The Avalanche are going to win a lot of hockey games if they get even slightly above-average goaltending from Darcy Kuemper.
If Kuemper plays like he did Sunday against the Panthers, an elite team, the Avs have to be considered one of the top contenders for the Cup again this season.
“He was great,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said after Colorado’s 3-2 win. “Really, really strong down low on rebounds and on pucks that were laying out.”
Advertisem*nt
Kuemper is 3-0-0 since returning from an upper-body injury that sidelined him for four games, and two of those wins came against the Panthers and Rangers, two of the top three teams in the league in points percentage. He has a .920 save percentage in those three contests, as well as a mark of 1.62 goals saved above expected, per Evolving-Hockey. He’s looked like the goaltender who led Colorado to give up Conor Timmins and a first-round pick in a trade after Philipp Grubauer signed with the Kraken over the summer.
Kuemper’s next step will be consistency. He’s had stretches of quality play this year but also a rough week in late November during which he had a league-worst minus-4.06 GSAx, according to Evolving-Hockey. And though he had a strong trio of games overall this past week, he let in multiple goals he’d likely want back, including two he should have had in a 7-3 win against the Red Wings.
“He’s a little bit like our team,” Bednar said after the Detroit game. “He’s got (aspects of his game) to clean up, make sure that they’re not getting any easy ones, and then make some of the saves that he made tonight, ones that are robbing teams of goals. That’s what I think his potential is.”
And it’s exactly the potential he showed Sunday against the Panthers, when he saved 29 of 31 shots and withstood a last-minute push.
Kuemper’s performance leads off this week’s observations column, which will cover the team’s 7-5 win in Philadelphia, 7-3 win in New York, 7-3 win against the Red Wings and 3-2 win against Florida. We’ve got 24 observations this week — one for each of the Avalanche’s 24 goals.
2. First off, let’s take a look at the Avalanche’s injury situation:
• Nazem Kadri, who leads the team and is fourth in the league with 34 points, is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
• Captain Gabriel Landeskog will miss around two weeks with a lower-body injury.
• Defenseman Bowen Byram (head) is still out. The team is not classifying the injury as a concussion, saying he has passed proper protocols, but Bednar said it could be concussion-related. “When he tells me he’s ready to play and our doctors and everyone is comfortable with it, then he’ll play,” the coach said.
Advertisem*nt
• Defenseman Ryan Murray, who is on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury, is starting to do better. Bednar had previously told reporters the blueliner is out indefinitely, but he clarified that the injury shouldn’t be season-ending.
• The hope is that prospect Shane Bowers will return to the AHL Colorado Eagles lineup this week, per a team spokesperson.
• Defenseman Jacob MacDonald took a scary hit from Ryan Lomberg in the second period of the Florida game and had to be stretchered off the ice. The team put out a statement later in the period saying he was alert and responsive and had full body movement. Bednar said that, from the angle he saw, he thought the hit was legal. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s either a legal hit or it’s not,” the coach said. “Physicality is part of the game.”
3. Erik Johnson’s comments on the MacDonald play were insightful and are worth reading in full:
So that everyone has context, here are Erik Johnson's full comments on Ryan Lomberg's hit on Jacob MacDonald: https://t.co/k69MXlI5B5 pic.twitter.com/BPasPStSVu
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) December 13, 2021
4. Kuemper’s good week isn’t the only thing going on in Avalanche Goalie Land. Pavel Francouz, the team’s No. 2 goaltender in 2019-20, is finally healthy and on the active roster. He didn’t play a game in 2020-21 because of a hip injury, and he missed the first chunk of this season with a sprained ankle.
Francouz played four games with the Eagles on a conditioning stint, posting a .945 save percentage and 3-1-0 record. He was activated before Sunday’s game and backed up Kuemper.
If Francouz returns to his form from two years ago, when he had a .923 save percentage in 34 games, he’ll offer a huge boost as a legitimate No. 2 netminder.
The Avalanche put Jonas Johansson on waivers after activating Francouz, and the Panthers snatched him up. Acquired from Buffalo last season for a sixth-round pick, Johansson had an 8-3-2 record and an .895 save percentage with the Avalanche. The highlight of his Colorado tenure was likely his win in the final game of the 2020-21 regular season, which clinched the Presidents’ Trophy for the Avalanche.
