SB Nation - Tom Preissing

Tom Preissing Waived

David Driscoll-Carignan — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:27:24 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

29 days ago: Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, right, of Finland, is run into by Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tom Preissing, front left, after Preissing was checked by Predators right winger Jordin Tootoo (22) in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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The Colorado Avalanche have placed defenseman Tom Preissing on waivers. This is not at all a surprise move; it's actually one we've been speculating would happen for some time now. Preissing has a $2.75 million salary and is signed through the end of next season. It is highly unlikely that he will be claimed and will instead be headed to the AHL (he cleared waivers in the spring when the Kings sent him to their farm team). In making this move, the Avalanche clear some cap space and Preissing gets a chance to play every day.

In other roster news, Kyle Cumiskey has been placed on the IR retroactive to November 23rd (meaning he'll miss at least tonight's game and Monday's game against Tampa Bay) while Adam Foote and Matt Hendricks have been activated and could play tonight.

Game 26 Recap: Wild 5 - Avalanche 3

David Driscoll-Carignan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:11:23 -0000

More photos » by Tom Olmscheid - AP

27 days ago: Colorado Avalanche defenseman Ryan Wilson (44) goes to the ice after a check by Minnesota Wild right wing Cal Clutterbuck, right, during the first period of an NHL hockey game Friday, Nov. 27, 2009, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Olmscheid)

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Final - 11.27.2009	1	2	3	Total
Colorado Avalanche	1	2	0	3
Minnesota Wild	1	2	2	5

Complete Coverage >

My motto's always been; when it's right, it's right.
Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night.
When everything's a little clearer in the light of day.
And you know the night is always gonna be there any way.

-The Starland Vocal Band, Afternoon Delight

Unless you are a fan of the Wild or an NHL linesman, this one wasn't much of an afternoon delight. The game was kind of a sloggy, stop-and-go affair with a ton of stoppages. There were 70 faceoffs - 18 more than were in the Avs OT game against Nashville on Wednesday. I'm sure the Wild will take it, however.

The Avalanche jumped on the board first. Matt Duchene was relegated to the 4th line today, but was a factor early. On just his 2nd shift, he moved the puck off the right wing boards. As his winger, Chris Stewart, drew the attention of a couple of Wild players, Duchene smartly dished it back to a wide open Kyle Quincey. Quincey hesitated a second before burying it past Nik Backstrom.

Minnesota tied it up about 4 minutes later when Owen Nolan was the first to a rebound in front of the net. It figures; he always seems to score against the Avs.

In the 2nd, Chuck Kobasew and his porn mustache (the Wild are growing mustaches for charity) made the game 2-1. Kobasew and Kyle Quincey collided in the corner. Quincey got to his feet, but let Kobasew go to pressure Derek Boogaard with the puck in the corner. Bad idea; Boogaard dished the puck to a now wide open Kobasew for an easy goal.

Both teams then traded quick PP goals, with Paul Stastny and Kobasew scoring goals with the man advantage. The Avalanche tied it late in the 2nd when Wojtek Wolski and Chris Stewart got a breakout when Shane Hnidy misplayed the puck and turned it over after a faceoff. Wolski streaked down the ice and made a tremendous pass to Stewart who slammed home his 2nd goal of the year.

While it was great that the Avalanche could tie the game, they had to have been kicking themselves a bit as both Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny had a beautiful scoring chance ring off the post and then TJ Galiardi's swat at a loose puck in the crease ended up knocking the puck out of the net instead of in. If any of those chances go in, the Avs are up 4-3 after two and have a chance at at least grabbing a point.

Instead, the teams were knotted up going into the 3rd and only one team seemed interested in changing that. Hint: it wasn't Colorado. The Avs were woefully outplayed in the first half of the 3rd with Minnesota getting several extended shifts in the offensive zone. Somehow, the Avalanche held on and had a chance to break the tie 8 minutes in when Marek Zidlicky went to the box for tripping. This being the Avalanche powerplay, the crucial opportunity was squandered. And, less than 20 seconds after the Wild killed it off, Darcy Tucker used up the last of the goodwill he had stored up in September by taking a slashing penalty. I was kind of unsure how to proceed there for a while when Tucker was actually playing well, but now that he's back to playing bad hockey I no longer feel conflicted as a fan. Anyway...shockingly, Minnesota scored on their powerplay when Mikko Koivu created a goal by coming out from behind the net with the puck (something he's done about 16,000 times against the Avs) before dishing to Andrew Brunette on the backside.

