Joe Sakic passed the torch to Paul Stastny and the Colorado Youth Movement to begin this season. So far the Avalanche have carried it to the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The Colorado Avalanche had the worst record in the Western Conference in 2009. Now they have the worst record of the 8 West contenders for Lord Stanley’s Cup. That is an impressive leap for one of the youngest teams in the league.
But can Colorado manufacture a first-round upset in hockey’s second season?
Starting this Wednesday, April 14th the Avalanche will travel to San Jose to open their 12th trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Colorado began their surprise season with a 5-2 thumping of the Sharks on the same night that the Avalanche retired Joe Sakic’s #19 to the Pepsi Center rafters.
In fact, Colorado split the season series with San Jose 2-2 on the strength of that opening win and a 5-4 OT victory on April 4th. The two games between were tight, evenly-matched affairs that ended in 1-3 & 3-4 losses at San Jose.
The top-seeded Sharks play incredibly well in San Jose, and the Colorado Avalanche will need to find a way to win a close game at the Shark Tank to steal the series. For all the Sharks’ regular season success in San Jose, playoff demons lurk there as well…
San Jose Sharks recent playoff history
San Jose has made an early exit from the playoffs every year since their ascension to NHL elite status during the 2003-2004 season.
2003-2004 the Sharks upended the Avalanche on their way to the Western Conference Finals. San Jose lost that series in 6 games to the Calgary Flames, and their playoff troubles have been well documented ever since.
2004-2005 season was cancelled due to a league-wide lockout. The Sharks would have had considerable momentum going into that season, and the labor dispute definitely played a part in killing San Jose’s newfound playoff mojo.
2005-2006 ended with a 6-game loss to the Edmonton Oilers in the second round after the Sharks took a 2-0 series lead. The Oilers would go on to play in the Cup Finals.
2006-2007 fizzled as well, as the Sharks dominated the Nashville Predators for the second consecutive season with a 4-1 first round domination, only to give up a 2-1 series lead to the Detroit Red Wings in a 6-game series loss.
2007-2008 was another disappointment with the Sharks ceding to the middling Dallas Stars in another second round fade that carried on the home-ice killing tradition of losing in 6 games to lesser teams. Head Coach Ron Wilson was fired as a result, and Todd McLellan took over in the offseason.
2008-2009 may have been the most damaging playoff series in San Jose’s history (remarkable considering the history) as the Sharks dropped another 6-game series on the road to the division rival Anaheim Ducks. That loss to the 8th-seeded Ducks came after winning the President’s Trophy for the best regular season record in the NHL.
Upset Special, Made to Order
The Colorado Avalanche are a matchup nightmare for the Sharks for a lot of reasons. Chief among them is San Jose’s propensity for losing to scrappy young opponents in the playoffs, but just as important is Colorado’s offensive depth.
Because of a season filled with injuries that have effected every single scoring line, the Avalanche can roll out a wide assortment of forwards that have well-established chemistry. Each line is capable of rolling through the neutral zone with incredible speed, and even the team’s muckers sport a surprising scoring touch.
The Avalanche have nowhere near the defensive fortitude that the Sharks have, but they can score on anybody.
The Avs can throw their own recent playoff history out the window.
This Avalanche squad bears only a vague resemblance to teams of playoffs past. And that resemblance is born out only in the grizzled visage of veteran blue-liner Adam Foote, and the still-youthful speed of Milan Hejduk. Even with the re-acquisition of former Colorado stalwart Stephane Yelle, the new Avalanche are young to the core.
The Avs’ Centers read like a who’s who of North American Junior & College Hockey over the last 5 seasons.
Matt Duchene, Ryan O’Reilly, Kevin Porter, Paul Stastny & Ryan Stoa are all under 25 years old. Only Chris Durno (mucker), Matt Hendricks (hammer) and Yelle are older.
The Youth Movement extends through the team’s wingers as well.
Cody McLeod & David Jones toe the line at 25 years old, while TJ Galiardi, Peter Mueller, Chris Stewart & Brandon Yip are younger. The rarely-used David Koci is 28 and speed-demon Marek Svatos is 27. Only Darcy Tucker (35) and Hejduk (34) could truly be considered veterans out of the team’s 10 wing-men.
And while the Avalanche defense is thick with veterans, three of eight defenders stand out as shockingly young. Kyle Cumiskey (23), Kyle Quincey (24) & Ryan Wilson (23) each skate in a defensive pairing with a much older teammate, and they facilitate the speed-first attitude of this Colorado team.
Which brings us to the #1 reason why the Avalanche have a very viable opportunity to upset the San Jose Sharks.
Colorado is fast. Really fast. And the Sharks are slow. Really slow.
San Jose predicates its game on disciplined movement out of their defensive zone, and methodical, cycling hockey in the offensive zone. The Sharks are a hulking team that prefers to set up screened shots high and post mammoth centers up front.
But the Avalanche have within them two great assets against such a strategy: dedicated shot-blockers that have the speed and gall to disrupt up high, and a quick, agile goalie that, at his best, sees the puck through screens and eats up rebounds with regularity.
Now, Avalanche goaltender Craig Anderson has had a rough time over the last 15 games, and there is very real possibility that he carried too much of a burden through the regular season (most ice-time and most shots faced in the league). No doubt, Colorado will need Andy to be at the top of his game against the Sharks, or San Jose’s superior puck control and defense will steamroll the Avalanche into submission.
But the ingredients are all there for Colorado to extend San Jose’s playoff woes. If Peter Mueller can come back healthy at 100% for this series, and Anderson can step up the way he did in the first half of the season, then the Avalanche could be looking at Saturday, April 24th at Pepsi Center (Game 6) as the day they swallowed the Sharks.
COLORADO AVALANCHE VS SAN JOSE SHARKS SERIES SCHEDULE
Wed, Apr 14 @ San Jose 8:30 PM MST on Versus
Fri, Apr 16 @ San Jose 8:30 PM MST on Versus
Sun, Apr 18 @ Colorado 7:30 PM MST on Versus
Tue, Apr 20 @ Colorado 8:00 PM MST on Versus
Thu, Apr 22 @ San Jose 8:30 PM MST on Versus
Sat, Apr 24 @ Colorado TBA
Mon, Apr 26 @ San Jose TBA