Advertisem*nt
Johansson’s departure means Justus Annunen will likely be the team’s main AHL goalie and the next in line for an NHL spot if Kuemper or Francouz goes down. More on him in a bit.
5. The morning of the Avalanche-Flyers game, Philadelphia fired coach Alain Vigneault. The Flyers had lost eight in a row going into the Colorado game, and the vibes in Philadelphia were grim. As I walked into the Wells Fargo Center shortly after the coaching change was announced, a stadium worker asked me if I report on the Avalanche. When I said yes, he replied, “Good. The only thing that should be covering this Flyers team is a blanket.”
6. There was another foreboding sign for the Flyers before the game. For some reason, a group of police officers walked onto the ice with police dogs, one of which J.T. Compher had the chance to pet. One of the other dogs must have gotten confused, though. Perhaps thinking they were outside, the pup pooped directly on the Flyers’ center-ice logo in a moment captured on video.
7. The Flyers game marked the first career start for Annunen, a 21-year-old goalie prospect. The Avalanche had defensive breakdowns in front of him — Bednar has lamented similar games throughout the season — and he allowed five goals. Fortunately for the young netminder, the Avalanche netted seven goals, and he escaped with his first career win. Afterward, the team gave him the game puck in the locker room.
“That’s what I’ve always dreamed about,” he said after the game. “It’s not long ago that I played video games with those guys (in them).”
Thrust into NHL action by necessity, Annunen did not look ready to play full time at the highest level, and the Avalanche sent him back to the AHL when Kuemper recovered from his injury. But the experience is likely to serve the young goalie well.
8. Historically, the Avalanche have not done well drafting and developing goaltenders. Since moving to Denver, they’ve drafted 26 netminders, eight of whom were selected in the top three rounds. Only three of those 26 played more than 50 games with the Avalanche, and only two were ever the team’s main starter for at least one season. Since Peter Budaj, the team has relied almost exclusively on outside help, from Semyon Varlamov to Philipp Grubauer to Francouz and Kuemper.
Advertisem*nt
Could Annunen, a 2018 third-round pick, break the recent trend and develop into a reliable NHL presence for Colorado at some point?
9. Flyers goalie Carter Hart, who sat against the Avalanche, gave Annunen a stick tap before his first start and wished him well.
10. Nikolas Aube-Kubel played 102 games with the Flyers, and though he didn’t put up major numbers with the team, Philadelphia welcomed him back with a Jumbotron graphic.
Nicolas Aubé-Kubel gets a “welcome back” graphic from the Flyers. He nearly assisted a goal earlier, but Martin Jones made a stop on Alex Newhook. pic.twitter.com/fzRLQ4uniK
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) December 7, 2021
Aube-Kubel is still in one of the pictures the Flyers project onto the ice before games, and the daughter of Philadelphia’s equipment manager found him after the game to say hello. They posed for a photo together.
“If you asked me (about changing teams) three weeks ago, I would probably say, ‘It’s kind of sad I have to change teams,’” said Aube-Kubel, who got to say hello to former Flyers teammates before the game. “Now I’m pretty optimistic about it. I’m on a really good team, and they’re struggling a little.”
11. Aube-Kubel has a plus-5 rating and six points since coming to the Avalanche, and Bednar has been encouraged by elements of his game, though he still thinks there are areas where the forward can improve. The coach likes his tenacious forechecking and wants him to find the right balance of making plays when they’re available and playing as a power forward.
Penalties were an issue for Aube-Kubel with the Flyers, and he has 19 penalty minutes already with the Avalanche, but Bednar says he’s not worried about that. He didn’t agree with one of the calls against the Red Wings, and five of those penalty minutes came from fighting Lomberg after his hit on MacDonald.
Advertisem*nt
12. Cale Makar went coast to coast for a power-play goal against the Flyers. He didn’t celebrate after scoring, just greeted his teammates, but the Avalanche bench did. Erik Johnson said he yelled “Bobby!” as he watched the play, referencing legendary defenseman Bobby Orr.