That was the winner. The Avalanche woke up late and had some sustained pressure with Craig Anderson off for an extra attacker, but they just couldn't get it past Backstrom. Eventually, the dam broke, Koivu got a breakaway and selflessly waited for Kobasew to get open so that he could collect the hat trick (I think they should have waved that one off - he was clearly in the crease!). The Wild aren't the greatest team in the NHL right now, but for the 2nd time this year they've shown the Avs that you can't take any NHL team for granted. The Avs have mailed in two opportunities against the Wild, and they have two losses to show for it. Let's hope they come out with a little more effort and consistency tomorrow.

Lines

The lines were completely changed around tonight (and bore no resemblance to what Altitude listed on their ticker at the start of the game). Matt Duchene started on the 4th line, but he and linemate Chris Stewart had solid games and played their way into good ice time. Wojtek Wolski and Cody McLeod played the early part of the game together, but seemed to switch sides frequently, something Sacco's done off and on all year. Milan Hejduk did not play in the 3rd period after suffering some sort of knee injury.

Hejduk - Stastny - Jones
Wolski - O'Reilly - McLeod
Tucker - Galiardi - Svatos
Koci - Duchene - Stewart

Hannan - Quincey
Wilson - Liles
Clark - Preissing

Quick Hits

Thanks in part to substantial PP time, Chris Stewart had 16:21 of ice time, the most minutes he's had since the 2nd game of the year
Paul Stastny took 32 of the teams 70 faceoffs today.
Tom Preissing had no PP ice time at all, and has had just a smattering of PP shifts after his debut in the 8-2 Vancouver debacle. With our PP struggling, would it be such a terrible idea to give him a shot?

Video Highlights

Next Up

The Avalanche host the Wild tomorrow night, in Denver.

Game 26 Preview: Avalanche at Wild

David Driscoll-Carignan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:48:53 -0000


Colorado Avalanche	12 MT / 2 ET / 7 GMT	Minnesota Wild
14-7-4	November 27th, 2009	8-12-3
32 pts	Xcel Energy Center	19 pts
3rd in West	St Paul, MN	15th in West

The Colorado Avalance are in Minnesota this afternoon to take on the Minnesota Wild. The Wild have had a rough season so far and are currently mired in last place. They simply haven't been able to get anything going this year and have only managed to put together two consecutive wins twice (they've yet to win 3 in a row). Like Colorado, the Wild got a loser point on Wednesday, falling to the Boston Bruins in a shootout.The Wild are their normal low-scoring selves this year. Unfortunately, they are 23rd in the league in goals against per game (just ahead of the Avs) to go with that. It's hard to win 2-1 hockey games when you are giving up 3 goals a game...

The teams have met each other once this season, with the Wild taking advantage of a slew of Avalanche penalties and winning in the shootout, 3-2. Neither team really play the sort of style to facilitate this, but the opportunity is there to develop a little bad blood, as they are playing 3 times over the next 2 weeks (today, tomorrow and December 9th). Derek Boogaard and David Koci did tangle in the first game, but it wasn't much of a fight.

Minnesota is expected to be without forwards Martin Havlat and Antti Miettinen; both missed the game on Wednesday and neither practiced on Thursday. The Wild hope to have Gillaume Latendresse in the lineup; he was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens earlier in the week. No word yet as to who the starting goalie will be for Minnesota, but Niklas Backstrom has started 20 of the Wild's 23 games.

The Avalanche will again be without the services of Adam Foote, who will be missing his 5th game with a mere flesh wound, and Kyle Cumiskey (broken jet pack). Brian Fahey was called up from Lake Erie yesterday and it's possible he'll play instead of Tom Preissing. Craig Anderson is the starter today, according to Adrian Dater's reborn twitter feed. Andy is 8 games away from his NHL season high of 31.

Tale of the Tape

Colorado			Minnesota
5th	32	Points	28th	19
7th	3.00	GF/G	27th	2.35
22nd	2.88	GA/G	23rd	2.91
22nd	18.4	PP%	23rd	18.2
15th	80	PK%	8th	83.2
30th	25.8	S/G	23rd	28.7
25th	32.6	SA/G	10th	28.5
29th	46.7	FO%	8th	51.4
13th	13.4	PIM/G	5th	11.3
Stastny	23 pts	Top Scorer	Koivu	21 pts

Avalanche Roster Moves

David Driscoll-Carignan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:41:08 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

2 months ago: Colorado Avalanche center T. J. Hensick (7) moves the puck past Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Suter, left, in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

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The Avalanche made a couple of moves today. As usual, the news came first from the AHL transaction wire...

