I’m not doing a recap for last night’s game. Every game in the series was pretty much the same - decent play by the Avs for a stretch peppered with back-breaking mistakes. In 3 of the 4 games, the Wings scored two goals in under two minutes and Detroit had a 4-1 lead in every single game. You’re not going to win very many playoff games trying to climb from a 3-goal deficit. Johan Franzen scored as many goals (9) as the entire Avalanche team. Jose Theodore was brilliant in round one and atrocious in round two; even playing behind a shockingly porous defense, an 823 save percentage isn’t going to get it done. And you can talk all you want about the guys who weren’t in the lineup, but the guys who were there took 24 freaking minor penalties in 4 games (as Joel Quenneville shouted to Jeff Finger in game 2: “What the fuck are you doing?”), resulting in 7 powerplay goals. The Avalanche scored 4 pp goals - 5 if you count the McLeod game 3 goal with an extra attacker on the ice - but gave up 2 shorthanded goals. All in all, just an ugly series from a team that, quite frankly, should have been better.
At any rate, here’s what folks are saying about game 4 and the series:
In a week’s time, the Avalanche went from being a happy, mostly healthy hockey team — one that was picked by several national hockey analysts to beat Detroit in the Western Conference semifinal — to an utterly banged-up, demoralized and, ultimately, beaten squad. - Adrian Dater, Denver Post
Getting swept by the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference semifinals was bad enough - this really isn’t much of a rivalry anymore - but Thursday night’s 8-2 shellacking at the Pepsi Center was a humiliating way to head into the offseason. - Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News
If there is any good thing to come out of getting swept, it’s that the Red Wings did not get to celebrate at home. And as far as I can see, that’s the only thing. - Tapeleg, Jerseys and Hockey Love
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. - Thomas, Riding the Avalanche
Good on Babcock for reigning the guys in as the third period went on. And kudos to the Avs for not turning to goonery as a result of the spanking they received. - Matt Saler, On the Wings
Going younger is an approach the Avs have haltingly tried to adopt, and if any optimism can come out of it, the play of rookies David Jones, T.J. Hensick and Cody McLeod has been encouraging. - Bernie Lincicome in yet another completely ridiculous piece for the Rocky Mountain News
Colorado coach Joel Quenneville resorted to playing seven defensemen and 11 forwards instead of the usual 6-12 setup. With so many of his stars turned spectators, it looked more like he had a lineup of the Lake Erie Monsters, the Avalanche’s top minor league team. - Associated Press
The Avalanche defense, which was so amazing against Minnesota, looked completely lost against the Red Wings. Â Slow, out of position, and out-played in every aspect of the game. Â Adam Foote had no answer for Pavel Datsyuk. Â Kurt Sauer got embarrassed repeatedly by Henrik Zetterberg. Â And Johan Franzen made everybody look stupid. - Joe, Mile High Hockey
Theodore made big saves against the Wild. He did not make any saves against the Wings. Blame the defence as much as you want but Theodore was not good enough this series. - Shane, Colorado Avalanche Talk
Hard to believe it was less than two weeks ago Jose Theodore could convince himself, with a certain level of confidence, he was squarely playing his way into the Avalanche’s future plans. - Pat Rooney, Rocky Mountain News
The dagger - a mercy shot as much as anything - was when Detroit scored two goals in 47 seconds near the end of the first period to build up an insurmountable 3-1 lead and chase Jose Theodore from the net. The series was so thoroughly dominated by Detroit that even the one minor controversy - should Joel Quenneville start Budaj in place of a sick/ineffective Theodore - was definitively answered by the Wings as they put 5 pucks past Budaj in less than 30 minutes. - Dave, Gorilla Crouch
A thorough spanking
The Avs never blew their cool
Here come the finals - Brennan, Gloveside
The Detroit Red Wings took advantage of an injured and nearly-eliminated Colorado Avalanche Thursday night, scoring eight goals en route to an 8-2 victory to finish off a four-game sweep. - Clark Rasmussen, Detroit Hockey
The loss for the Avs marked their second playoff 0-fer since moving to Denver for the 1995-96 season. Their previous sweep came at the hands of the Ducks in the 2006 conference semis. They were outscored in that series 18-4. This time? Try 21-9. . . . - Jim Armstrong, Denver Post
Rivalry? Hardly. It’s total domination by the hands of the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit ended Colorado’s season tonight with an 8-2 win and a four game sweep. Now the evaluations begin and Francois Giguere and his staff will have some tough decisions to make. - Angelique, Colorado Avalanche Prospects
Captain Joe Sakic, goalie Jose Theodore and forward Andrew Brunette are among the 13 Avalanche players who will be unrestricted free agents this summer.Also in that group are defenseman Adam Foote and forward Peter Forsberg - two of the most popular players in franchise history - and homegrown defenseman John-Michael Liles. After a second-round sweep at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings, Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere will have several decisions to make as he works with at least $21 million in salary-cap space. - Aaron J Lopez, Rocky Mountain News
