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Every one had a feeling it was coming. In 2013 the NHL went into Lock out - which somehow they managed to gain back half the season. Regardless, Colorado had their hand forced in contract negotiations with Ryan O'Reilly when he signed an offer sheet with the Calgary Flames. A contract that Joe Sakic never intended O'Reilly to get. After his first three NHL seasons, Ryan had never scored more than 18 goals, his highest assist total was 37 and never got higher than a +4 and In 6 playoff games, he had 1 point. Yes his two way play is spectacular, but those numbers, they just were never worthy of a contract worth more than $4 million per season. So Ryan, his agent and Sakic went rounds before Ryan turned to Calgary where he was offered a 2 year deal worth 3.5 and 6.5 million. Once that contract was up, Colorado knew they would have to pay Ryan what he wanted to keep him, not what they wanted. Two seasons later, they were back at it again, Ryan wanted long term upwards of 50 million, Sakic again did not want to pay that money. Yet hours before the arbitration hearing, Colorado reached another 2 year deal with Ryan. Sadly this 2 year deal would see O'Reilly as a UFA by the end of the 2nd year. Leaving Joe Sakic not only paying Ryan $12 Million dollars, but being forced into a spot where he would either sign Ryan to huge money he didnt deserve or trade him. Due to the fact that Paul Stastny burned Joe that same summer, Sakic would not lose Ryan for nothing. In those two seasons - Ryan tired to prove he was worth $6 million or more a season. However, he with the team fell off the wagon, and after one amazing season, he dropped back down to the player that deserves no more than $4 million a season. (Not that any player deserves even $1 million per season in my opinion.) With negotiations going south yet again, Sakic did what was best for the organization, he dumped his money hungry forward off on a team desperate for any player with a decent skill set. Ryan O'Reilly would be packing his bags along side Jamie McGinn. Now McGinn, is a well rounded player, yet his is NOT a top 6 forward. He basically was a swap with Buffalo forward Mikhail Grigorenko. A former #12 overall pick in 2012, Mikhail never found a grove in Buffalo, and he was never surrounded by the skill set of a Matt Duchene or Nathan MacKinnion. O'Reilly is the money maker here by landing Colorado with young promising D Nikita Zadorov, JT Compher and the 31st overall selection in 2015. Word on the street is that Zadorov needs to grow up, he needs to learn some maturity, he also just turned 20 in April. Semyon Varlamov will finally have a few Russian fellows in Denver and will more than likely take the kids under his wings. He can instill some maturity into Nikita since the will be working on the back end together. The young defensemen has played 67 career games, owns 16 points and is a -14. He was the #16 selection in 2013 - obviously passing on him due to having the #1 pick where they tagged Nathan MacKinnon. In that draft they also tagged Chris Bigras, Mason Geertson, and Will Butcher - 3 more D who could play in the NHL but most promising is Bigras. JT Compher - he may be the sleeper in this deal, he also just turned 20 in April. This 5'11" Centre has never played in the NHL, but plays for the University of Michigan. He numbers are not off the charts however, he is a kid that could develop into a solid 2 way guy on the 3rd or 4th line. He owns two silver and one goal medal in international play for team USA and owns honors at UM for the all-big freshmen team, second team and freshmen of the year in 2013-14. His reasoning, he lead lead the team, and all Big Ten freshman in scoring, recording 11 goals and 20 assists. He was an early 2nd round pick in 2013 at #35 where Colorado passed on his to get Chris Bigras. So by 2013 NHL Draft standards, could now has the #1, #16, #32 and #35 picks. Colorado then also got the #31 pick in 2015 - this pick was traded to San Jose where they received the #39 pick in 2015 - the also got the 2nd round pick in 2016 and the 6th round pick in 2015. Which were both traded to San Jose last season in exchange for D Brad Stuart. With that trade Colorado got: Brad Stuart, Anthony-John (AJ) Greer, and 2016 2nd and 6th rounders. Anthony-John Greer - a LW out of Boston University - over shadowed a lot by #2 overall pick Jack Eichel. This 18 year old brings a lot of size to the front for Colorado, he stands 6'2'' with 206lbs of love. He has committed to Boston University and will skate the same ice as Colorado's 2013 draft pick Will Butcher. Now that the trade is broken down and Colorado has gotten rid of money hungry forward O'Reilly (THANK GOD!!!) I switch to the 2015 Colorado Avalanche draft selection! After attempted trades to possibly move up, Colorado stayed pat at #10 where they landed the kid they wanted any