T.J. Hensick has cleared waivers and has been reassigned to Lake Erie. I have enough faith in T.J.'s potential that I was sweating this move slightly, but I guess no one wants to spend $850,000 (Hensick's NHL salary) to see if a change of scenery (or coach) would snap him out of his funk. Now that he's cleared, I'm glad to see him sent down to Lake Erie, as he needs to get some ice time and a giant boost of confidence. This is probably the point in the piece where I mention (again) that I think Hensick has looked better this year than he's been given credit for. Oh look! It was!

To replace Hensick, Chris Durno has been recalled again. He has 15 points in 14 games with Lake Erie this year, but he's a 4th liner / reserve forward for us.

The Avalanche also recalled defenseman Brian Fahey. You may recall that Fahey is a minor-league vet (he's 28) acquired this summer for Nigel Williams. Williams is tearing up the AHL this year with 1 point. Fahey has 6...with a Svatos-like line of 5 goals, 1 assist and 22 penalty minutes. Fahey has played in 334 AHL games and 104 ECHL game, but has yet to play in his first NHL game. I'm curious to find out if he and Craig Anderson knew each other growing up. They were both born in 1981 in Illinois in towns that are about 7 miles from each other. You have to figure they've crossed paths at some point, right?

Both Kyle Cumiskey and Adam Foote have been ruled out for Friday's Minnesota game (in fact, neither made the trip); I don't know if Fahey will play instead of Tom Preissing, but it wouldn't shock me if it happened.

Colorado Avalanche: What the Hell Happened?

David Driscoll-Carignan — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:15 -0000

Halloween, 2009. Although the Avalanche had lost the night before to San Jose, we woke up that Saturday feeling pretty good about our team. The Avalanche had finished October at phenomenal 10-2-2 and, as we dressed our kiddos in their Halloween costumes and ran out to the stores to stock our trick-or-treat bowls, we had a little spring in our step. Our sad-sack Avalanche of last year had turned things around and were currently perched on top of the Western Conference (indeed, they were tied with Pittsburgh at 1st in the league).

And, yet, we knew.

Oh, sure, we got indignant when James Mirtle (and others) predicted we'd start to fall back into the pack or whenever someone failed to give the Avalanche props in power rankings and the like. We're proud of our team and, after 6 months of nothing but negativity (on the ice and off), it was great to have something to feel good about again. Deep down, though, we knew. The team was better (not that we could have gotten much worse than the steaming pile of dung that was the 2008 season); the Avalanche were working harder, working smarter and, for the first time in years, had a bona fide #1 between the pipes. But - and this may be the largest "but" I've ever written - this was not a first-place team. Deep down, we knew it.

Since then, it hasn't been very pretty. The Avalanche have gone 3-5-1 in November. That won't get it done. If the Avalanche were to continue at that pace, they'd finish the season at 33-40-9. 75 points. Last year, 75 points would have been good enough for...you guessed it: 3rd-worst record in the NHL. Are you guys ready for the next "tank it 4 ___" watch?

What the hell happened? Lots. Adrian Dater covered it very well on Friday night after the latest debacle. I agree with every single point in that excellent post. I'd also like to flesh out a few thoughts I've had bouncing around in that little plinko machine in my head.

Unquestionably, any discussion about the Avs and their now-wheelless bus has to start with the powerplay. After 6 games, the Avalanche had 10 PP goals and were humming along at 38.5% efficiency. For a team that scored just 50 PP goals last year, that was an amazing start. Sadly, it wouldn't last. In the 17 games since that game 6 in Toronto, the Avalanche have just 7 PP goals in 62 chances. That's a pitiful 11.3% efficiency, even worse than 15.7% the Avalanche mustered last year and the 14.6% laugher under Joel Quenneville that created our power play kitten meme. Why has it been so bad? Losing John-Michael Liles has had an impact. It's probably not a coincidence that the PP collapse coincided with Liles' leaving the lineup; he was injured in the Toronto game. In a perfectly symmetrical stat, the Avalanche have had 44 PP opportunities this year with Liles in the lineup and 44 PP opportunities with him out of the lineup. With him in, they've scored 13 times (29.5%). Without? 4 (9.1%).That's ugly.