I’m going to take my time, think about it over the summer. It’s something obviously I need to make a decision on. Discuss it with my family and see where we go. But right now, just take some time. - Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche
For as great a player as Peter Forsberg has been in his career, it just seemed he demoralized them when he said he couldn’t play in Game 1. That just set an ugly tone for the Avs the rest of the series. Joe Sakic looked old. - Ted Kulfan, Wings Blog
Peter Forsberg almost certainly is done. I chatted a bit with Forsberg after the game, and the look of resignation was in his eyes. The mind is willing, but the body just hasn’t for Foppa, for a couple years now. - Adrian Dater, All Things Avs
Forsberg plans to remain in Denver for treatment. Should he return to the NHL next season, expect to see him in an Avalanche sweater. - Aaron Lopez and Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News
I think this is the year Avs fans look back on as the Transition Season. The season the old guard (Foote, Sakic, Forsberg) was here, but the season the next generation started to take over. Stastny, Wolski, Jones, Finger (hopefully, they better f’ing resign him), Svats Machine, McCormick, and even McLeod all had excellent seasons and Hensik, Budaj and Cumisky had flashes. This team is ready for the future. Sometimes a young team, like the Avs, need a butt-kicking to show them the way. - Jibblescribbits
Johan Franzen’s nine goals in this series sets an NHL record for goals in a four-game series. This was just the ninth time in league history that a player has scored at least nine goals in a series … the other eight were all in series that went five games or longer. - Bruce MacLeod, Red Wings Corner
*shaves beard*
yeah, it was too late to get rid of mine last night, but it’ll be going today too. And I’d just gotten past the annoying itchy phase too…
OK, listened to the last coach Q show this morning and here’s scoop.
First and most importantly Sakic “wanted to be on the ice” for the final shift and according to Clough as emotional and at times misty eyed in the lockeroom after the game. Either Sakic knows he’s going to retire or isn’t sure. Sakic simply doesn’t get emotional and I don’t think he’d ask for the last shift if he wasn’t confident he’s be back. A real stomach punch for me, more so than the series and the score of that game.
Second, injuries. Forsberg had an MRI and had TWO torn groin muscles (left and right). He commented to Bowman on the way out that he’s “done”. Wolski has five broken ribs. Lappy and Hannan played with “broken feet”.
You can also bet your ass that if Theo played with the flu in game one that someone if not several someones also did the same in the series.
Q still doesn’t know if he’s getting a contract, FG hasn’t said anything to him on the issue. He thinks the team need to increase their overall speed but overall he thinks the team needs to stay healthy next year. I can’t say I disagree with any of that.
Excellent, if not disheartening, updated Dario. I hope Sakic being misty-eyed was just due to the spanking the team received.
And two torn groin muscles for Forsberg? So much for him being a baby who wouldn’t play through an injury. If I had two torn groin muscles I wouldn’t be walking let alone skating.
it pains me to hear all the shots people have taken at Forsberg’s fragility. I’d like to see them walk a mile in his skates some time…
I did notice Sakic on the ice, and that certainly seemed to be a not great sign. I was watching to see if he’d grab the puck as Bourque did in his final game in Boston, but he didn’t (not that that’s really his style anyway).
I REALLY don’t want him to go.
Later today they will upload the MP3 of the interview at http://preview.fan950.com/theSportsGuys/podcasts.cfm
We have a lot to talk about this offseason with all the guys coming up for contracts. Not the least of which is, what do you do with Theo? What a ride of a year, exasperrating and encouraging.
Yeah, I’m sure we’ll talk more in the future. Theodore is a huge question mark. And which D do we keep - Liles, Foote, Finger and Sauer are all UFA. At best I’d say we’d keep two of those guys.
Unfortunately, Wyatt Smith is unrestricted and I don’t think we’ll have the cap room to win the bidding war for his services
“Unfortunately, Wyatt Smith is unrestricted and I don’t think we’ll have the cap room to win the bidding war for his services”
Nice, now I can go to work with a smile on my face
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I’m a huge fan of his play the last 1.5 years, but Sauer looked awful this series. A clear sign that he’s not cut out to play against top flight 1st lines. I’m still for bringing him back — the Clark - Sauer pairing, assuming Clark isn’t traded, is a very good second D pairing.
Foote will be back, there’s little doubt in my mind. 2 years, 4 per.
Finger I’ve never been a huge fan of — he did provide physicality when we had none…but we have Salei and Foote now. Finger is continually out of position, slower than Skratch, and dumb as a post. Losing him, would be addition by subtraction, imo.
Liles has had a great playoffs, and he fixed a lot of issues with his game. If he could be had for reasonable money, I would be ok with bringing him back. Unfortunately, he’s probably going to make 4-5 million as a UFA. I doubt he’s back.
Sauer did get exposed.
