Matt Duchene made his case for goal of the year against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night. Duchene collected a pass, which was behind him, slid the puck between his legs and fired a backhand past Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
Take a look at Duchene’s through the legs highlight reel goal below, and let us know what you think. Does it deserve to be a goal of the year candidate?
Key Offseason Additions: J.S. Giguere, Semyon Varlamov, Jan Hejda, Shane O’Brien, Chuck Kobasew
Key Offseason Losses: Brian Elliot, Peter Budaj, John Michael Liles, Tomas Fleishmann
Last Season Ranking: 14th in the West
Offense: Colorado has a wealth of good, young talent throughout their roster, but the Western Conference remains tightly contested and Colorado may have a tough time cracking the playoffs with a lack of experience.
The Avs are strong down the middle with Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny leading the team one-two in points last season. Both are 
exceptional players and will likely lead the team in scoring again this year. Along with right wing Milan Hejduk, who seems to defy age with his consistent play even at 35-years-old, these three form the nucleus of the team’s offense.
David Jones had a breakout season last year with 45 points in 77 games. Jones will likely see time in the top-six and should improve upon last season’s totals. A healthy and concussion-free Peter Mueller could also pay huge dividends offensively for Colorado. Mueller posted point-per-game numbers with the Avs two years ago before being sidelined by concussions that kept him out all of last season. Look for a big bounce back year from Mueller, who could see time on the top line with Duchene this season if training camp lines are any indication of what’s to come.
The player to watch this season will be Gabriel Landeskog, the 2nd overall selection from June’s NHL Entry Draft. Landeskog was widely viewed as the most NHL-ready player atop the draft. With his size and skill he could be thrust into the mix immediately for Colorado. Keep an eye on him to see how he fairs in his first NHL season.
Only three of Colorado’s forwards are signed beyond this season. While the team has the cap space to retain the majority of them, pending free agents will need to utilize this season to make an impression and show that they belong with the Avs as the team looks to build a contender for the future.
Defense: Colorado needs to be better in their own zone and better at keeping the puck out of their net. None of the defenseman who will likely make the opening night roster finished with a positive plus-minus rating last season. Colorado also finished with a league-worst average of 3.5 goals against per game. This stat alone needs to improve if Colorado intends to make a chase at the playoffs.
Erik Johnson, a mid-season acquisition from the St. Louis Blues and former number-one overall draft pick in 2006, has a lot to prove and will get every opportunity to do so with Colorado. Johnson is capable of chipping in offensively and could be a pivot on the power play this year. After scoring 10 points in 22 games last season for Colorado, are 40 or more points out of the question?
Kyle Quincey is capable of eating up top-end minutes on the blue line and has solid puck-moving skills. Injuries hampered him last season, but a healthy season this year should pay immediate dividends for Colorado.
The addition of Jan Hejda will give the blue line depth and a veteran presence while Shane O’Brien helps provide some grit and toughness, if not necessarily quality defending.
Goaltending: After trading Craig Anderson at the trade deadline last season and losing Brian Elliott to free agency, the Avalanche did a good job of restocking with a mix of upcoming talent and a veteran presence.
At only 23-years-old, Semyon Varlamov already has a few NHL seasons under his belt with the Washington Capitals, including some playoff experience. However, his inconsistencies in net prevented him from consistently keeping the number one job. A change of scenery could do some good, but he will still need to be more consistent in net to show that he deserves to be the starter.
Varlamov should also benefit from having a veteran netminder around to help him learn and grow. The Avalanche signed J.S. Giguere to a two year contract on July 1. Giguere, a former Stanley Cup winner, will not only help push Varlamov for playing time, but he should also serve as a mentor to the young goalie and help him with the mental aspects of the game.
Giguere has some injury trouble last season, but he played well enough on a Toronto team that was soft defensively during his two years with the Leafs. If Varlamov struggles, Giguere could take over the number one spot. He still has the size, agility and skill to be a top goaltender.
The Avalanche will be arguable most improved in net this season with the additions of Varlamov and Giguere, but expect some healthy competition throughout the season between these two until one emerges as the number one goalie.
Playoff Prediction: Colorado has a lot of reasons to be excited for the future with their skilled young players. Unfortunately, stiff competition in the West will keep the Avs out of the playoff picture again this year.