way. #10 Mikko Rantanen - Rantanen was the #1 ranked European Skater in 2015 nhl draft. Has this not been the Eichel, McDavid draft, I could has seen Rantanen going top 5. I could have seen Strome, Hanifan and Provorov going 1,2,3 or Zacha as a close #3. Regardless, Colorado gets a big kid here in Mikko. This 6'4" 209lbs kid has the ability to step into the NHL on day 1 against Minnesota, he has played with the men in the TPS league and has the ability to handle the physical aspect of the NHL. No he is not going to score a million goals, but his play making ability is off the charts and he prides him self to play similar to Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. If he is with MacKinnon, Duchene (its no question he could play wing with Landeskog) he will open up that ability to make the plays that land the slam dunk. ​Let me put his size into perspective - Landeskog is 6'1" 210lb #39 AJ Greer - Touched on AJ earlier, he can develop into a solid 3/4 guy that has a good two way sense. With commitments to BU, Greer will probably not wear an Avs sweater for some time. He needs to continue to develop even though he has the size at 6'2" 209lbs, his skill level needs more polishing. #40 Defensemen Nicolas Meloche - Another big boy on the draft for Colorado - Meloche is 6'3" 205 lbs. Meloche won gold with Canada in 2014 with the IH18 - and has played the past two seasons with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. Is two seasons he has played 98 career games and tallied 59 points. It is safe to say the Meloche will stay with the Drakkar until he can either leap into the NHL or hit the San Antonio Rampage - Nicolas is 17, but will be having his golden birthday this year on July 18th. #71 Jean-Christopher Beaudin - 18 year old centre - 6'1" 181lbs - not the biggest in the Avs Draft but still a decent size. Jean-Christopher will see himself staying with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. He has good point totals, but this player is clearly a depth player for the Avalanche that they hope can become an NHLer one day. #101 Andrei Mironov - He is a little older at 20 years old. Andrei is a Russian defensemen that stands 6'2" 194lbs - he has played the past 3 seasons with Dynomo Moskva and also helped Russia to two bronze medals in IIHF world championships in 2013 and 14. #161 Sergei Boikov - Third Russian defensemen landed by Colorado on this day (2nd by draft) - Sergei is a 6'2' 194 lbs kid also who just turned 19 this past January. He was second among the Voltigeurs D is assists with 18 and points with 21. He also had a team best +11 rating after 64 games in this past season. In 2013, Boikov represented Russia in the Hlinka Memorial Tournament. #191 Gustav Olhaver - Olhaver was the final pick for Colorado, he is a 6'6" 215lb 17 year old kid from Sweden (he will be 18 on July 3) The Angelholm, Sweden native spent the majority of the 2014-15 campaign with Rogle Jr. (Under-20) in Sweden, where he tallied 12 points (6g/6a) in 41 games. Olhaver, also spent time with Rogle’s Under-18 Team, recording 25 points (14g/11a) in 18 contests. Internationally, he appeared in five games at the 2015 IIHF Under-18 World Championship and tallied one goal.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- What is on the table in Free Agency for Colorado During the draft there has been A LOT of speculation that Colorado wants to go hard after Chicago 2 time cup winner Johnny Oduya. Andrej Sekera is another name Colorado has tossed around and not to leave out Matt Irwin who is another defensemen the Colorado is looking at. I cannot speculate on how much Colorado will push for offense since their goal is Defense, However, they do have quite a bit of cap space after unloading 9.5 million onto Buffalo. If the Avs are looking for cup winners again, Justin Williams may be a shot. They also have Matt Belesky, Joel Ward as some shots in the dark. But those are pretty much the top guys available, teams will be looking to over pay to get them. In goal, I would LOVE Colorado to pick up a solid #2 guy. Reto Berra is just rank...horrible, bad, sad, terrible, just down right awful. Calvin Pickard and Sami Aittokallio are both RFA's - with Spencer Martin coming in, I dont see Colorado keeping both Aittokallio and Pickard unless the have a package trade in mind. However, I see Sakic asking Pickard to stay over Sami. But there are names on the table in the goalie UFA world still, though the only go to guy I could see would be Michal Neuvirth. He has proven to be a fairly solid back up when he has a stable, non Buffalo Saber team in front of him. If Colorado can land 1-2 fairly decent UFA D then Neuvirth could prove to be a solid #2 to Varly (kind of sounds like deja vu from Washington) two guys that know each other. If you choose to avoid that route Kari Ramo or Jhonas Enroth would both be more reliable that Berra but not my first choices.

