This is VERY Exciting news... - Multiple Avalanche Updates

This is very exciting news as with the Avalanche right around the corner from starting their 26-27 season, we got clarity on one of their young rising stars making the lineup and some not so exciting news about some fan favorites for the Colorado Avalanche all right here on Av's Digest. We're going to be covering what this roster is going to look like, what their predicted and confirmed lineup actually is for their game against the LA Kings. So welcome in. So happy to have you here as always. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button. Guys, we are beginning the NHL season. It is time. Hockey is back. We had NHL games happen yesterday. How excited are we for this season? What do you want to see the most? What are you most excited for? Are we just happy to be back in general or do you just not like hockey in which case I think you're in the wrong place. But let's just dive right into it. So we have the game happening against the LA Kings today at eight o'clock local time here in Colorado and this is a home game at Ball Arena. So the home opener, the first home opener the Avs have actually had in quite a long time but third year in a row the Avs are going to play the LA Kings and it was just announced by Puckpedia that this is the they are going to run 11-7. So that was a thing a lot of people were speculating if Logan O'Connor and Zach LaRue were unable to go and that kind of leads us into the other piece of news. O'Connor and LaRue are out for opening night. Jared Bednar confirmed the Avs will go 11-7 on opening night. So this is your official roster and the projected line combinations and these are the combinations the Avs have been running for quite a long time now. They like to play Schwartz with TJ Hughes and they seem to really want to play Fedor Svetchkov with those two. On paper I really like it. Svetchkov is a good puck distributor, good playmaker so I don't mind that combination. I just think Svetchkov is an empty calorie player but that's kind of besides the point. If he does well then he proves everyone wrong. I'm glad about that. You've got Nazem Khadri confirmed to be playing wing on that second line. I'm excited to see what Nazem Khadri on wing looks like. He's been ramping up for it all offseason according to himself and of course that top line, the amazing top line of Lekanen, McKinnon, Nechis. No complaints there. Everyone's familiar with it. The defense is fully healthy. Of course you've got Arturi Lekanen looking to continue an amazing season. We always love to see that and Nathan McKinnon himself had a brilliant quote as to what to say for the Colorado Avalanche saying, I love the group of guys. It's such an amazing group of guys. Our management is great at bringing in good humans and obviously good players. So he's excited. He's ramped up to go and I'm loving the mentality from the Colorado Avalanche in general. I think this quote from Gabe Landeskog asking him about how excited he is for this season was saying, of course, but we feel we have something to prove. And I love this for the Az because they could so easily just sit back and kind of just say, yeah, we won the president's trophy. Come on guys. It was just one bad week, which was something they were saying a lot, which I wasn't the biggest fan of, but I do love that they have this mentality coming in of we didn't do good enough. I am excited to see how that progresses as time goes on. And I'm even more excited to see what happens with TJ Hughes. So he is actually staying on power play one. I know this news broke a little bit ago, but I didn't bother covering it. I didn't think it was that important just purely because I didn't think it would stick, but it seems like the apps are heavily wanting to try TJ Hughes in the bumper spot on power play one. They said that the ads have backup plans, but we'll start the season with McKinnon on the right wall. Bednar says, I actually love this idea. I alluded to that earlier. Again, I have no faith in the power play. I don't know if you guys missed our daily updates on the power play, but it's here. Didn't you miss us discussing the power play at length? I know I didn't, but the truth is I like McKinnon on that right wall because on the one-timer spot on that left side, you take one of the best skaters in the NHL, one of the best players at just creating offense by his skating ability, speed, and physicality alone. And you say, you're going to stand still right here. You're going to get comfortable and that's all you're going to do. I think that that increasingly became a recipe for disaster. They were playing to McCarr to McKinnon, maybe the net just up on the goal line, which he should not be. And you were essentially blocking off one third of the entire ice where Crosby, I wish it was Crosby, where Nelson was, where Caudrey was. And only when Caudrey was there that they start minorly opening it