It seems that recently Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche has been using what was thought to be a custom Reebok 8.0.8 white hockey stick. However, Reebok recently confirmed otherwise. According to their Facebook page, the new Reebok 8.0.8 white hockey stick Duchene is using is not a custom twig, and will be available for retail purchase in the Spring of 2011. The new stick looks pretty sick, and would go great with a pair of white Reebok 11k’s. You can see Duchene using the new stick below.
Matt Duchene using the new Reebok 8.0.8 White Hockey Stick
It looks like Pavel Datsyuk spent his offseason teaching a camp on how to perform his signature shootout move, and Claude Giroux and Matt Duchene were two attendees. It seems like Giroux still has some work to do in order to refine his effort, but Matt Duchene pulled it off flawlessly. Gotta give both guys extra credit for roofing it with authority. Take a look at the videos:
Key Offseason Losses: Brett Clark, T.J. Hensick, Ruslan Salei
Key Offseason Additions: None
Last Season Ranking: 8th in West
Offense:
At age 24, with only four NHL seasons under his belt, Paul Stastny is one of the “veterans” of this team. He is a gifted playmaker capable of producing nearly 80 points in a solid, healthy season and will be one of the main offensive contributors again this season. But Stastny will have good company in rookie-of-the-year nominee Matt Duchene (pictured). With 24 goals last season, Duchene will be a pivotal player this season as the team looks for him to take a step forward into the 70-80 point range and avoid the dreaded sophomore slump. Duchene has the speed and the skill to excel and, along with Stastny, will be a pivotal part of this offense for seasons to come.
Additional scoring will come from Chris Stewart and Milan Hejduk. Stewart posted a career best 64 points last season, which was also good enough for second on the team in total points. Hejduk, steady as always, provides a real veteran presence and should be back up to 60 points this year if he stays injury-free.
The real X-Factor on this team could be Peter Mueller. After a steady rookie season with Phoenix, Mueller failed to develop and reach his full potential until he was traded last season to Colorado. Upon his arrival, Mueller posted nine goals and 11 assists in only 15 games before getting sidelined with injuries. Will Mueller continue to progress into one of the leading scorers for the Avalanche, or will he again regress into mediocrity as he did with Phoenix?
Defense:
Young talent plowed the path on defense last season and Colorado will hope for more of the same this year. Ryan Wilson led the team with a plus-13 at only 23-years-old while Kyle Quincey was right behind with a plus-9. These two young players could develop into the defenseman of the future for Colorado, especially with veterans like captain Adam Foote and John-Michael Lyles helping guide these youngsters. But with the loss of veteran Brett Clark in the offseason, Colorado will need more players to step up their game defensively.
Goaltending:
Craig Anderson, previously dismissed as a career backup, showed the NHL why he deserves a starting spot last season. With 38 wins last season and a 2.64 goals against average last season, Anderson was a huge reason for the success of the Avalanche. However, Anderson also started 71 games last season which was a big increase in his workload from previous seasons. Fatigue could definitely become a concern if Anderson is called upon to do more of the same this year. While backup netminder Peter Budaj is a capable goaltender, if Anderson regresses this season the team could be in trouble.
Season Outlook:
The Avalanche managed to finish 8th in the Western Conference last season after many critics counted them out for being too young and inexperienced. This season, instead of bringing in million-dollar free agent signings, the Avalanche decided to keep their roster mostly in tact and allow their young up-and-coming stars to thrive and learn first hand what it takes to be successful in the NHL. That being said, Colorado’s success this season depends mostly upon their young core’s ability to improve and continue taking steps forward with their play. If key players like Stewart and Duchene fail to maintain the same high level of play, this team could be in trouble – especially in a tightly contested Western Conference where there are several very good teams fighting for playoff spots. Many of those teams got better in the offseason while Colorado is relying on their youngsters to keep pace. Despite having several very talented young players, the Avalanche could find themselves fighting heavily for a playoff spot at the end of the season.
Apr 22
Starting this week and throughout the next week, the National Hockey League is revealing finalists for the year-end awards. The NHL Awards Show will be June 23 in Las Vegas. Here’s a preview of the award finalists already announced as well as my picks for who could take home the hardwood. More previews will hit Hockey World Blog as they are announced.
Tampa's Martin St. Louis joins Pavel Datsyuk and Brad Richards as finalists for the Lady Byng Trophy
Lady Byng Trophy: Most Gentlemanly Player
Finalists:
Datsyuk is the only player to have won the award in the post-lockout era. He has edged St. Louis each of the past three seasons. Datsyuk is near the opposite of his Russian counterpart Alexander Ovechkin. Ovechkin likes to play it rough and get his nose dirty while Datsyuk is more quiet, reserved and gets job done. Could this be the year Richards and St. Louis put their name on the hardware? Richards has won the award previously, in 2004.