Compelling stats, but there's more to it. In the first 6 games, the Avalanche were getting something on the powerplay they have lacked for years: scoring from the point. Kyle Quincey was absolutely revitalizing in the early going and he, Liles and Brett Clark combined for 3 goals and 11 assists on the PP in the first 6 games. Since then, bone dry and I mean Mojave Desert dry. No goals for any of them. Liles has 2 assists (both in Friday's game). Quincey and Clark have just one PP assist each. What happened to them? In the last 4 games, Quincey hasn't even registered a shot on net (PP or otherwise). They have been so ineffective that Joe Sacco has resorted to using a forward on the point. It's working about as well as it did under both Joel Quenneville and Tony Granato. In other words, it isn't.

And how about that Kyle Quincey? When the Avalanche traded for him this summer, I was less than pleased. It wasn't so much a knock on Quincey (or Tom Preissing...don't ask me to go there right now) as I felt it was a mistake to trade Ryan Smyth. My argument was that the Avalanche had a fair number of manageable defensemen, while they were thin offensively and at left wing. And that was before the sudden maturation of Kyle Cumiskey or the surprising play of Ryan Wilson. For a while, it looked like Quincey would sway me. In an interview for Second City Hockey's fan program back in October, I said the following:

Quincey has been a GREAT fit for us defensively. He is already paying dividends. The Avs have been looking for a PP quarterback for eons and his crisp passes have already started a boatload of breakaways at even strength.

What happened to those dividends? Did the board of directors vote to suspend them? Where did that PP quarterbacking go? Where did those breakout passes go? What about the big hits he was throwing around in the first couple of weeks? What's with all the stupid penalties all of a sudden (6 minor penalties in the last 4 games)? Is he still an upgrade for our defense? Yes. Has he been playing so far above the guys in the pressbox to warrant the trade of Smyth? No. I mean, Ruslan Salei can take bad penalties and do nothing on the PP just as well as Quincey has done lately. Speaking of Salei, he's set to return from his back injury soon. With all that defensive depth I talked about, is he even going to play? Or are we just going to pay Salei and Preissing $5.775 million to watch from the press box?

While I'm aware that moving Smyth was a salary move, you'd like to see a big trade like that make your team better. Smyth, in case you missed it, has 23 points in 22 games this year. Our #1 left wing, Wojtek Wolski, has a solid 20 points. No complaints there. After Wolski, though, our left wingers are providing butkus. Cody McLeod has 8 points. Darcy Tucker has 7. David Koci has 1. The Avalanche are so hard up at left wing that Marek Svatos (8 points) played there on Friday; he has 3 even strength points this year. I like Kyle Quincey, but wouldn't this team look much better right now with Ryan Smyth skating with Matt Duchene and Milan Hejduk rather than Svatos or Tucker?

Smyth's linemate this year is Anze Kopitar, who is tearing up the league (33 points). Smyth's linemate last year was Paul Stastny. While Stastny hasn't been terrible, he's been quieter than he should be. You may recall that when Kopitar signed his big extension with the Kings last year, I opined that that deal would be the ballpark for Stastny's upcoming extension. Sure enough, when Stastny signed his extension about a month later, it was just $200,000 less per season than Kopitar's. How's that worked out for the respective teams? For the Kings, really well. Here are Kopitar's numbers before signing his extension and his numbers since:

Before: 155 GP 52G 86A 138P -29 .89 PPG (points per game)
Since: 105GP 41G 58A 99P -10 .94 PPG

Since becoming rich, Kopitar hasn't rested on his laurels. In fact, he's increased his scoring production. You know what's coming next.

Before: 164GP 55G 109A 164P +16 1.00 PPG
After: 52GP 12G 29A 41P -3 .79 PPG

Stastny's production has slipped since signing his extension. Now, .79 PPG is not terrible, but it is a decline. That's a 65-point season, something 50 players managed last year. In fact, only 5 teams didn't have a player get to 65 points (want to guess one of them?). It's good, but it's not great. It's not quite $6.6 million worth, not quite highest-paid-on-the-team great, not quite 21st-highest-paid forward-like. It's hard to pick on a guy who leads the team in scoring, but Paul Stastny needs to be doing more and he needs to do it on a more consistent basis. Stastny is held off the scoresheet on too many nights and, in fact, is in the longest goal-scoring drought of his career (12 games). When he was a 2nd line center and the Avalanche had other weapons, this would have been okay. They don't have other weapons.