“That was unreal,” Johnson said. “Just a special talent.”
sweet baby jesus cale makar pic.twitter.com/hhuBGBM0Rk
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) December 7, 2021
13. Nathan MacKinnon has been racking up assists since returning from injury in Toronto, but it took him until the Rangers game to break through and score his second goal of the year. He darted through defenders on the play and managed to poke the puck into the net. He scored again against Detroit two nights later.
“It’s good to see Nate score,” Bednar said. “I know he likes to score every night. It can start wearing on him if he doesn’t. He’s been steadily chipping away, picking a lot of assists, but to score in back-to-back games, that’s important for his confidence.”
14. Kurtis MacDermid, who has played on the wing rather than as a defenseman in recent games, put together quite a stat line in New York. He played only 3:07 but had an assist and a plus-2 rating and racked up 12 penalty minutes.
“I liked what he did; he’s not making any mistakes out there,” Bednar said. “He’s doing what he’s supposed to do.”
Still, it’s clear the coach tries not to have him on the ice too much, especially in close games. He played only 3:24 against the Panthers and didn’t play the last 15 minutes of the tightly contested games. He’s averaging 7:37 of ice time, which is a career low.
15. In New York, I asked Bednar how long it would take for Makar to be an elite-level winger if, for some reason, he wasn’t allowed to play defense anymore. The coach’s answer? “A couple of days.”
Advertisem*nt
16. Jack Johnson gave a blunt summary of his time with the Rangers, whom he played with in 2020-21.
“I had the definition of a cup of coffee here last year,” he said. “Limped around for 13 games and went home.”
How’s that for honesty?
17. Boston College coach Jerry York came to Denver on Thursday for his U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which former Eagles star Alex Newhook got to attend.
“I was honored to be invited by Coach York,” Newhook said. “I was happy the timing worked out and everything on a day off. It was a pretty cool experience to be there.”
York apparently flew back to Boston that evening. He didn’t want to risk any delays Friday before his team’s game against rival Boston University.
“That’s what he’s like,” Newhook said. “He puts his team first, regardless of if he’s getting inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.”
18. Speaking of the 20-year-old Newhook, he took a faceoff Sunday against 42-year-old Joe Thornton. Thornton was in his fourth season when Newhook was born on Jan. 28, 2001, and the future Hall of Famer had already logged 58 goals and more than 250 games at that point in his career. He logged a goal and an assist the night before Newhook’s birth.
19. Avalanche TV announcer Peter McNab was also inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. McNab had a strong college career at the University of Denver, then played 955 NHL games, mostly with the Boston Bruins. He’s been calling Avalanche games since the team moved to Colorado.
A true ambassador to the game. Congratulations, Peter McNab! #USHHoF pic.twitter.com/uXfUaf2D0V
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) December 10, 2021
Colorado showed a tribute video to McNab before the Red Wings game Friday. The longtime announcer is going through cancer treatment this year but has continued to call games.
20. The Avalanche also honored Demaryius Thomas with a moment of silence before the game Friday. Thomas, a Super Bowl champion and four-time Pro Bowl selection with the Broncos, died Thursday at 33.
Advertisem*nt
21. With a new year on the horizon, Bednar got rid of his flow with a midseason haircut. The team is 2-0 since.
22. The Avalanche-Red Wings rivalry of the late 1990s and early 2000s is mostly dead, but there was still a swath of Detroit fans at the game Friday. Resounding “Let’s Go Red Wings!” chants broke out multiple times at Ball Arena.
23. Devon Toews has put up ridiculous numbers this season. He has a plus-19 rating through 16 games and has four goals and 16 assists, all while playing steady defense. He played more than 29 minutes during the Avalanche-Panthers game Sunday.
“I go walking into the gym after the game, and he’s in the gym,” Bednar said. “This guy’s not normal.”
24. As expected, the Avalanche’s top pair has been unbelievable this season. Per Dom Luszczyszyn’s Game Score Value Added model, Makar ranks sixth in the NHL (1.26) despite playing banged up at points and Toews is seventh (1.23). Toews also leads the league in GSVA per 82 games with a pace of 6.28.
Defensem*n like them don’t come around often, and Colorado should count its blessings that it has two.
(Top photo of Darcy Kuemper and
