Eurolanche

Roy's D looks good in back end

Before the season Joe Sakic and Patrick  Roy publicly stated that they planned on addressing the team’s defence. Last year the Colorado Avalanche were 27th in the league in goals against. Something had to be done and so far it seems like it’s been working.

They got rid of Ryan O’Bryne, Shane O’Brien and Greg Zanon and brought in Cory Sarich, Andrew Benoit, Nate Guenin and Nick Holden to join the likes of Erik Johnson, Jan Hejda, Tyson Barrie and Ryan Wilson.

It might come as a surprise to some that as of last night the Avs are tied for 3rd in goals against with just 75. It’s even more shocking when you realize that the bottom pairing guys of Guenin, Holden, Benoit and Barrie who have been playing night in and night out for the Avs only have a combined 215 games of NHL experience. To put that into perspective, Johnson and Hejda have 361 and 496 games played respectively.

It’s probably also a relief that the Avalanche’s blue-liners have started putting the puck in the net. Just last night they scored 3 in a 6-2 win over the Dallas Stars. This is a big change considering the Avs had a total of 5 goals from their defence in the entire 2012-2013 season. So far they’ve potted 12 this year.

Even with all the success it seems management might still be looking to make change. Recent rumours suggest the Avs had a deal in place to acquire young Russian Dmitry Kulikov from the Florida Panthers though it appears for what ever reason the deal may have fallen through. Another rumour points to the Avs having interest in Michael Del Zotto of the New York Rangers who is apparently being shopped by Ranger’s management.

Now it’s hard to argue that these would be nice pieces to have depending on the price the Avs have to pay to get them but it’s also hard to argue that their true need is to acquire another top end talent to play on the top pair with Erik Johnson. While the Avs probably have enough young, talented assets to get a trade done, it would probably unwise to mortgage their future to do so.

If the Avs are lucky this player might already be in the pipeline. Chris Bigras, the 32nd overall selection had a tremendous camp and impressed Roy to the point where he almost made the roster. In the end, Bigras was sent back to his junior team for another year of development. Bigras will be representing Canada at the World Juniors this year which will only help his development more. With Bigras and other young players Duncan Siemens, Stefan Elliott and Tyson Barrie coming up the Avs’ defence might be just fine for the foreseeable future.

Spotlight

Erik Johnson may finally be developing into the play the St. Louis Blues hoped he would be when they drafted him first overall back in 2006. The 6’4” defender has 3 goals and 7 assists while sitting at a +18, tied for 2nd in the league. He’s also finally starting to log big minutes the way a true #1 defenceman should. His play thus far should put him right in the mix for a spot on Team USA’s Sochi Olympic team.