Worst effort I have ever seen from a hockey team. Ever.
I am writing this as the game is going on, and it's currently 8-2. I knew this team had given up a couple games ago, but I didn't think they would just drop their shorts and take a dump on the ice like this.
Bright spots -
After that first weak goal, Theodore looked really good. Idiot obviously disagreed, but that's why he's called Idiot.
Liles is playing like a guy who wants a big contract next year. He's been very good. I'd like to see him back with the Avs next year, but he'll probably leave.
Jones and Hensick have been playing pretty well, and Hejduk has been at least TRYING to score.
Ugliness -
Sad that Sakic could end his career on the injured list. What? He's not injured? Wow, hadn't noticed.
Arnason...wow, scored a goal and cost us two more. Maybe we'll call that a Tyler Arnason Hat Trick from now on.
Budaj - It's absolutely AMAZING how awful he has been tonight. Just disgusting. He has to go.
Forsberg - Why'd we even sign him in the first place?
The defense was ridiculously bad.
Turnovers.
Idiot - If FG doesn't fire him (or, rather, choose not to re-sign him) after this debacle, I don't think I will be able to support this team anymore. He HAS to go.
At the end of the day, it's shitty that the series had to be like this. I'm not upset or anything, I was actually rooting for the Wings to score a shorty when Franzen put that one in.
It's just a shame that the most classless, uneducated, lowbrow fanbase in the league gets this sweep. Red Wing fans don't deserve their team. But hey, that's life, and this is all they have.
That said, GO STARS!
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2 comments:
I don't want to interfere with all the other discussion going on, but as the Avs have finally been put to sleep for the year I wanted to take this one opportunity to commiserate. Well, not so much.
First, the series. If you actually went into this series thinking Colorado had more than a puncher's chance at winning... ugh. As I said elsewhere pre-series, this being the NHL the series could go 6, but a sweep wouldn't surprise me. Injuries insured the sweep, but even totally healthy the Avs simply didn't have the horses to stay with Detroit.
Whether we're talking about a (sharply) declining Sakic, a completely undependable Forsberg (who even 'healthy' was a liability), or a defensive corps with barely half a decent offensive player amongst it, Colorado brought a knife to a gunfight. The only way Detroit loses is to a young, fast, tough team. That, or spectacular goaltending. As the Avs had next to none of either they were screwed from the get-go. All in all, I'd rather be the paper tiger than the paper antelope.
Yes, Q got 'outcoached'... mostly based on the indefensible decision to start Theodore in game 3 when he clearly wasn't going to get it done while Babcock was much more willing to pull the trigger on Hasek when he started to fly apart... but other than that there wasn't much he could have done. After all, Theodore's made almost 11 mil worth of cap space in two years, at some point shouldn't he be expected to do something?
The most disappointing thing, were I an Avs fan, would have been the absolute surrender I saw from that team after the Wings went up 4-1. That was embarassing. At least they didn't try and hurt anyone.
Secondly, the future. I know, I know, you think the cupboards are full to overflowing with prodigous talents mere moments away from NHL stardom. In reality, though, the next years are going to be worse than this one was. Here's why:
-Amazingly, the Avs are old all of a sudden at forward... at least where it matters. Assuming they come back, Sakic will be 39, Brunette 35, Smyth 32 going on 40, Hejduk 32. I refuse to believe even PL and FG are dumb enough to bring Forsberg back. There are a couple young players on the roster, but the whole top 6 is going to have to be drastically reconfigured. There's plenty of money coming up to address this, but whenever there's the kind of sweeping turnover you're looking at in Colorado all at once... that usually spells short-term trouble.
-Another problem is that Colorado has frittered away one of Stastny's 2 remaining cheap years, so any big signings have to keep that impending raise in mind. Svatos is an RFA. So is Wolski. The Avs need a starting goalie. Sauer's UFA. So is Liles. Clark's insipid raise hits the books next year. There are so many incredibly important long-term decisions which need to be addressed and a tandem in PL and FG who have clearly demonstrated themselves to not be up to he helm in a post-cap environment... I just don't see how they can possibly navigate those waters without really screwing things up for a long time. The Theodore deal can't be called anything but a disaster, the Smyth contract is abyssmal, Clark's raise is completely incomprehensible, the assets given up for Foote and Salei are significant while the players weren't, Hannan's over-priced deal runs forever... etc, etc, etc. The crew that brought you those decisions now has to make between 6-8 major roster moves heading into next year. I wouldn't be too encouraged.
-Prospects. As I mentioned before... I know. You think they're all grand. Here's the problem, though: You don't have any of what you need in the system close enough to help. No offensive dmen. No starting goalies (please, don't even say Sauer). There's no-one at the AHL level ready to step up, so once again Colorado will have to rush up guys from the OHL level like they did with Wolski and shorten development at the expense of filling immediate holes, robbing Peter to pay Paul and bringing the date where they'll be exposed to RFA offers much sooner.
Tom, if you're actually serious about ditching the Avs now's the time. Colorado has won all of 2 games in the second round since Patrick Roy retired, all the players that buoyed those old teams' success are either retired or faded beyond belief, and the current organization hasn't demonstrated an ability to rebuild squat or to hire anyone to coach squat.
Besides, after all the years you've spent crowing about how wonderful Colorado is it'd be humongously amusing to watch you burn your bra as the Avs circle the bowl while Detroit, with all their idiot fans, moron GMs and soft players, still soldiers on deep into the playoffs.
Your pal,
Eric.
After reading the sole rant (er, comment) to this post, I can safely say that I agree with four points.
1. Red Wings fans don't deserve their team.
2. Quenneville was outcoached (not hard to do when you're standing still).
3. We need a solid netminder. What we have now are two backups that showed flashes of brilliance, but nothing on which to build a future.
4. Go Stars.
That is all.
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