If the season was starting to slowly get better for the Colorado Avalanche, it just took another blow. The Colorado Avalanche will be without their number one defensemen, Erik Johnson, for the next 3-8 weeks. Missing vital games that could make or break Colorado’s playoff hopes and season. Johnson is tied for first in the NHL among defensemen with his career high 12-goals. Johnson cannot talk to the media due to the injury and Colorado’s organizational rules, but Coach Patrick Roy stated, “Johnson is very disappointed in the situation, but it is out of their control.” On that note, does this push the Ryan O’Reilly trade into effect for Colorado? Much speculation has been made that O’Reilly is on the market and rumors have been flying. With the departure of Paul Stastny, O’Reilly and his contract issues with Colorado have become the new target. Ryan O’Reilly, though, is heating up for Colorado and moving him could end up hurting the team in the long run. The connection he has made with Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla have the three producing points at a steady pace. With Johnson expected to miss the next 1-2 months and Colorado already looking for a defensemen could force Sakic and GM Sherman to move Ryan for less than what they are looking for. Which seems mainly to be Morgan Reilly of the Toronto Maple Leafs, although Toronto does not want to move the young defensemen. The only downfall to this situation for Colorado could be who ever they trade for, may not fit into the Avalanche system or worse, not fit will with the players on the team. It would almost seem better for the Avalanche to wait until the off-season before they move the almost 24-year-old Center/Left Wing. Ryan is in the first of a two-year deal with the Avalanche. After Colorado lost Paul Stastny for no return, if Joe cannot sign O’Reilly for his price, he will want to move him no later than the off-season. We have seem huge trades for far more in the off-season that at trade deadline, where more often than not, one team gets bogus. The off-season trade would also allow a new player to form a relationship with their new club and have training camp under their belt. Making a trade more worthwhile. These are two huge keys that are in the process of breaking the Avalanche into the playoffs or out. Erik Johnson’s knee injury will not have Patrick Roy forcing him into the lineup quickly. Like Semyon Varlamov’s injury, the player will need to be 100% ready to go, especially if the Avalanche sneak into a playoff spot. ********* On another note Calvin Pickard was reassigned to Lake Erie and Reto Berra was recalled after going 3-1-1 during his conditioning assignment. Dennis Everberg was also sent down for the All-star break, but has been recalled. There was no defensemen recalled to replace Johnson. Zach Redmond and Nick Holden have been the healthy scratches all season when the lineup has been healthy. They will stick with those two, as well as, Tyson Barrie, Nate Guenin, Jan Hejda, and Brad Stuart. What’s the key here for Colorado? The Defense needs to prove they are deep enough to lose their top guy. Colorado’s defense has not been their strong point the last, well, since 2001 or so it seems. The defense will need to play, smart, solid and positional to win games, they will also need to help produce. The Avalanche forwards need to be the forwards they were last season, starting with Nathan MacKinnon. If the 19 year old can find confidence, it can spark the older players on the club like Matt Duchene and Gabe Landeskog to find their stride. Older vets like Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla need to continue their strong play all around, while elder defense like Jan Hejda and Brad Stuart need to lead the way in front of Varlamov. Last but not least, Semyon Varlamov out-lasted Tuukka Rask in their meeting back on the 21st of January, a 3-2 shootout win. Varly has been playing solid, but with the loss of Johnson, may need to be even more solid. Reto Berra built a little bit of confidence in Lake Erie over the past two weeks. Colorado will look to fall on him at least once in the next ten games. That one game may determine what happens to either himself or Calvin Pickard. The best note of all: Colorado will host the Detroit Red Wings in one of the 2016 stadium series games. The game will be played at Coors Field in Denver. More information on ticket sales will be released at a later date!