I'm already running long, so I'll have to speed through the rest of this. Craig Anderson has a 3.39 GAA and .885 Save Percentage in November and lately he's been making us think fondly of Jose Theodore's awful stickhandling. Perhaps we should hold off on giving him the keys to the city for a while longer. Our PK was terrific in October (12.9%) but it's been dreadful since (26.3%). The Avalanche were supposed to be harder to play against under Joe Sacco, but the Avs are giving up more shots per game than they did under Tony Granato and they are hitting substantially less (from about 10 per game to 6). How is that better?

At the end of October, Joe Sacco looked like a coach of the year candidate for the way he had turned this team around. In just 3 weeks, that's gone away. Although they are still high in the standings, they are looking more and more like last year's team - no scoring, defensive lapses, inconsistent goaltending. With another bad week, the Avs could be out of the top 8 altogether (they are just 5 points ahead of the 11th place Canucks).

Personally, I think the next few weeks are going to be very interesting. As we approached the start of the season, it seems like most of us fans felt that this season wouldn't be so much about winning as losing as it would be about effort and player development. That's going to be put to the test shortly, I'm afraid. Will we be frustrated with repeated losses? Or will we really be content to watch guys like Wojtek Wolski, David Jones and Kyle Cumiskey who are having career years (Cumiskey has already set a career high, and Jones needs just 2 more points to do the same) as well as seeing kids like Matt Duchene, Ryan O'Reilly and Ryan Wilson blossom? It will be an adjustment for sure, but not all that new for us. After all, we were 3 games over .500 and in 8th place as late as January 10th last year. I think we all know how that ended for us.

OK, So The Canucks CAN Score

Sean Zandberg — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:08:29 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

"I know that's you Daniel. Hank would never score a hatty."

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I hope you all got to watch that game last night. The Canucks answered their critics by demolishing the Avalanche 8-2 in front of their own fans. What a game. The Canucks continued the effort that they showed in the loss to Detroit, except this time they made life hell for Craig Anderson (who was pulled) and Peter Budaj. They held a meeting after the Wings game and mentioned that they had to get more traffic in front of the opposing netminder. Well done!

-Only 2 Canucks forwards had no points: Kyle Wellwood and Rick Rypien.

-3 defencemen had no points: Christian Ehrhoff, Willie Mitchell and Sami Salo

-Ryan Johnson, who had 7 assists last year, tallied 3 against the Avs.

-Henrik Sedin scored his first hat trick in 667 games played.

-8 Canucks had multi-point games. Steve Bernier's hand got softer, as he scored 2 goals.

-Legendary Canuck-killer Milan Hejduk played over 17:00, had zero points and 2 shots. Suck it, Milan.

-Welcome back to the NHL, Tom Preissing! How's that -4 treating ya?

-Colorado outshot the Canucks 34-30, including 16-8 in the 3rd. The Canucks scored 4 goals on those 8 shots.

-The Canucks' power play went 1-for-6

-I may or may not have gotten drunk due to celebrating.

BOXSCORE

HIGHLIGHTS

Game 20 Preview: Canucks at Avalanche

David Driscoll-Carignan — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:24:41 -0000


Vancouver Canucks	8 MT / 10 ET / 3 GMT	Colorado Avalanche
10-10-0	November 14th, 2009	12-4-3
20 pts	Pepsi Center	27 pts
t-9th in West	Denver, CO	2nd in West

The Avalanche host the Vancouver Canucks tonight, a game Joe Sacco has called "must win" (geez, he throws that phrase around like our own Joe does*). But this game is really about one thing: the jerseys. The Avs wear their new ~~revenue source~~ third jerseys tonight for the first time. We've all seen them by now, but this will be our first chance to see them on the ice. For those of us who can stay up that late, that is. (For the record, no recap from me tonight)

Craig Anderson will start for the Avs. Tom Preissing could make his season debut (I think he will) and Milan Hejduk could return as well (bank on that). Ruslan Salei took part in a full practice Friday, so he's close to returning too - but I don't think we'll see him yet. John-Michael Liles and TJ Galiardi are getting closer, but they won't play. Philippe Dupuis has been returned to Lake Erie.

