Avalanche Implode in the 3rd As Mikko Rantanen and the Dallas Stars End The Avs Season

Avalanche Implode in the 3rd As Mikko Rantanen and the Dallas Stars End The Avs Season

On today’s episode of Locked On Avalanche, the AB season is over and Mo Rantin ended it. That’s going to be a bitter pill to swallow for a little while, Kyle. We’ll talk about it. New episode of Locked on Avalanche coming up. You’re Locked on Avalanche, your daily podcast on the Colorado Avalanche, part of the Locked On Network. your team every day. All right, everybody. Welcome to the Lockdown Avalanche podcast, part of the Lockdown podcast network. Your team every day. Thank you for tuning in and making this your first listen of the day. That is always appreciated. I’m your host, Chris Miselli. With me as always, Mr. Shaggy Von Doom, Kyle Sullivan. If you want to get in on the conversation, join our subtext link is in the show notes below. Chat with Kyle and I one-on-one. We get your opinion, everything avalanche related, and shared on this very podcast. And opinions are going to be had for quite a while. So, it’s going to be an interesting off seasonason for the Avalanche. So, uh definitely sign up for that. Uh and get your voice heard because there’s going to be a lot of them. There’s going to be a lot of voices after after this one. And uh it’s not just that the AB season is over. Um it’s in the fashion in which it ended and not just blowing a third period lead. It’s the man who did it to them and it’s Mico Rantin. So, there’s obviously a ton to get here to here, Kyle. Um, but I’d like to know where your your thoughts are at. Is it is it just on that? Is it just on the MO part of it? Is it everything that this this team had it they had it get a two-goal lead in in the third and uh another kind of collapse when things go bad. Uh they just couldn’t stop the bleeding. Everything about this current Colorado Avalanche team, every storyline, every you mentioned voices, every every side of the coin that you’re on, whether it’s fire this, trade this, never should have traded this, this guy’s my favorite, this guy doesn’t do this, everything was correct in that third period. It all came to play. You question the AB’s heart. Third period. Shouldn’t get rid of MO Ranchin. Third period. um how this team is put together. Third period, the Avalanche had it. This was theirs. They were about to win their first game seven since 200. Who knows, whatever. And you’re about to hand to Boore his first loss. You got punched in the mouth and you’re too busy raising your hand, making sure the ref gets the call. or Nathan McKinnon stopping like he was unplugged when his shift is over. Um you you saw so many tiny little things all come to fruition at once. And when you take your foot off the gas in the third period of game seven of the NHL playoffs, when you have a force like the Dallas Stars hungry for that next round and Miko Rant and getting hot when he got hot, it you’re going to get the results you had. So I felt good going into the third, coming out of the third. Everything is up for question. Yeah, I don’t I don’t think the ABS took the the foot off the gas at all. I don’t think that was part of the problem. I think it was, you know, Miko gets the first one. It’s a nice and nice goal by him on that first one. Uh but it’s this series, it’s so funny because both sides, both fan bases can can complain about the same thing in so many aspects. the the in the one game uh where where the the Stars fans felt like I think it was Brock Nelson who who picked who gave like a pick play and it sprung Nachuskin for a goal. Uh they didn’t like that. Well, you got one back in this one with the first Miko Ranton in goal. I think it was Hint who kind of had a pick play. Okay, you got it. Uh Stars fans didn’t like the fluky goals that the Avalanche got in game six and they were fluky. I get it. You got one back in this one, the Mikaran second goal that went off of Sam Gerard’s skate. So you had both both sides of the coin in terms of fan bases and teams can argue about, oh, this happened to our team. Well, it happened to the other team, too. So that’s a wash. That whole thing is a wash. Where it gets iffy for me is just Mo Rantin’s just putting his stamp on this series because game one through four, he was non-existent. And Stars fans want to go to the the uh post that I put up about how they bailed on him. It’s because you did. You completely did. And now you can backtrack all you want. That’s totally fine. And say like, “Oh, we never said that.” You did. And, you know, there’s screenshots to prove it, but it, you know, none what what matters is he turned it around. He absolutely turned it around. But my problem comes in with the avalanche is they didn’t they don’t deserve this. Not because of the the I thought they they played well. They played well. They play it a hard-fought game. In the end, you lo you lose it. But you don’t deserve this. Why? because the