My Pick: Richards
Frank Selke Trophy: Best Defensive Forward
Each one of these players is very deserving of the award. Datsyuk led the league in takeaways with 132 and finished with a plus-17 rating. Kesler’s career-high 19:32 averaged playing time helped play a role in the Canucks finished fourth this season in home penalty-killing. Stall finished second in the league in short-handed penalty minutes.
My Pick: Datsyuk
Calder Trophy: Rookie of the Year
Jimmy Howard joins Matt Dunchene and Tyler Myers as finalists for the Calder Trophy
This is a solid group of candiates for the Calder Trophy. At the beginning of the season, you would expect someone like John Tavares to be in this position and not Jimmy Howard. Howard has stepped into the Detroit net and embraced it. He hopes to become the first Red Wing to win the Calder since Roger Crozier in 1965. Howard’s 2.26 GAA and a .924 SV% placed him in the top-five in the NHL in each category. Myers was one of four players to play in all 82 games and the only defenseman rookie to do so. He was very effective when his name was on the scoresheet, as Buffalo was 8-1-1 when he scored a goal and 29-7-1 when he recorded a point. Duchene had a breakout season in Colorado. He played a role in the Avalanche qualifying for the playoffs, when he scored 24 goals and 31 assists this season. His 55 points was the second-highest total in Av’s history, only behind teammate Paul Stasny’s 78 in 2007. He also led all rookies in points and tied for first in goals with Tavares.
My Pick: Duchene
Sep 24
The Colorado Avalanche are in the middle of unchartered territory coming into this season. With Joe Sakic retiring over the summer, Colorado has lost pretty much every connection to the almost unbeatable franchise that dominated the hockey world in the mid-to-late 90’s. While things may look gloomy in Colorado this season, the team looks to have a promising future.
Milan Hejduk, the 33-year-old right wing who has been with the Avs since 1998, will come into this season and be counted on to help lead this team both on and off the ice. While Hejduk is no pushover on the ice and is capable of producing 50-70 points this season, the real budding stars of this team is 23-year-old Paul Stastny. In three years with the club, Stastny has accumulated 185 points in 193 games, including 63 goals. This kid has talent and can play both sides of the puck, finishing last season with a plus-17 rating. Already sporting the assistant captains “A”, Stastny very well could be next in line for the “C” when veteran Adam Foote retires.
Wojtek Wolski is another up-and-comer making a name for himself in the NHL. In three seasons with the Avs, Wolski has put up 40 or more points in each season and once reached 50. But he needs to be better at both ends as he sported a minus-13 rating last season. He has moves and he likes to show them off during shootouts. It will be interesting to see how he performs this year when there is more pressure on him to produce.
Defense is probably where the Avalanche looks strongest right now. Adam Foote, Ruslan Salei, John-Michael Liles and Tom Preissing are all veteran names setting up shop on the blue line this season. Kyle Quincey, the much-traveled defenseman who is with his third team in two seasons, enjoyed a breakout year when the Detroit Red Wings dealt him to the Los Angeles Kings at the beginning of last season. With the Kings, Quincy put up 38 points in 72 games. Not bad for a rookie. Quincey should enjoy continued success with the Avalanche this season, especially playing with some of the veteran names listed above.
Craig Anderson will definitely be an upgrade in goal over Peter Budaj, who struggles heavily with consistency. A career backup goaltender, Anderson has proven himself worthy of a number one spot and Colorado gave him his chance. The defense in front of him will be better than he dealt with in Florida, where he spent the last three seasons, so expect Anderson to have a pretty decent year in Colorado.
The X-factor coming into this season may very well be Matt Duchene, the 3rd overall draft pick from this past summers NHL draft. At only 18 years of age, Duchene is fighting hard to make the roster and show what he’s capable of. While it might be advantageous to give him a year or two in the minors to improve his skill, Duchene had a great training camp and has played well in the preseason, too. Expect Duchene to stay with the club for the first few games of the regular season. If he shines, he’ll be up for good. If not, he’s a great asset only a few years away from the big time.
Colorado is used to success, but in the midst of the rebuilding process, success might still be a few years away. The foundation is there for this team to succeed, and once management adds a few more key pieces they could be set for deep runs into the post season. This season may not be their season, but they have a bright future that seems to be in good hands.
