Avalanche Rumblings

It's all in the matchups.

Last week, as the NHL tries to get back on a positive message after months of troubling stories, there was the Pittsburgh-Washington collision (sadly undercut by the Arron Asham controversy) and Saturday's L.A.-Philly tilt which featured the return of Mike Richards to the City of Brotherly Love.

Next week, you'll have a home-and-home with the Bruins and Canadiens, the first game between the two clubs in which both Zdeno Chara and Max Pacioretty will be involved since the infamous stanchion incident last winter.

The conference schedule being what it is, we'll have to wait until January to see a game between the two Stanley Cup finalists, Boston and Vancouver. Wonder who'll be playing goal for the Canucks by then?

Meanwhile, there's a compelling early season matchup Monday in Toronto between two of the league's up-and-coming young teams. Both the Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche are off to strong starts after missing the playoffs last year, and what's intriguing is that these are two clubs that are emphasizing different areas as they try to build themselves into winners.

The Avs, along with Edmonton and the Islanders, boast one of the more impressive groups of young forwards in the league, with two 20-year-olds, Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly, along with 18-year-old Gabriel Landeskog, the second pick from last June's draft who's taking a regular shift for Joe Sacco's team early this season.

Colorado also has 23-year-old Peter Mueller, the 8th pick from the 2006 draft, although he has missed the last two games, possibly with recurring concussion symptoms. Paul Stastny, meanwhile, is only 25 years old. That's a pretty promising group of attackers.

The Leafs, meanwhile, boast one of the more promising defence corps in the league, with Dion Phaneuf (26 years old), Luke Schenn (21), Carl Gunnarson (24), Cody Franson (24) and Jake Gardiner (21), with Keith Aulie (21) and Jesse Blacker (20) in the minors.

To get younger and stronger on the blueline, the Avs traded a chunk of talent last season to St. Louis to get former first overall pick Erik Johnson, the kind of kingpin on defence they believed they would not otherwise be able to acquire. The Leafs, meanwhile, tried to do the same on offence three seasons ago by dealing first round picks to get Phil Kessel, the kind of offensive star Brian Burke felt would otherwise be impossible to get.

Both were risky deals, controversial ones.

Both clubs have pinned their hopes on a young goalie this season, Semyon Varlamov in Denver and James Reimer in Toronto. Varlamov has more experience, but each is out to prove they have the stuff to be a No. 1 goalier in the league.

So there are contrasts and similarities. The Leafs would love to have Colorado's young gunners up front, the Avs would dearly embrace the blueline talent the Leafs have assembled.

In Montreal Saturday night, the Avs looked prolific on the attack and not so sturdy on defence, possibly the product of playing their fourth game in six nights. The very well rested Leafs are just about to start getting into the meat of their schedule with three games in four nights.

An intriguing matchup for the third week of the season. 

 

 

Comments

[RICK AKIN]

I dont think the Leaf forward group is as sparse as Damien might be suggesting(if in fact he is) . Kessel is looking more & more like a cornerpiece. Kulemin and Grabovski are fine players, Armstrong is an important guy. The much maligned Bozak is closing in on top six country. Kadri may be a dandy and perhaps Frattin too. Lombardi can help too. Lupul is healthy & strong. Maybe no Crosbys here, but superstars dont win cups....TEAMS do. Yes, it's early, but there's some serious stuff going on with this group. The Leaf defence corps is fine, but maybe , just maybe the forward group is under-rated. Rick Akin

[PJ88]

You forgot one other comparison -- both teams are overachieving in the early going, and neither fanbase should be counting their chickens. But you're absolutely right, that kind of unpredictability makes this a game worth watching.

[ken baumgartner]

It is so hard to be convinced this Leafs team is really going to be a Playoff type team after the collapse they had last year. However, if in fact they did learn something from that, as another column suggests, they look like they could be formidable. There record at game 20 will be telling. Until then, tonight is one of those tests to see which up and coming team is more of the real deal than the other.

[Marc]

Canada's team? If the playoffs started today the Leafs are the only cdn team in.

[Robert Moses]

Well, the Leafs have not made the playoffs in 6 years so until they actually do, they have everything to prove, not woulda, shoulda, coulda...