Stars were without two of their best players and and you you needed seven games against them. That to me is just the inexcusable part because flip that. Flip it. If it was I I want to say Nathan McKinnon and Kale Mar and that that’s close. Like Robertson and Hiskin are great players. Are they Nathan McKinnon, Kale Mar? Maybe not. But they’re just right below them. They’re that they’re that they’re that next tier, maybe half a tier below them, right? They’re that good. So, okay, fine. Let’s say that if it was Nathan McKinnon and Kale Mar out for the Colorado Avalanche, do you think this would have went seven games? Not at all. Because Dallas would have pounced, Dallas would have figured out how to beat the Avalanche in a sweep or five games or a gentleman sweep, something like that. the for the fact that the Avalanche could not beat the Cal the Dallas Stars with those two guys out the entire series. You don’t deserve this. You don’t. Chris, I I could kiss your beautiful digital bald head right now. You said exactly what I’m feeling right now. When you started talking about the calls and all the extras that everybody’s like liking to hold on to right now, I will not stand for it. the Colorado Avalanche. We have said this time and time again. This is the deepest Colorado Avalanche team we have seen in some time. I even pulled up the Stanley Cup winning roster to look to prove to myself, am I being a fool for saying this? No, I’m not. This Avalanche team should not have gone seven games against this Dallas Stars team. They have played down to their opponent throughout this series. And we have talked about it not mattering and the urgency not being there. You have seen it the tail end of game one. You were taken to overtime twice and it wasn’t there. You had one stellar game. Good job. Good. Everybody does. Everybody does. You should treat this like it is the playoffs. Quit worrying about, well, we’re a good team. We got to handle our business. Show me. Don’t tell me in a microphone. Show me on the ice like you had this game. Keep pouring it on why you allowed tried. Well, I think they tried. It this team, even if you give half a try, should be scoring two to three goals a period. This is a deep team and Dallas should not dictate a single thing. When you’re talking about Charlie Coyle scratching Miles Wood and Jimmy VC for goodness sake, you’re having to like go on Hockey DB for the fourth and third line of this Dallas Stars team and like who they’re rolling out in defenders. Like these are household names. You went out and got Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle for goodness sake and they’re on your team. You have Ryan Lindren. Like you should, this team is an all-star team. How you’re letting the Dallas Stars, injury depleted Dallas Stars, dictate the Colorado Avalanche in this series is inexcusable. You should be absolutely wiping the floor with this team. You have done it the regular season to opponents that didn’t matter. Every game mattered in this series and you were just unable to dictate things. You had to respond to what Dallas did that third period. a microcosm, the summary of the entire series. Yeah. I mean, like the the the game four was their their top tier game, right? This one was was a very good game played by them. Like once they got that short-handed goal, uh I I it really seemed like things opened up for the Avalanche and they started being aggressive more. Um, I didn’t like they they only had a few like really extended offensive possessions where they were cycling it around, but they had a lot where they were keeping it in their zone, just pressed up against the boards, running some clock off, just making uh Dallas tired, so they had to to change like they they were they were playing, I thought, a really good style of game. Dallas was making it tough for them to to get on their track meet. You could tell Dallas could could not want to do that again because it burned them in the last in game six and definitely burned them in game four, but you know, you can Dallas just does not want to play that style of game against anybody, especially the Avalanche and they prevented them from doing it. But I thought the Avalanche did a really good job with puck possession. Um, and it just like but it just goes back to the the first goal from from Mo and then it was just like panic mode. Panic mode. Guys out of position. The second Mo goal. I don’t know what Lingren was doing. You cannot blame Sam Gerard on that. That’s just a fluky thing. It goes off of his his stick. Uh, what Lingren was doing, I don’t really know. There there’s no way that he he should have got behind Lingren like that. And even Blackwood was really out of position. I don’t know. He was kind of way off to the side where Miko kind of runs into him. Not goend interference or anything like that. I mean, he was so he was so far like I’ll say so far, but why why Lingren was doing what he was doing, why Blackwood was going