Thoughts on Head Coach Patrick Roy:
After watching his almost 30 minute long press conference from Media Day yesterday, it is obvious to me that Patrick is all business, he has that winning attitude as he kept stressing the line "We will have a Stanley Cup attitude." Patrick Roy didn't hold back at all, he spoke on everything from his own career, to his excitement of being Head Coach and then broke down his roster and what he thought of it. One thing that already differentiates Roy from former Avs Coach Joe Sacco is that Roy is straight-forward about where he wants to see this team go, whereas Sacco was so passive that he just focused one game at a time and took his eye off the big picture. Patrick understands how to win in this league; in 18 seasons he won 4 Stanley Cups, 3 Conn Smythes, 3 Vezina Trophies, and went to 11 allstar games. Now the Avs are hoping that he will coach this team back to the glory days, and while he hasn't coached 1 game yet I am already extremely impressed with how he has handled himself infront of the media. Roy also talked about the leadership of this team, and he separated them into 2 categories: the veteran guys who have won Stanley Cups, and the young up-and-coming players who are ready to lead this team. The veteran guys he mentioned were Giguere, Tanguay and Sarich, all whom have won Stanley Cups in their careers. He said he is counting on these guys to lead on and off the ice, especially Giguere it seemed. Then he talked about the future of the Avs, obviously starting with Captain Gabriel Landeskog and how he is ready to take that next step. Roy continued by praising Duchene, O'Reilly and Stastny, saying these 3 and Landeskog are ready to lead this team. Patrick was also not shy about his goalie situation, saying he doesn't like the terms "#1 and #2 goalie" and that he views his goalies as the guy in the net is #1 and the guy on the bench is #2. This makes me think that Giguere and Varlamov might play even games this season, where Varlamov gets his chance to prove he can start and if he plays well he will be the starter. But if he is slow out the gate, I expect Giguere to steal some starts and possibly take the starting role. Overall I was extremely impressed with what Roy and Sakic did in the offseason, and it was good to hear Patrick speak about how he is leaving his mark on this team. I will end this section with a few quotes from the press conference,
"We don't want Nathan to come here to be our savior. We want Nathan to be the best player he can play, and I think playing with Downie and McGinn will be a good situation and allow him to adjust and feel comfortable and we'll see how it goes." - Patrick Roy on Nathan Mackinnon
When asked if Nathan Mackinnon will be sent back to junior, Roy quickly responded, "No. We believe in him. We're extremely happy to have him on our team and he will play for us."
"I'm going to make them work. But I will accept their mistakes. This is part of the game. My objective is to make them learn and get better, and add the final details on the game. We've put together criteria that we believe are best for the goalie, the defensemen and the wingers. It's also our job to say, 'Which criteria could this player get better at?' This is how we're going to work at it." - Patrick Roy
Matt Duchene - Listening to Dutchy on media day, this guy is as focused as ever and he really wants to win badly. In the last 2 years the guy has become a health and fitness nut, he trains harder then ever in the offseason and even started a gluten-free diet last summer. Duchene made major strides last year, and I think this year he is ready for an extremely productive season playing with Parenteau and O'Reilly. In my opinion, Duchene showed last season that he deserves an A on his chest, and I think that will happen come season start.
"I've never been more excited for a season in my life, the buzz around the boys is just way different, its pure excitement and I think we're gonna have a heck of a year. We've learned how to lose, now we gotta learn how to win, and it starts this year" - Matt Duchene
Ryan O'Reilly - If anyone still has doubt about whether O'Reilly and Duchene can get along, both of them shut those people up very quickly in their interviews. It seems both are extremely excited to play together, Duchene told us that they have played together before and he thinks O'Reilly is not only an amazing defensive player but he will fit well offensively with him and Parenteau. O'Reilly says its going to be a challenge to move to the wing, but hes up to the challenge and is looking forward to playing with his new linemates who will help his offensive game. I think that this line could be extremely dangerous for the Avs, especially if O'Reilly gains chemistry with them early on in the season.
"Everyone is coming in with a winning mentality, we're ready to start changing the culture here and start winning again" - Ryan O'Reilly
Gabriel Landeskog - Landeskog opened up about last year, about his injury and having tough 2nd season in the NHL. It was great to see him address this and say that hes excited about moving forward, he knows it wasn't the best season but hes only looking to the future now. Entering his 3rd NHL season, I really think Landeskog is going to have a great year both statistically and as the Captain and leader of this team. It has now been a year since he was named Captain, so some of that pressure is off, and I really think Landeskog benefits from the coaching change by getting to learn leadership qualities from Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic.
