Can Gabriel Landeskog Stay Healthy Enough to Help the Colorado Avalanche Excel This Season
The Colorado Avalanche are gearing up for what they hope is another run at the Stanley Cup, but did they do enough this off season? And will the pieces come together? Zack Pearson of Locked On Avalanche is here to talk about that and more next on today’s Locked On NHL podcast. You’re Locked on NHL, your daily podcast on the National Hockey League, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Gil Martin here. Welcome everybody to the Monday edition of the Locked On NHL podcast. We are part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. I want to thank everyone who makes Locked on NHL your first listen every day. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode. It is my pleasure to welcome to the show for the first time the new co-host of Locked on Avalanche, Zack Pearson. And uh Zach, it’s been an interesting off season. The Avalanche seems to me trying to get some depth pieces to sort of uh get that lineup to go on a longer playoff run. How would you grade the off season overall? I I’d give it a solid B. I think there’s probably some more that the ABS could have done, but I really like that recent signing of Victor Olivesson to shore up that third line. And once um I’m blanking on his name, Logan O’Connor comes back after his injury recovery, I really think the ABS depth is not going to be too much of an issue, barring other injuries coming in. So, not the best offseason, but I think they did enough to address the needs they had. A and with training camp coming up very very soon, what is your biggest concern about this team right now? Oh, that’s a that’s a great question. I, as much as I said, I think the depth’s not as big of a deal. I think the depth is easily the biggest concern. I mean, we’re still a pretty topheavy team over here in Colorado. Those top two lines. Brock Nelson, I’m hoping, will be everything that we expect him to be with that contract. That’s a little bit of a concern, but not as much. I just I really hope that it’s not a, you know, a same season where it’s shut down the top line and you shut down the avalanche. I really am hopeful that the bottom six will come through as much as I think they’re capable of doing. Um, but that is probably my biggest concern spot, I think, at the moment. Are there any any prospects out there who you think are ready to step in and and maybe make a mark this year? I I really don’t think so. Unfortunately, the ABS prospect pool is not I don’t think as as NHL ready as some other prospect pools across the NHL. They’ve got some guys that I think will end up coming up and being able to make a little bit of an impact. Uh specifically looking at Elia Nabakov, but I their their depth their prospect depth is just not there right now. But that’s a testament, I think, to ownership and to uh Joe Sack and Chris McFarland going, you know what, we’re all in right now. Prospects aren’t aren’t going to be the focus while you’re all in to win the cup in this window that they’re in. Gabriel Landiskog came back, played a little bit in the playoffs last year, but missed a lot of time. A lot of people doubted whether he’d ever play again. Do you think he’s ready for an 82 game grind plus playoffs or do you think that the Avalanche will try to pace him at all? So, I got the privilege of watching his first two games back in the AHL with the Eagles in person. And watching him hit the ice, he was he did everything I think properly, granted at a lower level in the AHL. Then he came back for the playoffs and had some really good games with the ABS against the Stars even though we didn’t win that series. It’s I really think right now only time will tell. My impression is he feels ready to go, right? He is set for an 82 game season. He doesn’t plan to miss a second of ice time that is available to him. That being said, it’ll really be interesting to see how that plays out because three years is a long time to spend away from the NHL and to just jump right back into it full-blown. And he plans to play in the Olympics. I I think he believes he’s ready. And honestly, I really feel like when you’re that level of athlete, a lot of that has to be mental, right? So, his mindset, I think, is going to lend to him doing really well this year. Talk to me about the goalending. How confident are you that the goalending will not be an issue this year? I am confident. I have been a Mackenzie Blackwood fan for a while. Uh I do a dynasty fantasy hockey league and Blackwood has been my goalender for as long as I can remember being a part of this league. I think he’s going to do excellent. His underlying numbers are always really good. There’s a reason that the NHL recently put him and Wedgewood in the top. I think they were fifth or sixth overall in tandemss. I don’t have that list up right now, but uh like I really do believe the front office did a great job of picking up a goalending tandem that is going to backs stop this Avalanche to a very solid season and to a much hotter start this year. So, they don’t have as much of a uh rough beginning to the season as they did last year, which will help them down the stretch and going into the playoffs. lot of questions about the long-term situation with Marty Nous. Uh the contract, how do you see this playing out? What are the ABS looking to do here? I’ve actually talked about this with Chris on the Locked on Avalanche podcast, and him and I, I think, are on a pretty similar page right here. I think that Marty Nas gets a contract before December. I think around Thanksgiving is about as long as this thing goes. I think the front office believes in him. I think he is a talented enough player to warrant that contract and I think it gets done pretty quick. If anything hangs it up past that, I don’t