off to the side as far as he those are the things where it’s like you’re you’re you’re just trying to do too much right now because the crowd’s into it. Uh you know, they got the one goal back and then the power play goal that they get. It’s just like they were doing that the entire series that somehow stars were were finding that that cross ice pass right through everybody uh getting it to the other side of the ice for a goal. You could see it happening and it happened so many times for this series and and Dallas they deserve the win. They totally deserve it for for many many many reasons. Um and the Absol have a lot of thinking to do. Really do a lot a lot. So uh more to talk about with this one obviously. So, we’re we’ll kind of touch on it. We had a long off seasonason obviously, but uh kind of like the raw emotion of this one um and what the ABS do this off season. We’ll talk about that coming up next. Let’s hear from Amazon Fire TV because did you know that your Fire TV is also an Xbox? You can turn any TV into your gaming or entertainment hub with a Fire TV uh stick 4K devices. No console required. Just grab your paired controller. Subscribers sign into Xbox Game Pass unlimited with EA Play included and you’re ready to play. Dive into hundreds of premium titles from EA Sports College Football 25 to Call of Duty Black Ops 6 and Avowed and as easily as you stream your favorite sports shows. It’s gaming made simple and it’s all on your Fire TV. So head to amazon.com/firetvlocked on to get started. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller is required. Available on select devices including Fire TV Stick 4K second generation, Fire TV Stick Mac 4K Max first and second generation, and Fire TV Cube third generation. Plug in. Have fun. All right, sir. So, um, yeah, we’re going to talk about this and I feel like we’re going to talk about this a lot in this off season, but um, just the the right now the feelings are raw. The the emotions are raw and right now everybody wants everybody fired and everybody traded and let’s burn this thing to the ground and uh, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, build it a new. Um, and that’s all fine. That’s all that’s all well and good. um try to as best you can uh stand back from it and assess it. Um what is your kind of like gut initial reaction on what the Avalanche do this off season? I will tell you and this is this is raw but this is based um it’s not Bedar’s problem so we can stop that. We could stop that right now but it does go above Bednar. I believe this is a CMAC thing. Um, okay. For multiple things. You traded away Miko Rantin. We talked about how does this deal look at the end of the year. Congratulations everybody. Look to your left. Look to your right. We’re at the end of the year. And who put you out? The guy you traded away. Interesting. I I know everybody’s going to say yes, no on either side of that. Well, that’s fine. The last two seasons, McFarland has put a team together that he’s had to rebuild from the ground up at the trade deadline because pieces aren’t working. Ryan Johansson, you remember that? We had to do that again. We had to bring in Charlie Coyle, Brock Nelson. Bedar is doing the best with what he’s been given. this team is and honestly if we didn’t have the whole Mika Rantin thing this might have a better outcome at the end of the year. I understand NIS was great and wonderful. Drury was wonderful except for that that was a holding call. Um at the end I don’t have a problem with any of the penalties in this game. Yeah, that was a holding call. I know a lot of people had a complaint with that. It was a holding call. I wanted that on the record. But um no, that’s this is a serious CMAC problem. Um, do not confuse like CMAC was not in he was not part of the Stanley Cup building team. He took over after that and after that we you’ve been chasing ghosts and I want to say it’s not a Bednar problem but CMAC there’s some serious like I I need to see some success here because you have told us this is a successful team and had to revamp it at both trade deadlines. This one was a little bit more extreme than what we’ve seen in quite some time. And I don’t you might be putting together an all-star roster, but nothing that’s pushing past the second round because other than the Stanley Cup run, the the ABS have not advanced past the second round. All right. And so, you know, I get that in and since since the uh since the cup win. So, here’s my my my kind of rebuttal to that is, you know, like you’re saying like you’re putting together an all-star roster. What else is what’s what else is his job? That’s his job. Well, this is is to put together an all-star roster. Well, the fault is yes, you have had to but you’re having to go back and fix how this team was set up at the beginning of the year. We did. You had to you stuck to Yorgf for some reason. Like this was our answer at goalie. You stuck to that for far too long. But