them, I’m a huge Middlestadt fan and I think he and Trenin should be great fits in Denver long term. Walker will likely price himself out of Colorado and Duhaime will need to excel here to earn an extension.
For me the trades, the win streak, and the emphatic return of big Val outweigh that brutal loss to Nashville and the tough goodbye to Byram – this week gets an A-...

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