SB Nation User Blog: Tommelot

Mr. Burns, you're off to a slow start. What would you like to improve on? "Not being on the ice...

Tommelot — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:58:49 -0000

Mr. Burns, you're off to a slow start. What would you like to improve on?

"Not being on the ice when they score."

Puck Daddy previews Avs

Tommelot — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:24:19 -0000

Puck Daddy's previewing every team in the league with his ~~great~~ new format. The Avs are up, so let's jump and see what he has to tell us.

The first thing that stood out to me was the following:

and youngster Marek Svatos

I think there's a certain age when it starts being impolite to call a player a youngster, and I think 27 might be it.

the loss of Joe Sakic, but with him only playing 15 games last season, the players may already be used to his absence and therefore not feel like a huge hole in the lineup

The fans still miss him though!

Hedjuk (sic) [...] is entering the last year of his deal and at 33-years old, could set himself up with a nice final contract in the NHL if he can keep producing for Colorado or at least until they trade him at the deadline

I strongly believe the Duke will finish his NHL career with the Avs.

a veteran group in Colorado led by Adam Foote and John-Michael Liles

So 29 is veteran and 27 is youngster?

Otherwise, it's the recycled stuff any reader of MHH is all too familiar with. Nothing special, but nice to read from 'mainstream media' like Puck Daddy.

Poor 1st round drafting the reason for Avs current position?

Tommelot — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:25:06 -0000

I was looking at the recent draft history per year and noticed that they haven't been doing all that well, draft wise. Mainly in the first round they haven't been able to put the icing on the cake.

In my review I'm excluding picks later than the 2nd round as hardly any team, other than Detroit, could've expected those players to pan out.

So follow me after the jump and we'll see how they've fared in recent history:

1996

In 1996 the Avs had the 25th out of the 26 1st round picks, and they came up with Peter Ratchuk.

via www.checkoutmycards.com

Ratchuk played 32 games in the NHL (Panthers, signed as FA) before he was sent down and ended up in Germany.

Other players still available by then were Cory Sarich, Dan Lacouture, Josh Green, Matt Cullen, Steve Begin, Jan Bulis, Matthieu Garon and Colin White.

Most of these names don't ring any bells, but all of them have had more productive playing careers than Ratchuk and played at least 200 games in the NHL.

1997

This year the Avs had the last 1st round pick and chose Kevin Grimes.

[No picture findable].

Grimes never made it to the NHL and the Avs would've done better picking Ben Clymer, Henrik Tallinder or Kristian Huselius.

It looks like the 97 draft was slim pickings, but most NHL calibre players were drafted before the Avs could choose (Brendan Morrow with pick #25) or in later rounds.

1998

In 1998 the Avs had 4 first round picks (#12, #17, #19 and #20) and did pretty well. They first picked Alex Tanguay.

via assets.espn.go.com

Followed by Skoula, Regehr and Parker.

Nobody will argue the Tanguay pick, and Skoula and Regehr were quite decent choices also. But just imagine if they used one of the 3 remaining picks (Tanguay was solid) to grab Gagne, Gomez, Cheechoo or Ribeiro.

1999

Out of the 28 available picks, the Avs received #25 and picked Mikhail Kuleshov.

via medusa.tutka.fi

Kuleshov played a solid 3 games in the NHL, recording 4 shots on goal. He didn't do that much better in Russia nor the AHL.

The Sens had the pick after the Avs and decided to pick Martin Havlat. Other players who could've been wearing a Avs Jersey are Mike Commodore, Jordan Leopold (What now?) and Adam Hall.

2000

This year the Avs had pick #14 and Chose Vaclav Nedorost

via upload.wikimedia.org

overlooking a whole bunch of top 6 forwards like Alexander Frolov, Justin Williams, Jarret Stoll and Antoine Vermette.

2001

This year the Avs only had pick #63, which somehow just fell within the 2nd round. They picked Budaj. No problems, but not worth mentioning as, technically, he fell out of my guidelines (only 1st round picks, to later picks up to the last pick of the 2nd round).

Theo makes up random excuses for why he sucks

Tommelot — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:21:45 -0000

Theo makes up random excuses for why he sucks

It's a nice read, just because he's not our goalie anymore!

Upon hearing Hedman was the 2nd overall pick. All credits go to the avslova Factor for this beauty!

Tommelot — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:43:27 -0000

Upon hearing Hedman was the 2nd overall pick.

All credits go to the avslova Factor for this beauty!

Remember #60?

Tommelot — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:20:41 -0000

Remember how all the women in Denver were swooning and crying to see their tattoo'd hero vs. the Wild leave last summer? Well, he finally did it.

After Varlamov finally realised, in the second period, he's not supposed to be playing this well for his age, our beloved Jose Theodore got a chance to strut his stuff.

The endresult is probably best suscribed by this picture:

via 3.bp.blogspot.com

The Caps should've seen it coming. No matter how well your star player is, your goalie is always gonna suck monkeyballs.

Spector on Sakic retirement

Tommelot — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:17:26 -0000

Spector on Sakic retirement

"If Sakic does decide to return it remains to be seen if the Avalanche will bring him back for one more year. It's quite likely but it could be for a significantly reduced contract."

AD makes funny jokes regarding Tyler "> Tucker" Arnason

Tommelot — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:59:42 -0000

AD makes funny jokes regarding Tyler "> Tucker" Arnason

Wow, Donut line? Where would you get that joke from?

Rick Nash is optimistic about his team's playoff chances

Tommelot — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:13:38 -0000

Rick Nash is optimistic about his team's playoff chances

Smyth contract scary

Tommelot — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:36:10 -0000

Smyth contract scary

According to both P. Daddy and David Staples (Edmonton Oilers writer). I understand Mr. Staples might be feeling a little sad to see his old captain in a unipron, but Wyshnysky aught to know the Avs have made far worse Free agent signings the last year. I admit I was a little scared last season when he wasn't performing, but this season he's the real deal. Conclusion: Jealousy is an ugly colour.