the also the price of that of building this all-star roster. Where is the future? You’re trading those away left and right. Yes, that that okay, that part is is I I understand that like yes, you’re giving like the Aers have nothing in draft capital for the next few years, but you do that when you’re when you’re in a team of of the Avalanche uh like what you’re expecting of your team. You have to like everybody does that. You get rid of your your uh picks, you get rid of your prospects, and when it doesn’t work, now you’re getting second guessed and third guessed and all that stuff. Well, this was the first time you’ve seen them dip into rentals. They really Yeah. And you traded away a big piece like Mika Rantin and we said whoa CMAC really bold with the moves. First round exit guys like right what what you traded away so much draft capital a lot of prospects people that like Kovaleinko is not even a member of this team anymore. like you have so many things that you were looking forward to that you traded away to have to fix it again at the trade deadline and like why like that that’s always the risk that’s always the risk of if it doesn’t work we have nothing to fall back on now and and you know with with the goalie thing like he addressed it and they what were they the first team since maybe ever to to change both goalies by like December mid December or whatever it was. So like he was active. He was active. And if you first of all like I want to go back and just say I don’t feel like either one of these guys is getting let go as far as like the you know Bedar or McFarland. I don’t feel like it’s going to happen. But if you were forced to tell me one of them is gonna go, it’s probably Jared Bedar. And I don’t I I He’s He’s my favorite coach in Avalanche history. I think he’s the best coach in the league and I think he is perfect for this team. But all of those things that you’re saying like, oh, they haven’t made it past the second round since the cup win. Like that’s a Bednar problem. That’s not a Chris McFarland problem. And when when we say like, oh well, Miko Rantin is the one that ended your season. That’s on Chris McFarland. No, it’s not. Chris McFarland got rid of Miko Rantin to the East Coast, to the Hurricanes for this very reason. He’s not going to trade Miko Rance, someone of Miko Rantin’s caliber to the West because he doesn’t want to face him in the playoffs. He can’t expect what happened in in three weeks to happen in Carolina and Miko Rantin to come back to the West and oh by the way to the Dallas Stars. He can’t predict that. So it like in in the move we all we we didn’t like it because it’s Miko Rantin and then the way that Nius was playing and the way that Jack Drury was playing, we were okay with it. It’s not like we’re ever going to love it because you got rid of beloved player, but what he got in return for it was doing the job and doing their job and doing it well. And now when we play the tape to the end and Miko Rentin’s the one that ends your season, we think that’s Chris McFarland. It’s not Chris McFarland’s fault. We loved this team after the trade deadline. Loved this team going into the the the Stanley Cup playoffs. And what happened? They couldn’t beat Dallas. Decimated team like we’ve talked about. That’s not Chris McFarland’s fault. And it’s really not Jared Bednar’s fault that much. It is to an extent because he’s the coach. So, it falls back on the coach, falls back on the players. But I don’t think you can blame Chris McFarland for this. I just I just can’t. You love the team that he put together. you’d love it. And how they played is not not acceptable. And that’s the scheme. That’s uh you know h what’s the product on the ice uh how they’re playing. He’s not the coach. Jared Benar is a coach. Yeah. If if we wake up tomorrow and they say Jared Benard’s been fired, just play back that third period. I’ll be like, “Okay, I understand.” That is a Bedar thing. Like you’ve got to you got to fire those guys up a little bit better because those patented Jared Bednar intermissions haven’t happened in quite some time. like it’s been you haven’t seen a huge change and a push there. But I will go back on the CMAC thing. Is $250,000 and that difference of contract. Is is it worth it? Is it worth it? Because now you’re going to have to rebuild this team again in the offseason for what you could have paid him another additional million. Cap’s going up. Like if signing Miko Ranton was a big deal and pulling the plug so quickly to the point where he got traded again like before the deadline that that’s what I’m raising concerns on. Like what are we doing here? Like that’s Mika Rantin. It’s not like you’re taking a gamble like we’re talking about Drew in what are you going to get? you know what you’re going to get out of Miko ranting it. And if it’s that final number that still hasn’t been confirmed or what actually happened, but if it’s still that $250 maybe $500,000 difference, if