For the Canucks, Roberto Luongo is back and he's the presumed starter tonight (thank goodness, as I don't think I could stomach getting shut out by Andrew Raycroft again). One of the Sedins is out (no, not that one, the other one. Or is it? I can't tell). The Canucks still have a very potent powerplay but are so-so at even strength. They have 18 goals at 5 on 4 and 28 at 5 on 5. The Avs have 11 PP goals and 36 5 on 5.

I am very excited today as we're taking the kids to Boston to see Star Wars in Concert. I've heard nothing but raves about this, and my kids are stoked (even my daughter who is under the weather). Why am I mentioning this? I actually do have a reason. My wife and I debated going to this for quite some time, as tickets were something like $60 each. To me, that was a lot of money for a concert. While we ultimately relented (and I'm glad we did), it occured to me later that that's considerably less than I would pay for one hockey game. To see the Bruins, only a handful of shitty seats are under $60. Where we're sitting for Star Wars (Loge 9), B's tickets cost $130 (plus fees) to see the crap teams and $150 to see the good teams. To me, that is an insane amount of money to spend on one hockey game. Playoff game? Sure. Beyond that, I can't justify spending $300 for tickets alone for my wife and I to go to a game (nevermind the price for parking, food and street hookers). We've been to 2 hockey games in the last 5 years, and both were special occasions (once for my birthday and once as a Christmas present for my wife). I really don't mind spending all the wads of cash I rake in from this site (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha), but $300 for a single hockey game? Not worth it. I know lots of you have weighed in on the reasons for the Avs' attendance woes. As of this 10am this morning, I could buy tickets for great seats next to the glass (sect 130, row 1) for tonight's game...at $216 a pop. To me, that's just simply too much. Call me when tickets are $20.

*[Geez, you make a mistake two years ago and they never let you hear the end of it. Tough crowd. -Joe]

Canucks vs Avalanche coverage

Nucks Misconduct

Preview

Game 19: Avalanche at Blackhawks

David Driscoll-Carignan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:11:47 -0000


Colorado Avalanche	6:30 MT / 8:30 ET / 1:30 GMT	Chicago Blackhawks
12-4-2	November 11th, 2009	9-5-2
26 pts	United Center	20 pts
2nd in West	Chicago, IL	3rd in West

It's a light week for the Avalanche, with tonight's game being the weekday tilt. Hopefully, they can make it count. The Avs are coming off a sputtering loss to the Oilers on Sunday, a game in which they took roughly 270 penalties and gave up 67 power play goals. Those numbers may not be accurate, but it sure felt like a lot on this end. Maybe I should start keeping better notes...

I suppose you all read Craig Stancher's updates over at Ye Olde Official Website, but that won't stop me from cribbing them for my own personal use. Darcy Tucker is expected to return tonight and will likely skate on a line with (wait for it) Matt Duchene and Marek Svatos! Woohoo. Happy to have Tucker back, could have done without seeing this line reuinited though. If there's anyone who needs to be paired up right now with some skilled players, it's Matt Duchene. Heck, I wouldn't mind seeing him thrown on the left wing with Paul Stastny for a few games, just to give his game a boost. Milan Hejduk, who missed Sunday's game with a sore back, will probably play. If not, TJ Hensick skated in his place on the top line in practice Tuesday. [UPDATE: Not. Hejduk is out.]

Tom Preissing is back with the club after a two-game visit to Lake Erie. Joe Sacco has said he hasn't made up his mind yet as to whether it will be Preissing or Ryan Wilson. Personally, I think he has, but is trying to build suspense. Or something. Either way, Johnny Hot Pocket (aka Liles) did not make the trip to Chicago (if he's injured, who will model the new jerseys tomorrow?). Ruslan Salei practiced a bit, but he's still out.

The Blackhawks have some players returning from injury as well. Jonathon Toews has returned recently and Ben Eager was activated from IR on Monday. Here's their recent lines, courtesy of hockey centric. Get a good look at the Hawks tonight, as it's the last time we face them until the next-to-last game of the season.

It will be Craig Anderson for the Avalanche again. Cristobal Huet got the win on Monday, so figure him to get another shot under the Quenneville Goalie Rotation Carousel System (TM). Check Left Wing Lock during the day for updates. [Update: Huet is confirmed].