know that he stays on the team. I think if it passes December and there’s no contract in place, it’s going to be a MCO style situation, which honestly I would put as a bit of a a failure on the front office and I think a lot of ABS fans would too. But I don’t see it coming to that. I really do think Marty’s a great player. The front office believes in him. The team believes in him. You wouldn’t have gone and traded Miko Rantman for NHOS if you didn’t think he was going to do what he needs to do for the team, right? So, I think that contract gets done. I think it’s probably a lot of people will see as an overpay, but time will tell exactly what it is, and he’s going to be here for at least a handful more years. When you say an overpay, what number do you roughly think this is going to? That is really tough, right? Because you also have Mar’s extension coming up and you’re going to have to make sure that you stay cap cap compliant, excuse me. Um, I think he probably gets in that Nelson range, maybe even a little bit higher, maybe pushing the 8 million mark. Um, but again, I I don’t know exactly what that’s going to come out to be. I do know that if it hits up in that Nelson/above Nelson range that a lot of ABS fans are going to immediately say overpay just like they did with Nelson. But I think there’s a lot of potential to NHS’s game and I think he’s going to show exactly what he’s capable of coming up over this next season to warrant what that payment’s going to be. The Avalanche have a potentially unusual situation on defense. They have four good right shot defensemen. the rest of the league is eager to find. They’re hard to find right shot defenseman. How do you see this playing out? Who could play on the off side? And also, is it possible that a trade happens because of the supply and demand for right shot defenseman? It’s definitely possible a trade happens. However, honestly, on the defense, the number one guy I see being traded is one of the left shot defenseman in Sam Gerard. I don’t know that the ABS front office would really entertain without a really good return for anybody other than Sam Gerard. Uh the I guess you could potentially look at Sam Molinsky being moved, but Burns on a one-year deal. Uh they definitely they just extended Manson for another two years after this year. So I don’t see him really being moved. And obviously unless there’s some sort of complete implosion in the front office and they lose their minds, you’re not moving uh Tae or Macar. So I I really think that the only one I’d see traded is Gerard. And being a left-handed defenseman, I don’t know why that would be um like as you were saying with the right-handed defenseman being ones to potentially move, I don’t know who you get back or who, you know, who wants to be interested in that. So I’m not sure I see a trade on defense. Honestly, I think they’re pretty well set where they’re at and um the ABS are going to be, I think, a really good defensive team once again, as they have been for a handful of years. What about Jack Drury? He’s scheduled to be the 3C. How confident are you in his ability to fill that spot? I’m feeling pretty good with Drury. I was pretty impressed with him last season. I think he’s shown enough flashes of being a very solid centerman for those bottom six roles. And in the in from what I’ve seen of uh training camp and everything so far this year, rather just practice skates and everything, he’s shown a little bit more offensiveness. He’s got a bit of a scoring touch that I think is going to translate well into this upcoming season. Obviously, live games are going to be a lot different of a situation. So, we’ll see what exactly that looks like after they hit the ice against actual opponents. Um, and that’s again, that’s where that bottom depth for the forwards concern kind of comes into play, right? But I think Jack Drury is going to show that he’s more than worth that contract that he’s got for this upcoming year. I I actually am very hopeful for him. I think that’s gonna be a solid depth player and once again once Logan Oconor comes back I think he looks even better um just because he’ll have a little bit less of that kind of responsibility to shoulder. All right, Zach, why don’t you tell our viewers and our listeners where they could find the podcast and where they could find you and your co-host on social media. Well, you can check us out. The Locked on Avalanche podcast on uh Twitterx is or lopn_avs. You can also follow us on Instagram, Lockdown Avalanche. You can find me at Xavier Superupfly on all of the social media platforms. And of course, always find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever you listen to your podcast. Just search Locked on Avalanche and come give us a listen every day. All right, Zach. Thanks so much and welcome aboard. Thank you very much, Gil. Today’s episode is brought to you by your friends at FanDuel. The NFL season is back and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if your first bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Again, bet just $5 and if your first bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using FanDuel because it fits however you like to bet. Do you like player props? How about building a same game parlay to try to win even more money? 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The Colorado Avalanche are looking to return to Cup glory, but have they done enough this offseason to get them there? And can Gabriel Landeskog stay healthy enough to make a difference for his team?
Zach Pearson of Locked On Avalanche joins us to discuss this and the biggest questions facing the Avs as we get closer to training camp for the new season.
All this and more on today’s Locked On NHL Podcast with Gil Martin.
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