that’s all it took, that’s a serious problem because look who that $500,000. Natious did not show up in the playoffs. Drrew led to the game-winning goal on that power play in that holding call. Mika Ranton was the one that put you out. So that $500,000 he didn’t want to pay is going into your first round exit. I mean I don’t once Nishious got going I thought he play he was he kind of like pared uh Miko Ranton not in in in production in points and stuff like that just in that he finally got going. I mean he finished third on the team in points. So, but he only had one goal and that I say he only finished like or he was finished he did finish third in points but he had five five in seven games. You need more than that. You need more than that because Kale Mar had five in seven games. Art Lechin had four in seven games. Uh Nuskin had four in seven games and then where you got Gabe Lansk who had four in five games. Yeah. So, um, you know, like those guys, they they played okay, but you need more than okay when when it comes to to the playoffs. So, um, yeah, it’s it’s going to be a very very interesting off season for Colorado. Um, but you, like you said, like what what would I be surprised if you wake up tomorrow and it wouldn’t happen that fast, but like uh, you know, Jared Bender has been served his walking papers. I mean it not dude nothing surprises me with some of the the trades that have happened this year and then some of the firings that have already happened in this off this offseason nothing would really surprise me. I mean maybe it would a little bit but um I it I think the main reason as if it does happen it’s just you know you you kind of wear out your welcome and you know look at Mike Sullivan in in Pittsburgh. It’s just not that they think he’s a bad coach. It’s just like we need we need a new voice. And I don’t know if that’s what the Avalanche are thinking right now. The Avalanche Brass is is if is is that what they are thinking of, you know, like we love you. We you know, you’re the the highest uh winning the winningest coach in in franchise history. Um we love what you’ve done with this team, but and this is true for every single franchise across sports. Sometimes you just need new blood. You change you change players every year for that same reason. And sometimes it comes back to the head coach. I I I’m I’m the type of guy that likes consistency um with with head coaches and stuff like that. I I if if things are working, I never want to get rid of a head coach, but that’s not the way sports are anymore. It’s if you’re not if you haven’t shown that you you can win in a short amount of time, you’re done. So Jared Bednar in nine 10 seasons that he’s been there, that is on borrowed time uh in in the sports world of head coaches. So, they might let him run it back for one more season, but that that’s probably all he’s got. Unless, you know, if he they hold on him for next year. Um, if he doesn’t make a run, minimum Western Conference final, that’s probably it for him. If not now, we’ll see. The thing is, I know we keep pointing back to that 2022 Stanley Cup. If they fired John Cooper tomorrow, you wouldn’t bat an eye. You’d be like, “Yeah, they probably need a fresh voice.” He won another Stanley Cup. He’s got two. Jared Bner’s got one. And guess what? He got bounced in the first round. So did Bednar. Like you would not be You’d be like, “Oh, it makes sense. It’s they probably needed a change. Take off your burgundy and blue glasses.” That’s what the league would be thinking when they see, oh, possibly Jared Bedner got fired. They’re like, “Oh, makes sense. They haven’t had that same success.” Same with Tampa Bay. The the two coaches that met in that Stanley Cup are running the same trajectory right now. So, it it’s you gota you got to think about it from a leaguewide standpoint because you’re looking at Nathan McKinnon, Kale Mar, they had that one cup, but they haven’t done a single thing since then. All right. Well, uh let’s go at our last break in here. We have some subtext people chiming in and uh a a season ending soundcheck, which is always an interesting one. So, we’ll do all that next. It’s here from game time. The Stan the Cup playoffs are here. Yeah, who cares? Uh, and if you’ve never been to a live NHL playoff game, it’s unlike anything else. The intensity, the speed, the energy in the building. It’s obviously next level. And thanks to Game Time, getting in the door is easier and more affordable than ever. Game time is the fastest way to grab playoff tickets. Even for those must-sea matchups, prices actually drop as uh the puck drop gets closer. And with lastminute deals, you can save up to 60%. The priority last minute deals for uh like that 60% off is for buying last minute tickets on sporting events, concerts, comedy, theater, everything. All they’re all in pricing shows the total cost upfront. No surprise fees at checkout. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use the code locked on NHL for $20 off of your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that code is locked on NHL. L O C K E D O N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N NHL for $20 off. Download Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices [Music] guaranteed. All right, so um yeah, like I said, there’s going to be uh lots going on and lots to peeling layers of an onion are going to be the theme for this off seasonason for the Avalanche. So uh a few people on subtext chiming in. So, by the way, uh yeah, like the the the the subtext stuff goes on all all season long because, you know, in a little while we’ll dive into we’ll do player grades and stuff like that. We get everybody’s thoughts on player player grades from our Subtex crew, uh free agency. I throw out the draft, but I don’t see be much of a draft for the Avalanche this year. So, um, Subtext goes through the entirety of, uh, the calendar year and, uh, you know, so definitely sign up for it if you want to throw your your grades out because they’re going to be interesting because you can have, uh, and we don’t do grades for the regular season and just the postseason. It’s all inclusive. So, it’s always interesting to see what people give uh, player grades for and and heavily weigh it on the postseason. And you’re going to get a lot of that for this offseason for the ABS. Yeah, subtext will be the place to be. You can even probably drive some segments on where we go and what we need to talk about. So, bring it on. Yeah, absolutely. So, uh we’ll start with the mayor. Mayor Charles uh just says uh worst possible outcome imaginable and that you know what was a Shakespearean tragedy. He’s right. like that there. I mean, you lose more uh in seasons than than you win, right? The Avalanche has been in existence for for 30 years now and they’ve won three championships. So, 27 years your your your season ends without a championship. Um and that that’s, you know, the the the ratio is just way off when it comes to that. Um but some years when the season ends, it it holds a little bit more weight. This is one that is going to to hold a little bit more weight than other ones and it’s the solely because of the Miko Rantin story line. That was the story line going into this this uh series. It was non-existent for the first half of it and then he made it the story again and now that is the the ending story. So yes, this is Shakespearean like this is a tragedy and uh this is one that will be remembered and discussed and hurt for a while. For a while Matt Duchain put us out last year and put us out this year. It’s terrible. It’s terrible. Uh Lisa says, “I’m going to need some uh some time to process before I have any real thoughts right now. It’s like having a fight with your significant other. Uh, you sometimes have to walk away before you say something you regret later. Also, she says, “Go Caps.” Because she is a Capitals fan, too. For Pete’s sake, good question. Who you rooting for now? I mean, the New York Knicks. My ABS and Devils are out. I can’t turn to basketball. It’s not that dire for me. Uh, you know what? To be honest with you, I don’t know if I’m going to watch hockey until at least the second round gets I’m not going to watch the game seven. Uh, Jets and Blues. I’m not I’m going to probably It’s going to take me I’m really hurt over this loss and I’m probably going to need a a game or two before I dive back in because I’m going to be very bitter about it. Yeah, I I usually do like you’re always bitter when when your your team season ends, but um I don’t know. I I’ll haven’t really given it much thought. I just thought of it as I was reading that subtext, but I might bandwagon for Lisa, but it’s going to go I’ll catch you in a game or two. I wouldn’t mind the Caps because that would be a great story with Ovetkin. Yeah. Um obviously family friends with the Leonard family. So, uh I I would root for Ryan Leonard. So, um and hey, go Maple Leafs. Throw that one out there, too. Why not? Why not? Let them Let him win it. Let him win it. But is it is it all east coast? Can’t be anything west coast. I don’t think there’s anybody on the west. West is dead to me. I would have gone for the Kings. I always have something for the Kings. I’m a big Gretzky guy and it’s just when growing up Gretzky was on the Kings and that’s just how I got into it. So you’re asking me to cheer for either the Oilers, the Knights, the Blues or Jets or the Stars. In some weird way, I I wouldn’t mind the Jets just because like it’s just the small market when we do those things on on the athletic like nobody wants to go there if if you’re a player, you know? So that would be kind of nice and it’s a Canadian team like that would I wouldn’t mind that one at all. If you had to pick one team from the West, I I would be fine with them doing it, but other than that, it’s all East Coast for me. Oh, may maybe just say the Stars. So, you could say the ABS lost