From the Good Thought But Kind Of Tacky Department, the Blackhawks will wear "historic" camoflauged jerseys during warmups. I will not be wearing anything similar in honor of Veterans Day (aka Armistace Day aka Rememberance Day), but do wish to express my most sincere gratitude to all of you who have served. As John Kelly would say, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Finally, Happy 37th Birthday to Steve Konowalchuk.

By the way, as I was typing this, Alan Parsons Project's "Sirius" came up randomly on my PC. Twice. Not really sure what my PC was trying to tell me. Despite being an absolute kick ass song, it's also curiously appropriate, as it's the song the Chicago Bulls used to play before games. I say "used to", but it's possible they still do; I haven't watched a basketball game in 36 years. Or so. Maybe it's less than that. Maybe I should start keeping better notes...

Avalanche vs Blackhawks coverage

Second City Hockey

Game Notes (Now with Tom Preissing goodness!)

Colorado			Chicago
2nd	26	Points	3rd	20
10th	3.00	GF/G	15th	2.88
3rd	2.28	GA/G	5th	2.31
16th	19.4	PP%	17th	18.8
9th	82.3	PK%	2nd	86.2
28th	25.5	S/G	4th	32.9
25th	32.8	SA/G	1st	22.4
30th	45	FO%	2nd	53.4
12th	12.9	PIM/G	8th	11.2
Stastny	18 pts	Top Scorer	Kane	16 pts

Today in Colorado History: November 11th, 2007. Paul Stastny records his 100th NHL point in his 99th NHL game.

Colorado Avalanche Prospects Weekly

Angélique C. Murray — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:48:50 -0000

A look back at the news and events for Avs prospects for the week of November 1st through November 7th. In this week’s edition, we look back at the Lake Erie Monsters, the early NCAA story, news in the CHL and a story on a former Avs prospect who rediscovered his passion for hockey.

First, let me apologize for my lack of updates the last few weeks. Not to bring "real" life into this story, but there have been some changes to my work schedule and I’ve had to make adjustments elsewhere. Enough of my boring life, on to the hockey!

The Lake Erie Monsters suffered a couple of home losses this week to Abbotsford and Toronto. The Monsters are sitting with a 6-7 record after 13 games. Tyler Weiman was in net for both games; stopping 56 of 60 shots. The Monsters roster has been shuffled a bit due to injuries and call ups. Darren Haydar has the early scoring lead with 10 points in 12 games.

Brian Willsie and Chris Durno have been returned to the Monsters from their recent stint with the Colorado Avalanche. The Monsters have also received the services of Tom Preissing. He had an assist with the club in his first game, but isn’t expected to spend more than a week with the Monsters. Brandon Yip is scheduled to return sometime in December. Lake Erie will continue to gain depth as the Avs health improves.

In the NCAA, Mark Olver didn’t cool down after being named CCHA Offensive Player of the Week for last week. Olver had two goals as Northern Michigan split a two game set with Ohio State this weekend. He leads the Wildcats in scoring with 11 points in eight games. Northern Michigan hopes to improve from their 2-5-1 start.

Offense has been tough to come by for the 3-4-1 Gophers. Not only did they lose their leading scorer Ryan Stoa to the pros, but they have also lost the services of Jay Barriball for the season. Mike Carman has moved up to the first line as a center and LW, but has only recorded one point on the season. Canucks 2009 first round pick Jordan Schroeder has yet to score a goal. The Gophers goaltending, led by Alex Kangas and backup Kent Patterson, will need to keep Minnesota afloat.

In Boston, defending champion BU is off to a 2-4-0 start; perhaps not unexpected considering the graduations and early departures. On top of those issues, they have lost one of their best forwards, Nick Bonino, to a shoulder injury. In addition to missing some of the offensive output, sophomore goaltender, Kieran Millan, hasn’t been as sharp this season. The Terriers cannot afford to dig a much deeper hole.

The 2009 Subway Super Series kicks off on November 16 and runs through November 26, 2009. The event features "all-star" teams from the OHL, QMJHL, and the WHL facing off against a team of Russians. The series is six games, with the Russians playing each CHL team twice. The Avs will be well represented as Kesley Tessier will play for Team QMJHL, Cameron Gaunce for Team OHL, and Tyson Barrie and Stefan Elliott (pictured) for Team WHL.