There are thousands of records in the NHL and nearly one is broken every night. The latest though is in the all-time goals scored category. Sitting at 20th all-time was Mr. Mike Bossy, a gentlemen that only played 10 NHL season and only 752 games. Mike played his entire career in a New York Islanders sweater wearing #22 after being picked 15th overall in 1977’s amateur draft. Mike helped the New York Islanders to four Stanley cup championships four years in a row. The 6’0” 185lbs right-winger knew what it took to win, and made sure to win big when it counted. A stiff back or worse would lead Bossy to sit out the 1987-88 season, but then officially retired. He was offered a chance to be traded to Montreal to be closer to home, but declined. At 30 years old, Bossy had played his final NHL game, a career that had winner all over it Then a new wave of players would enter the NHL, 15th all-time goal scorer Joe Sakic would be drafted 15th overall in 1987 by the Quebec Nordiques. This gentlemen would go on to become the face of the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise. Joe would sink 625 career goals; 2 Stanley Cups, a Conn Smyth, a Lady Byng, the Hart trophy, Joe did it all. Hiscareer would end in 2008-09 season, after suffering a back injury and an at home injury that limited him to 15 games. In 2010-11, Sakic would join the front office of the Colorado Avalanche organization. In 2013, He would be promoted to the Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations. At the end of his first year, he would hire Coach Patrick Roy who would also server at an Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations. Together they would build a team that would win the Central Division and make the playoffs. Sadly, Colorado was manhandled in game 7 against the Minnesota Wild at home. In turn, the off season would lose then one of their great players, Paul Stastny, who signed with his home town St. Louis Blues. A replacement was in order and none came faster than Joe Sakic’s good friend Jarome Iginla. Jarome Iginla was born the year Mike Bossy was drafter in 1977. He too is a right-winger who can put the puck in the net. Jarome would be drafted 11th overall by the Dallas Stars in 1995, but the young man would never dawn the Stars jersey. Instead, Jarome was traded to the Calgary Flames in a deal the sent Joe Nieuwendyk. Jarome’s first taste of the NHL came in the playoffs in 1995-96 where he scored his 1st career playoff goal and assist in two games. He was ready for the NHL and would play his first season the following year and go on to play fifteen more years with Calgary becoming their captain. Iginla still holds Calgary’s all time games played, goals scored and points after he was traded in his 16th season with the Flames to the Pittsburgh Penguins. After a failed playoff stint in the igloo, Iginla would hit the free agent market for the first time in his career, landing in Boston with the Bruins. After a successful season in Boston that saw the Bruins get kicked out of the playoffs, Iginla would hit the free agent market once again. The Bruins wanted to keep their 62 point winger, but the salary cap would not allow them to hold on. Jarome would sign a three year deal with the Colorado Avalanche and buddy Joe Sakic. Since coming to Colorado, Jarome did not take off right away, which he never really has anyway. As the season went, so did Iginla, he has put home just 14 goals this season. Goal #14 though was the one that marks Jarome Iginla as the new 20th all-time leading goal scorer over Mike Bossy. With .04 seconds to play in the 1st period on January 21st. Jarome Iginla would punch home a rebound on old buddy Tuukka Rask and the Boston Bruins. #574 – would would have though that back in 1977, Mike Bossy would leave a number of goals on a stat sheet that would keep him in the record books for so long? A number that would be chased for years by kids born the year he was drafted, or kids that have yet to be born. Jarome Iginla now sits in the top 20 goal scorers in the history of the NHL. His next chance to move up to #19 all time is just 3 goals aways. Mark Recchi sits at #19 all time with 577 goals, Iginla could easily catch and pass Recchi in the next few weeks, after that though, it becomes a little bit harder. Sitting at #18 all time is Jurri Kurri with 601 goals, unless Jarome can pop in 28 more goals by the end of the season, we won’t worry about that record until next season. After the game, Jarome Iginla did not praise the 574th goal, but he did mention how nice it was to score on his old team and buddies, especially not knowing how much time was left when the puck met his stick. **Congrats to Jarome Iginla on his 574th career goal and 20th all-time in goal scoring. (Photo by: Avalanche.nhl.com)

