A few quick hits..

-Stastny is out 2-4 weeks (read: the rest of the season) with a broken bone in his foot, coming off a shot block. Both of his extended injuries this year have resulted from blocking shots, and as soon as each one happened I turned to my dad and exclaimed "great, he's hurt again", and sure enough, he's been out of the game for weeks or more after both injuries. To fill the void in his absence, the team has re-called Matt Hendricks from the Monsters. I see a lot of potential in him and while I hate seeing Stazz injured, I'd like to see Hendy get the chance to show what he can do now that the season is officially "lost".

-Milan Hejduk, the man who once claimed that he wished to retire after his contract ends following the 2009-2010 season, has now said that he wants to stay with the team for a few more years. FG, MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

-TG has seemingly ripped into the Baron's play of recently. Sure his numbers haven't been what they were earlier in the year, but look at the talent (or lack there of) around him. With a fully healthy team and line-mates, Wolski should thrive again at center.

Game 43 Preview

Hello my wonderful readers. I am back, and here to stay. After two awful bouts with the flu and some quality time with the family over the past couple of weeks, I am back to write about our (sometimes) wonderful team. So much has happened in the world of the Colorado Avalanche in the past two weeks, but I will choose to focus on the stellar play of late of Wojtek Wolski and Andrew Raycroft. Due to injuries cutting right through the middle of the lineup, TG finally decided to give WW (or Baron von Wolski as he is lovingly known as by some of my blogging buddies) a shot at his natural position of center, and he has yet to disappoint, scoring four goals and two assists in the last three games (all wins, mind you) and winning the NHL's "First Star Of The Week" honors. In net for those three games has been "backup" goalie extraordinaire Andrew Raycroft, and though I am a huge Budaj supporter, it's hard to not be a fan of the guy who's record is 9-1 and has won seven in a row in the process. He'll get the nod in net for his fourth straight game tonight, and goes up against Steve Mason, arguably the hottest goalie in the NHL at the moment. Will this be a goaltenders duel a la Budaj vs. Luongo earlier in the year? We will find out very soon.


It's good to be back!

Total Avs Update!

Once again, it's been awhile, and I do apologize for that. Since I've last posted, a lot has happened in the world of the Avs.

-Peter Budaj has been on an incredible hot-streak, save for a soft goal against the Kings Saturday night. In one of the most exciting Avs games in recent memory, he out-dueled the great Roberto Luongo, on the road nonetheless, in a 2-1 shootout victory. He followed that up with another shootout win, this time 3-2, a few days later in Edmonton, in a game that many would say that he completely stole. Saturday night, he won yet another shootout game, blanking all three Kings shooters.

-The team's offense is still struggling, although signs of hope could be seen in the Kings game Saturday night, as three pre-shootout pucks found the back of Ersberg's net. Also, Super Joe is scheduled to return tonight, which might be able to provide the spark they're looking for.

-Paul Stastny signed the contract extension that we all knew would be coming, for what seems to be the going rate for the up-and-coming superstar/future face of the franchise. At five years, $33mil, it works out to $6.6mil per year, which really isn't too much to be paying him to replace Sakic in the future
*Note: It took me a while to actually type out that last sentence and believe it will have to happen some day.

-In Saturday night's game against the Kings, which I was lucky enough to attend, there were two VERY scary moments, as both Adam Foote and Wojtek Wolski were checked head-first into the boards, and laid motionless on the ice for a good few minutes each. Foote's seemed so serious that they actually brought a stretcher on the ice. Upon seeing this, my heart completley sank to the floor, possibly even the core of the Earth, but moments later, he got up and skated off the ice with help from his teammates and trainers. According to the Denver Post, Wolski seems to be in better shape, and could even play tonight in Anaheim. Foote has already been ruled out for tonight, allowing Tjarnqvist to see his first action of the season, but the injury doesn't seem to be as serious as it looked.

-Tonight the team travels all the way to sunny Anaheim, California to take on those damn Ducks. Actually, our normally sunny climate out here in California is bringing us rain tomorrow, my 23rd birthday, and keeping myself from celebrating at the happiest place on earth, Disneyland. For that, I give a gigantic two middle-fingers up to whoever controls the weather down here. Thanks for ruining my birthday, a-holes! Sakic looks like he'll be back in the line-up, and if Wolski plays as well, Jones and Arnason should be watching the game from up above in the press box. It should be a tough game against a physical Anaheim club, but hopefully the team will be able to out-physical the Ducks on their way to a whopping 10-10 record on the season.

2008 Free Agency, Day Two

No outside signings to report as of yet, but the Avalanche have just announced the re-signing of Wojtek Wolski to a two-year contract for an as-of-yet undisclosed amount of money, though I assume it will fall in the $2.5M-3.5M per year range. I am very excited to have him back, and I feel that this year will finally be the breakout year that us Avs fans have been longing for after hearing of his 128 points in 57 games season for the Brampton Battalion in '05-'06. Coach Q seemed to have it out for him, but I feel that Granato's style of play will allow him to fully come into his own in the NHL and take the league by surprise. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 75pt season from him this year.

Edit: The contract is 2yr/$5.6M, so at $2.8M per year, my estimate was pretty dead-on.

The Big Three.

Last week, Francois Giguere, or FG as he's lovingly (or despisingly) referred to by the Avalanche faithful, made his first signing of the off-season. And to be honest, this was the last person of our free-agents whom I expected to receive a contract extension. Yes, Scott Parker, The Sheriff, will be lacing 'em up for another year as part of the Colorado Avalanche. For the most part, this signing seemed to be met with a lot of disdain from Avs fans. Most cannot understand why we would spend the money and a roster spot on a guy who rarely dresses for games, and when he does, plays less than five minutes per contest. I, for one, do not mind this signing in the least. Scott obviously never lived up to his original potential, as he was drafted 20th overall in 1998. But the stats do not lie. Since we re-acquired him from San Jose at the 2007 trade deadline, we have a record of 25-6-4 when he is in the lineup. Even though he doesn't do much on the ice, I suppose FG found that stat too appealing to overlook.

Last night, TSN reported two signings by the Avs which were confirmed today on the Avs website. Adam Foote for 2yrs/$6mil, and John-Michael Liles for 4yrs/$16mil. I honestly couldn't be happier by these signings. Along with everyone else in Avalanche nation, I am a huge fan of Footer and feel he should end his career with the organization he was so successful with, so I am not very surprised with him returning to us. On the other hand, I am absolutely shocked that we retained JM Liles. All the rumors claimed he was all but gone, and I really didn't see FG shelling out the money to keep both him and Footer around. With four free-agent defensemen, including two big-name guys, I figured that FG would sign one of the top two guys (either Foote or Liles), and one of the others (Finger or Sauer). But FG proved that he has a few tricks up his sleeve and shocked us all by signing both, which unfortunately will most likely mean that Finger and Sauer will be leaving us as we now have six defensemen plus Kyle Cumiskey waiting in the wings.

This past week, the Avs gave offer sheets to four players who were restricted free-agents; Cody McCormick, Cody McLeod, Marek Svatos, and Wojtek Wolski. I am very excited to most likely have all four of these guys back with us next year, and I assume that the contracts will be hammered out within the next few days.