I’m a big fan of Liles, and I’d like to see him back, but I have a hard time picturing that happening. I really think he’d be excellent if he was paired with another good defenseman on the point - he had good success with both Leopold and Finger, but, unfortunately, Q didn’t stick with it very long. It’s asking too much of him to be the only guy back there - he needs to be able to move around to give himself some open lanes instead of having to guard the blueline the whole time. I’ll say it here first (and probably several times after this) - if he signs with a team that already has a good point guy to work with (Calgary? Edmonton?) he could put up some big, big numbers…
Unfortunately I think the biggest factor for next year will be “who’s behind the bench”. I wonder if that has any weight on whether Sakic and/or Foote return? I hope that that Q’s second round debacle, as well as the debacle during the mid-season weighs heavily on FG’s mind.
If I was Sakic I would want to come back and make sure that this season’s diminished performance wasn’t just because of injury. I personally think he still can make a difference, but only he can really tell if it was injuries or if he really has lost more than just a step.
Theo: I wouldn’t be too upset if he returns, as long as it is for a lot less money, and a short term deal (1-2 yrs). Unfortunately, I think we need to dump one of our goalies and either pick someone up or give a youngster a chance. Is Billy Sauer graduating this season, or will he be back at Michigan? We also have Bacashua, Wall, and Weiman…but not sure if any of them are up to par?
With that said DD, what kind of critisims does Jacques Cloutier have this year? No adjustments all year to free up Liles, last year making Skrastins a top pairing defenseman until an injury forced him to pair up Sauer and Clark. Granato should have been in charge of the PP all year long and we know what a disaster that was. It might be time for the assistant coaching crew to get a makeover. Then again, I’m still bitter. Like Sakic, I need the summer to let things sink in.
See i disagree with this. I think Finger, overall, is better than Sauer. Finger was essentially a rookie this season, as he played sparingly last season. If the choice is between the two (sauer and finger, which it essentially is) I would go with Finger. He’s better on offense by miles, and I think he’s nearly identical on defense.
And I definitely don’t think he’s “dumb as a post”. I saw him make a ton of smart plays this season.
Jibble, I do agree that Finger a better offensive player than Sauer for sure. He also (before Salei) was the only guy willing to shoot from the point, it seemed.
but the fact that this is Finger’s 1st full season doesn’t hold weight with me. He’s 2 years OLDER than Sauer. If anyone is more likely to develop, it’s the younger Sauer.
I stand by my comment that Finger is dumb as a post on the ice. He is 100% the worst offender on the Avs in terms of play watching. I can’t tell you how many times he got caught pyloning in his own zone mesmerized by the play. He also gets caught out of position constantly when he does decide to move in his zone. Players as slow as Finger must be very, very smart and positionally sound to succeed. Finger is neither.
He’s a good 7th defender, imo, and an average 5th or 6th. He played against competition he shouldn’t have, imho, and I bet he’ll continue to if he’s re-signed.
If he comes back at a ~1 million a year guy as a 6th or 7th, that’s great. But as you say, it’s a choice between Sauer and Finger most likely, and for that, I’d rather have a more mobile, bigger, smarter stay-at-home type in Sauer than a slow, physical, mid-sized, dumber, 2-way guy in Finger.
Did you just say “mobile” and “Sauer” in the same sentence?
more mobile. sort of like being smarter than Jessica Simpson…it’s not very hard.
I think Finger is more mobile, again not hard to do, Sauer isn’t very mobile at all, but I think Finger skates better. Sauer’s (6-4, 220) is bigger than Finger (6-1, 205) but what good is it if he doesn’t use it? I can’t remember the last time Sauer really used his size to his advantage the way he should. He is more stay-at-home, but his defense really isn’t that much better than Finger’s in my opinion.
Don’t get me wrong, i like both players, a lot, but if we can only keep one this summer (and I think that may be the case) I think we need to keep Finger, especially since one of the Avs glaring weaknesses was points from the blueline.
I was a huge Finger fan last year. Once he started to get more ice time I became more and more sure every game that he is not a guy I want logging lots of minutes. Not only was Finger our worst defender in the playoffs, he was also terrible about dumb penalties. His physical game is there, but he isn’t big enough to be punishing. I can’t tell if his defensive play is undisciplined or just sloppy. Everytime he screws up people brush it off and act like the rest of his game makes up for it. I don’t get it.
I still wouldn’t mind keeping him around as a depth guy.
Finger definitely makes mental mistakes, but he hasn’t even played 100 NHL games yet. A lot of players with that kind of inexperience make mental mistakes.
Again I understand the criticism and he is definitely an offender of play watching and being out of position. I think another year of seasoning will do him wonders (especially in a lineup that includes Adam Foote and Scott Hannan.)
If they don’t keep liles it would be a big mistake in my opinion. I’m sure there were plenty of people who would have (or did) made us an offer for him at the trade deadline, and keeping foote who although I love him only has a few years left and losing liles plus the draft pick we gave up for for foote would significantly weaken our defense long term. If forsber is done (seems likely) at least we got to see him for a few more games and retire as an av. If sakic is done its just sad because he still has it.
I agree on Liles. The only reason to get rid of him is if you think Leo can turn in a couple of full seasons at the same level of play he showed in spurts this year. Why Leopold was the healthy scratch with the way he played the second half of the season always beffudled me. I think Liles is worth throwing some cash at, but because of Theo’s likely asking price, he just might not be in the cards.