up and you had the most success on that power play when that happened. So I like that McKinnon is being forced out of his comfort zone, forced to be on that right side. I really like how that looks. And knowing that TJ Hughes is a right-hander, he's going to be playing in that bumper spot. I assume net just is going to be on that one-timer spot on the left wall. I like the makeup of how this lineup looks. I'm excited to see how it goes. Of course, you've got Gabe Landis-Cogg on the goal line slash in front of the net, and you've got Kael McCarr running point. I like the makeup of this power play. I'm excited to see what they've got in the bag. They have a lot of plans to try things with. So you know what? Why not? I am excited up until the point where the first power play happens and they only get one shot on that. So that's basically how that's going to go, I predict. But knowing with that, we have our full makeup for power play one. We know what power play two is going to look like for the 30 seconds they might get ice time. And of course, you have Leckie and Nelson rotating on power play one. But all together, that is your confirmed lineup for the Colorado Wavelengths. You know your deep herrings. It was a top five defensive core that you've brought back. I'm excited to see a full season of Kulak as well. I think that his fit with Sam Malinsky was a little iffy at times, and his numbers next to Kael McCarr just weren't the best. So I want to see how he fits into this lineup. And maybe even Josh Manson plays up next to Sam Malinsky because their numbers together, while limited, were pretty good. And Kulak helps cover up Byrne's worst impulses, which I would really like. You get a safe player next to a player of extremes, and I think that could be a As for goaltending, I'm excited for the goalies. The woodshed, fully healthy, ready to go at the beginning of the season. And let's actually look at what the rest of this season holds. You've got the Avs playing the LA Kings at 8 o'clock local time, and then you have a pretty big break. You have a two-day break until you play the St. Louis Blues, then a three-day break until you play the Winnipeg Jets. So plenty of breaks at the beginning of the season for the Avs. I wish that come later in the season and not right in the beginning when everyone's trying to get into a groove. So we only play three games in about two weeks here. It's not exactly, or at least one week, not exactly the best, but you do get plenty of games as time goes on. You play Calgary on the back-to-back. You've got a good mixture of teams that you would think are kind of middle of the pack, and teams that you would say are high-end. The Avs play the Dallas Stars twice, back-to-back games, and that will be fireworks for sure. I'm sure everyone will be calm. I'm sure no one will be hurling insults at each other on social media. It's going to be a nice, peaceful time. It will truly be a fun test of everyone's mettle, and with this 10-game segment, I'm really excited to see how T.J. Hughes does. I think that they're going to give them a good look, and I would say that possibly even right before they go on the road trip at the end to Philadelphia and New Jersey, that Pittsburgh game could be where they decide how they like the kids so far. I think I love when road trips happen. That's why I'm kind of glad that they're going to Winnipeg and Calgary. It's always a good time for the team to bond and just get on the plane, play cards, really just start cementing that team chemistry with the lineups when you're in hotels. I just like the makeup of what that kind of, that forces the closeness between the players. I am excited to see for this 10-game segment how they perform against some teams that are more bottom of the pack. You've got Winnipeg and Calgary, but you've pretty much everybody else I would describe as a possible playoff team or a team with playoff hopes or certified contenders like the Dallas Stars. So I am incredibly happy for this 10-game segment. I think it's going to be a fun bit here, but let me know what you guys think in the comments down below. How excited are we for this season? It's unfortunate that Logan O'Connor and Zach LaRue are out. Those are definitely some fan favorites. Logan O'Connor, I don't love that he's now missing two straight seasons where he's not playing the opening night. I think that's, with his injury history already being prevalent, I don't like that he's missing this amount of time and already got injured in training camp before any games were actually played. I'm not loving how that's making up, and Bednar did confirm that that injury did take place in training camp. It wasn't an off-season thing, or wasn't left over from the end of last season. So we're just kind of going to have to monitor that situation as time goes on, but that is going to do it for this video. Thank you all so much for watching, and I will see y'all in the next one.