On the ice, Stefan Elliott and Peter Delmas were recently honored with player of the week awards in their respective leagues. Elliott has a chance of participating at the upcoming World Junior Championships in Saskatoon/Regina for Canada. Elliott didn’t receive an invite to the summer camp, but has turned some heads with his performance this season.

Lastly, a story about a player who found his passion for hockey, after stepping away from the game. In 2004, the Avs used their second round pick on Ontario native Victor Oreskovich. Oreskovich was drafted out of the USHL, having spent the season with the Green Bay Gamblers. In the fall of 2004, he moved up to the college ranks at Notre Dame. Oreskovich struggled and during his sophomore season he left the team to join the Kitchener Rangers (OHL). He produced 76 points in 81 games in his less than two seasons with the OHL club.

Oreskovich would sign an entry-level contract with the Avs in the summer of 2007 and participated in training camp. It wasn’t a surprise that he would begin his first professional season with the Lake Erie Monsters. Yet, it was a bit surprising when Oreskovich made a decision to leave a contract and professional hockey behind. After he was reassigned by the Avalanche, Oreskovich "retired" (when he failed to report and was suspended by the club) and returned to Notre Dame to presumably finish his degree. He claimed he had lost enthusiasm for the game.

While at school, Oreskovich found himself missing the game and was fortunate to receive a second chance from Peter DeBoer, head coach of the Florida Panthers. DeBoer happened to be his coach while he played for the Kitchener Rangers. He gave the young man an opportunity to participate in the Florida Panthers training camp on a try-out this past September. Oreskovich was able to earn a two-way contract and has since made his NHL debut. As of this story, he has an assist in four games.

As an Avalanche fan, one has to wonder what could have been.

Until next week!

Game 18 Preview: Oilers at Avalanche

David Driscoll-Carignan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:17:19 -0000


Edmonton Oilers	6:00 MT / 8:00 ET / 1:00 GMT	Colorado Avalanche
7-8-1	November 8th, 2009	12-3-2
15 pts	Pepsi Center	26 pts
t-11th in West	Denver, CO	t-1st in West

The Avs try to continue as the only NHL team undefeated at home this year as they host the Edmonton Oilers this evening. If you're the type of person to believe in omens, my iTunes just served up two straight classic AC DC songs as I was writing this preview. Clearly, that bodes well for our chances, right?

Actually, if you glance at the tale of the tape below, these teams are quite similar statistically with the obvious exception being penalty killing and goals agaisnt average. Once you get beyond those (admittedly key) statistics, they are more or less the same. Both teams are middle of the pack scoring-wise. They are 29th and 30th in the league in terms of shots taken and are both near the bottom in shots allowed, so something will have to give tonight. And they both absolutely dreadful in the faceoff circle. Figure tonight's game to be a close one, similar to their meeting on October 27th when the Avs won 3-0 (it was 1-0 until midway through the 3rd period).

The Avs will again be without the services of John-Michael Liles. He is day to day with a shoulder injury suffered in the Chicago game. We wondered out loud if the Avalanche would recall Tom Preissing from his conditioning assignment to replace Liles tonight, and our question was magically answered by Craig Stancher on the Avs website. Preissing will remain with Lake Erie (they play tonight) and will rejoin the Avs on Monday and Ryan Wilson will play in Lile's absence. In other injury news, Darcy Tucker and Ruslan Salei both practiced Saturday wearing non-contact jerseys.

The Oilers have some injuries as well. Shawn Horcroff, JF Jacques, Ladislav Smid and Sheldon Souray are all out and Ales Hemskey is listed as day-to-day. The hockeycentric line combos are here.

Craig Anderson is the confirmed starter for Colorado. Nikolai Khabibulin is the presumed starter for the Oilers.

Oilers vs Avalanche coverage

Copper and Blue Preview

Game Notes

Edmonton			Colorado
22nd	15	Points	1st	26
14th	2.81	GF/G	10th	3.00
21st	3.06	GA/G	1st	2.12
16th	19.7	PP%	14th	20.6
20th	78.7	PK%	2nd	86.1
29th	25.2	S/G	30th	25.1
27th	34.2	SA/G	25th	32.8
29th	47.2	FO%	30th	44.4
17th	14	PIM/G	11th	12.1
Penner	19 pts	Top Scorer	Stastny	16 pts