to the Stanley Cup champions. I don’t play that. I I don’t do that. I I know a lot of people do and I get it. I I don’t do that stuff. That’s that’s bogus to me, but whatever. Um Joe says, “What a season by the boys. Unfortunately, it had to be Mo put the ABS down. Heck of a game.” Yeah, it it’s pretty simple. It was was a good game, but it’s just uh it’s going to be tough one. Yeah, if you weren’t an ABS or a Stars fan, this had to be incredible. Well, Dan says, uh, that’s a rough one, not gonna lie. That’s worse than the Duchine goal. Which one’s worse? Uh, overtime Duchain. Duchain one stings because I don’t know. I kind of got tarnished on the Miko antics after his first hold out and I’ve just been like appreciating him but not like loving him. I love Duchain and he had a lot of promise when he was with Colorado. That one stung me. Yeah, I think that because that’s overtime, right? Like this one clock was winding down. Like you’re already losing. They get the empty net or whatever. Um they’re different. They’re the same, but they’re different. They’re the same because it’s former ABS. Um, Mo just put up a a heck of a game from, you know, in the entirety of it where the Duchain was like just that singular moment of him just getting that goal and then you’re done. Just done. Overtime losses uh to end your season are just brutal. Brutal. So I it’s that right now I would say the Duchaine one, but this M one’s not that far behind. Yeah, they both stink. Um, let’s see. Uh, that was a Dan one. Okay, Koi says, “Only thing that is making me happy right now is the fun offseason segments.” So, yeah, thank you for making me uh smile on that one, Koi. Appreciate that. Um, Christina Mika will go down in history as the worst trade for Colorado. I can’t keep watching Dallas send us home. I might need to take a break from ABS hockey for a bit. The loss literally took years off my life, letting Dallas come back uh time and time again. The ABS never learned their lessons. Stupid penalties, a deflected puck off Sammy G. My heart can’t take this anymore. Maybe I’ll feel different in October, but for now, not sure I can even watch hockey for a while. Exactly what you were just saying. Yep. Yep. The exit interviews are going to be really interesting for this year. Where’s I thought Var had something in here. Oh, I bet. Or I bet he’s still writing it. There you go. Chris McFarland got exactly what he deserved. It should cost him his job. Uh, Nishas was a joke compared to Mo in the series. Drewie took the penalty that cost him the game. Uh, Dbor 8 and0. Nate 0 and five. I’ve never jumped off the fire Cac train. Terrible GM. Wasted three years of Mar and Nate’s primes. Um, oh, we said sorry. Nine and0. Nine and0 for D’vor. Um, well, I mean, I made my thoughts clear and I think you did too on on that. If you didn’t like the moves Chris McFarland made at the deadline, uh then then you have an argument. You have your argument. But I don’t because I I liked him. I liked the moves that he made. I liked this team going into the postseason. I can’t turn tail like Dallas Stars fans are doing with the whole Miko Rantinon thing and trade him back to Colorado and now he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread there. I’m not doing that. I’m not turning and saying like Chris McFarland needs to be fired. No, because I went on about how how he turned this team around uh and the moves he made were I thought great and I thought going into the postseason this team was great. So because they didn’t perform well is not on him. So I can’t I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to turn around. But if you had that argument and I and Var did I got to give him credit there. He had he had the he wasn’t crazy about uh the the makeup of this team. So he can make that argument and I won’t say that, you know, he’s a flip-flopper because he’s not. But I can’t do that because I I like and I and but I’m sticking by what I I how I feel like how I’m what I’m saying is genuinely my truth like what I feel is about Chris McFarland is that that’s why he I don’t feel like he should be let go. But yeah, mine mine goes it goes that stretch like constantly presenting this is your team having revamp it at the trade deadline two years in a row and your tradeaway just put you out of the playoffs and your Stanley Cup winning goalie is in conversations for the VZNA. Wow. All right. So, let’s uh wrap this thing up with our sound check and uh figure out what happens. So, um yeah. So, we we picked one song each that summarized the most recent game, put the songs up on a playlist, which uh I think this was going to put a bow on uh on LOA Soundcheck volume number four. So, that’s what you search for when you go on Spotify. What do you got here, sir? This one works on multiple levels because you know me. This is from the band the doors because we are slamming the door on the season. The song is bas it’s just called the end. I’m going to read