"We've had enough of losing and we're tired of losing and want to change that. We're all looking forward to that, but I think this time around we're more excited then pissed off" - Gabriel Landeskog
Alex Tanguay - Man was it great to see Tanguay back in Avs clothing, and he sounded like a driven person ready to prove to the NHL he still has some gas left in the tank at 33 saying "I've got my best hockey ahead of me." Tanguay is extremely thrilled to be back in Denver, where he won a Stanley Cup in 2001 and played for the Avs from 1999-2006. Tanguay also commented on being acquired by 2 of his former teammates, Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic, and he voiced his pleasure for playing for these two guys. Overall, it seems like Tangs is extremely excited and motivated headed into this season.
"I feel this is sort of a new beginning for this team, there's new faces up in management and the young kids are looking for a time to come of age, and for me its just getting back to a city that I love and I'm looking forward to the opportunity of getting back here. I'm not old by any means I'm 33 years old, last year I felt great on the ice and certainly will take the training camp to get myself ready but you know I certainly plan on helping this team moving forward" - Alex Tanguay
Nathan Mackinnon - The player that every Avs fan is so excited to hear about, Mackinnon was talked about quite often in Patrick Roy's press conference. Roy believes in the 18-year old, he assured everyone that he is here to stay and he is a very important piece of the future of this team. Mackinnon will be playing with 2 rugged, tough wingers in Downie and McGinn, and it will allow him to take his time to adjust to the NHL. Overall, I am extremely excited to see #29 on the ice come October 2nd.
J.S Giguere - The similarities between Roy and Giguere are quite noticeable: both are French Canadian goalies, both have won Stanley Cups and Conn Smythes, and both trained with Francois Allaire (who is now the Avs goalie coach) earlier in their respective careers . Roy really stressed in his media session that he believes in Giguere, both as a player and as a veteran for this team (even going on saying that you don't need a C or A on your sweater to lead, much like he did when he was a goalie). It seems that Roy has faith in Giguere to mentor Semyon Varlamov, and it Varly can't get going Roy will trust Giguere with being the starting goalie.
Avs Roster/Lineup Notes:
Head Coach Patrick Roy has already gone into great detail about what his team will look like come opening night, including naming his top 3 forward lines already. With that being said, I will now predict what I think the roster will look like come October 2nd:
Line 1: LW Ryan O'Reilly C Matt Duchene RW PA Parenteau
Line 2: LW Gabriel Landeskog C Paul Stastny RW Alex Tanguay
Line 3: LW Jamie McGinn C Nathan Mackinnon RW Steve Downie
Line 4: LW Cody McLeod C John Mitchell RW Marc Olver
Extra F: Michael Sgarbossa
D-Pair 1: LD Ryan Wilson RD Erik Johnson
D-Pair 2: LD Jan Hejda RD Cory Sarich
D-Pair 3: LD Andre Benoit RD Tyson Barrie
Extra D: Stefan Elliot and Matt Hunwick
G1: Semyon Varlamov
G2: J.S Giguere
Notes: The top 3 forward lines and top 2 d-pairs are set in my opinion, on D Wilson and Johnson have played together in the past and will be reunited as the top pair, and I think that Hejda/Sarich is going to be an effective shutdown duo especially on the PK (I can also see them being split up, so it could be like Benoit/Sarich and Hejda/Barrie). After the top 4 guys, their are 5 guys fighting for 4 spots: Andre Benoit, Tyson Barrie, Stefan Elliot, Matt Hunwick and Duncan Siemens. Benoit, Barrie and Elliot all have offensive skills, so I think Benoit gets the last LD spot and Barrie/Elliot will fight out for the last RD. Hunwick has been a regular the past few seasons, but he is just too small and weak and doesn't contribute enough offensively, so I have him as a scratched D (and either Elliot/Barrie will be the other scratched D). I would love to see Duncan Siemens make the team and play regular minutes, but I feel he has 1 more year of development left and could either play his last year in junior with the Saskatoon Blades or start with the Lake Erie Monsters and get a call-up to the Avs if needed. The 4th forward line will have John Mitchell as the C and Cody McCleod as the LW, but I feel that RW spot is up for grabs (Olver is the likely fit). The 13th forward could be a number of people, like Michael Sgarbossa (who I guessed), Patrick Bordeleau, Mitchell Heard, Brad Malone, Joey Hishon, Colin Smith, or David Van Der Gulik. The 2 goalie positions are set, it will be Giguere and Varlmov, thought Roy hasn't said whos the starter or anything
Just under 3 weeks until the Avs open their season at home vs the Anaheim Ducks on October 2nd, an exciting time for hockey fans as training camps opened today!
-Joel Forman - Colorado Avalanche News
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