I’m in my 30s now, folks. Have been for a couple of years. The thing I miss most about my early 20s was the freedom to make mistakes and learn and grow from them later. But I wasn’t in the NHL – the highest level of competition I faced was when frat boys crashed our beer pong tournaments.

Young players in the NHL face an entirely different pressure to limit mistakes, and on a contending team like the Colorado Avalanche, they operate on a very short leash. Ivan Ivan and Sam Malinski have been testing that leash lately, and with Malinski scratched for multiple games and Ivan now demoted to the AHL it seems like Coach Bednar is done giving them the freedom of youth.

Malinski sat for multiple games, then returned in the OT loss to the Winnipeg Jets for 14 tough minutes. The Jets are good, so it does say something positive that Malinski drew back into the lineup over Calvin de Haan, but you’d be hard-pressed to find even the most ardent Malinski fan to argue he played nearly as well as he had when filling in for Josh Manson on the second pair earlier this season.

Ivan was out with an injury, got a quick AHL tune-up, and then returned to skate nearly eight good minutes against Dallas, but just three minutes in both the Wild and Jets losses. That’s … not enough for a player who earlier in the season looked like a solid contributor in averaging closer to 12 minutes a night. He was sent down to the Eagles again right after the Jets game.

So what changed for these guys? Well, the rookie wall is a very real concept in the NHL. Players go from playing 30 games in college or 60 games in junior to 82 in the pros and they just can’t keep up the intensity and stamina to be the best version of themselves around halfway through the season. Malinski is 26 and not actually a rookie, but I think it’s fair to say the same concept applies.

Malinski played 69 games between the NHL and AHL last season, by far the most in a year in his career after four college seasons that capped out at 35 games. Ivan is actually more likely to be used to a grueling schedule, having played 67 in the AHL last year after 60ish a year in the QMJHL. Neither of these guys has had to build up the physical or mental stamina to play a full NHL season before, and that is a vastly more difficult task than it seems from the outside.

You see it in the kinds of mistakes they’ve been making – Malinski before his benching was consistently losing puck battles on the wall (physical stamina) and taking too long to make decisions with the puck on his stick when he got it (mental stamina). Ivan in the last two games failed to engage in a dump-in that led directly to the Jets’ first goal (physical) and was part of the group that allowed Brock Faber to waltz into the slot alone for the Wild’s third goal (mental).

On both those goals against Ivan, Juuso Parssinen was more at fault than he was BUT that doesn’t excuse his role in the goals either. Parssinen could be looped into this youth wall discussion as well – he’s definitely been showing cracks in the mental side of his game lately.

So what’s the solution? Honestly, the benching was probably a good reset for Malinski. He looked better against the Jets and should get into at least one of the back-to-back games this weekend to hopefully build on that. For Ivan, a longer stint in the AHL looks like it’s going to happen. He probably needs more minutes to get his game back than he was going to get on the fourth line, but in an ideal world I’d keep him up with the big club and find a way to get him 8-10 minutes, Unfortunately, the combo of him, Parssinen, and Innala just don’t work so they can’t play that many in close games – some AHL time will have to do.

FRIDAY FEELS

Losing that Jets game was so stupid and frustrating. The Avalanche were clearly the better team but two terrible defensive reads from forwards and one dumb ricochet spoiled everything. Let’s do Bets and Jets, where Bets are good things I think we can count on and Jets are dumb things I wish didn’t happen.

BET: Nathan MacKinnon Shooting the Puck

Oh boy Nate had some highlights this week! This was sick:

But even sicker? Seeing Nate take a puck to the net himself and shoot it. Look, MacKinnon is the frontrunner for MVP again this season leading the league in points so we can’t complain about his play too much. But man, it’s nice to see him trying to score instead of looking for the perfect pass. He’s been hitting those passes pretty consistently, so if he gets hungry for his own shot too I don’t know how anyone ever stops him. Looks like that’s happening.

JET: Nathan MacKinnon Defending in Overtime.

Oh Nate had some lowlights this week! This made me sick:

Where was he going? And why did he stop trying to get back? Look, MacKinnon is the frontrunner for MVP again this season leading the league in points so we can’t complain about his play too much, but man would it be nice to see him figure out OT defense because we all know he’s going to be out there in those situations.

BET: Keaton Middleton is Solid Now

I’ve been mildly hating on Middsy since he drew into the lineup, but I have to admit he’s looked much better in recent games. His underlying metrics against Dallas were actually dominant, and he led all defensemen. Against the Wild they were bad, and then against the Jets, they were solid. If he can be solid against a very strong Winnipeg team, I think it’s safe to say he can be solid against anyone – he just can’t get caught alone with the puck behind the net because he will definitely turn it over.

JET: We Have to Talk About Juuso

Ok. It’s time for the Juuso Parssinen discussion. The dude has skill and size and I see the vision for who he can be within the Avalanche system. There’s a discount Mikko/Nuke-style power forward in there if he can unlock the peak of his game. The problem is right now the mental side of his game is looking like the unengaged version of Mikko we see from time to time and for a bottom six player it absolutely has to be more relentless Nichushkin if he’s going to succeed.

Parssinen was great against Dallas. He and Ivan led the team in expected goals for percentage because they spent almost all their ice time in the offensive zone cycling the puck. Against Minnesota, he tried to dump a puck in deep but didn’t get much on it, then didn’t backcheck and Brock Faber scored a dagger goal to end things. Against the Jets, he completely misread a backcheck and left Morgan Barron alone for a backdoor tap-in. These are both errors that players make, but high-end bottom-six players do not — Parssinen has to iron out the low-motor plays and mental lapses from his game if he’s going to be an effective player for the Avalanche because he’s not going to get top six opportunities on a regular basis.

PREDICTIONS

Sure nailed that Dallas win, and the Wild loss – and I’d like some credit for knowing the Avs would outplay the Jets. But a loss is a loss. This week the Avs head out east and I really think they’re going to sweep the road trip – the Central is a pressure cooker, the Metro sucks, and Boston is struggling. They’ll come home and stumble against St Louis but still pick up a point because the Blues are the Blues.

@ Boston: W
@ NY Rangers: W
@ NY Islanders: W
vs. St. Louis: OTL

Season Total: 26-23