you just a a little passage because it’s I love the doors. Great vibe. Um ride the snake. He’s old. His skin is cold. The west is best. Get here. We’ll do the rest. The blue bus is calling us. Driver, where are you taking us? Where are we going? Where are we going? The West is the best, but driver, where are you taking us? And and I mean, and it’s going to be time before we really have answers to that, but it’s a good question. It’s a really good question. And who’s driving? It’s another good question. Who’s driving? And well, I mean, that’s where I went with mine is in in kind of the same realm. I went with uh with filter. Oh, the song is where do we go from here? You know what I mean? Like this is I know everybody’s saying like, “Oh, years wasted.” And and you know, you’re wasting like they’re not trying to they’re trying to to to win. It’s not easy winning the Stanley Cup. Um, you know, you you could say that about Alex Ovuchetkin, too. And and the Capitals wasted his uh prime years, but he got one later in his career. So, I don’t I don’t buy into the whole like wasting years thing. You’re not trying to waste years. You’re trying to win it. It is not easy to do it. But that begs the question, who’s driving? Where do we go from here? Because there’s going to have to be changes. There’s there’s going to have to be. And if they are at the top, they’re at the top. you know, there’s going to be ones in the middle of the players. You know, that’s going to happen. That happens every year. What are those moves like? And if if it is higher, it’s uh it’s going to be an interesting one. I don’t want the Avalanche to be that team that just cycles through coaches. I hate that. Absolutely hate that. I love that Jared Bedar has been there for a while. I love that he has his tenure that he’s had. Um, so if they do make a move, you better do something that’s similar because I hate the revolving door, uh, the NHL with coaches. Can’t stand it. I don’t want the Avalanche to fall into that. Well, after the Seattle bounce, we were questioning like it was nuke and we’re like, what is going on with the team? After the Dallas loss, you’re like, okay, it’s okay. We’ll rebuild and we’ll hit them better. We know this team could be better. After this one, this is the first time where I’ve been like, maybe the ingredients are wrong. Something’s wrong with this recipe because this is three years in a row where you feel good and then you’re going home and you’re like, this is the first one where I’m not like, I don’t think this is a piece you could add or take away from this team roster-wise that will fix this team because this is a good team. Something else stinks and something else needs to get fixed. You know, the the argument will will be had no matter how far the Avalanche go and come up short because if they keep going to the Western Conference Finals and keep losing that, that will be the argument is he can’t get past the Western Conference final or since the Stanley Cup final. If you get to the the Cup final and you lose that once or twice, it’s like, oh, you could only get there once and like so the argument is the same. It’s just fill in the blank on where you want the the the phrase to end. And right now it’s like can’t get past the second round or recently it’s can’t get out of the first round. But that’s what it is. No, it’s not. It it it’s that and and that is that’s that’s understandable. It’s legit. It that is an argument to be had. And I think the the powers that be have to decide if they think a change will change that. We will see. We will see. Off seasons are always interesting. Um this one is going to be no different for the ABS. So, um, yeah, we’re going to wrap it up there, everybody. So, take a day to, uh, just lick the wounds and do what you have ever do whatever you have to do to, uh, get back into the right mindset. And, uh, we’ll be back on, uh, Tuesday with a brand new episode and see what we got. So, that is going to wrap it up, everybody. Another season is in the books and uh, another long off season for Kyle and I. So stick with us here. It’s going to be fun. So he’s Mr. Shaggy Von Doom, Kyle Sullivan. I am Chris Melli. This is the Locked On Avalanche podcast. And hey, maybe one of those changes is you’re 24 hours closer of Sydney Crosby in a Colorado Avalanche sweater. Make it happen. What’s his GM resume look like?

Mikko Rantanen was a non factor for the first four games for the Dallas Stars in their opening round matchup against the Colorado Avalanche. But once he got going he reminded Avs fans what made him so special, and he sent his former team packing.

The Avs had game 7 in their hands. A 2-0 lead in the 3rd. But a Rantanen goal opened the floodgates that the Avs could not shut. Now with their season over, the questions will pour in.

We break it all down, like we will for the days and weeks to come.

Tune in, subscribe and try to enjoy.

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