HOCKEY IS BACK

What a glorious day it is for hockey fans, The NHL and NHLPA have agreed in principle on a new CBA contract. It has been a long and dreadful 4 months of the lockout, and hockey fans have endured enough. The way I see it, there are two types of reactions people have to this news: The "true" hockey fans who will watch the game no matter what, and the Negative Nancy's who only look at the negatives. To start off, I have to state that I think the NHL and NHLPA have been fighting pointlessly this entire lockout. While there are so many reasons to hate on the NHL, I love the game of hockey too much not to be excited. For months I just didn't understand what had happened to our sport, it has become all about money and so much less about the game we love and play. Now that hockey is on the verge of coming back, we must simply embrace the positive nature of hockey coming back rather than look at all the reasons this season is "flawed" or "ridiculous."

Colorado Avalanche:
The most exciting thing about the lockout coming to a close is that I finally get to see the Avs play again, I think that last season they were on the verge of becoming a playoff team again and this year will be really positive for several reasons:

Reason #1 - Number 92

Lost in the hype of the lockout months ago, the Avs named their youngest player Gabriel Landeskog the captain, becoming the youngest captain in NHL history. Landeskog was phenomenal last season, taking home the Calder Tropy as NHL's top rookie. However, I don't think anyone saw him getting the C this early; he was known as a great leader, and potential future captain of the Avs, but his impact in his 1st season was obvious from the 1st game. He has all the great leadership qualities at such a young age, and im sure every Avs fan agrees with me when saying that he has an extremely bright future ahead

Reason #2 - Depth at forward

The Avs went out and made a big acquisition on July 1st, signing winger PA Parenteau to a 4 year 16-million dollar contract. Parenteau is coming off 2 extremely strong years in New York, having played on a line with Johnny Tavares for most of it. The avs also made two big trades at the deadline last year, acquiring forwards Jamie McGinn and Steve Downie to give the avs some grit and scoring help. With those 3 plus the Avs core (Duchene Landeskog O'Reilly Stastny Hejduk Jones) the Avs are looking at a very solid top 9, one that could give opposing defences a very tough time.

Reason #3 - Goaltending

The Avs goaltending situation was challenging at times last year, both Varlamov and Giguere played very well for certain stretches but also very inconsistent for others. Varlamov started the season very hot, then he was replaced by Giguere for a month or so until he regained his form post trade-deadline and really looked sharp. Varlamov is still very young, and I believe that he will be a great goalie for the Avs this season. Giguere is there for leadership more than anything, but if the situation arises like last year expect Giguere to be ready to share the load as much as possible.

One of the best days in a long, long time. Hockey is back, Go Avs Go

-Joel Forman - Colorado Avalanche News