The Colorado Avalanche has found a spark inside themselves and it has come at the perfect time. The Avalanche entered the New Year knowing they needed to win and losing was no option. Since December 11th, the Avalanche are 8-3-2 and have moved up in the standing and sit only four points out of a wild card playoff spot. The Avalanche has pulled above .500 for the first time this season and with back to back wins sit two games above, a place they look to stay and build on. Semyon Varlamov looks to finally be healthy after sustaining a groin injury three times this season. He has played eight of the last nine Colorado games and seven straight games going 6-2-0 on those eight games. Semyon Varlamov set a NHL road record with a 54 save shutout against the Chicago Blackhawks and tied for second all-time in a shutout save game behind Ben Scrivens 59 saves last season for Edmonton. In the last eight games, Varlamov, has an astonishing 1.97 goals against average behind a .940 save percentage. Tonight he will open the Avalanche five game road trip in Washington against Braden Holtby. Semyon was traded from Washington to Colorado in the summer of 2011. At the time, Washington had up and coming Michal Neuvirth and Braden Holtby and felt that moving the injury prone Varlamov was a good idea, especially for a first and second round pick. Playing in Colorado, Varlamov has only faced his old club twice. His first season with the Avs, Colorado did not travel to Washington nor did they travel to Colorado, the next season was the lockout and Colorado did not face Washington, last season, Varlamov played both games against the Capitals and won the both by scores of 5-1 and 4-1. Braden Holtby was in net for the 4-1 loss. This season, Colorado and Washington have met once and it was in Denver, a 3-2 Avalanche loss with Reto Berra in net. In that game an Alex Ovechkin slap shot road up the stick of Alex Tanguay and fractured his jaw, Tanguay has only played two games without the shield. A huge bonus for the Avalanche has been the recent play of their scorers. Matt Duchene has points in four of his last five, Landeskog has points in three of his last four games. The old guys, Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla are leading the team with 27 points each. Iginla has 3 goal in his last five and ten goals in his last twenty games compared to his two goals in his first 20. Tanguay has two assists in the last two games. Ryan O'Reilly isn't getting hot, but he is finally producing, he has 2 points in two games and has a quiet 23 points this season. Nathan MacKinnon was the biggest question mark, he hit a sophomore slump and his it like a rocket. He has three points in the last three games, including two goals, last season MacKinnon started off slowly, we will see what the second half brings. The Colorado Avalanche have sent Reto Berra to Lake Erie on a conditioning assignment and have recalled rookie Calvin Pickard to back up Semyon Varlamov, Pickard is also slated to start on Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Avs are 1-3-1 in the back of back to back games this season while they are 3-0-2 in the first. Reto Berra does not have to clear waivers due to the "conditioning" aspect of the assignment to Lake Erie, the Monsters will not play until Friday against Chicago. Calvin Pickard looks to get himself above the NHL .500 mark against the Hurricanes, he is 6-6-2 in Denver with a .934 save percentage and a 2.21 goals against. His last game was against the Chicago Blackhawks where Pickard allowed 4 goals on 32 shots, it was his second career game vs the Hawks. Calvin Pickard sits first among rookie goalies in save percentage, second in goals against average and is tied for third with six wins. Erik Johnson is playing the best season of his NHL career. Johnson is now 26 years old, which many say is the prime age for NHL players, this is where you will see most players put their learning together and EJ has done just that. His 12 goals are a career high and puts him on pace to score 20 or more goals this season. His career high twice is 39 points and EJ also has a chance to break that as he is a 22 points currently. Johnson has six goals in eleven games and is on his second 2+ game goal streak, his first was a 4 game goal streak snapped in a shutout loss to St. Louis. In those 11 games though, Johnson only has one assist. Regardless, Johnson's play has seen him voted into this seasons NHL All-Star game and he will be the loan player from the Colorado Avalanche. See the story here. Semyon Varlamov was named the NHL's second star of the week. In his last three starts he is 3-0-0 and has broken several franchise records to go along side his NHL record. He owns a .962 save percentage and a 1.67 goals against in those three games, for more information on his second star honor, click here. The starting goals for tonights matchup: Semyon Varlamov - Colorado - 3-0-0 last three games including 1 shutout - 8th consecutive start Braden Holtby - Washington - 2-0-1 last three games - 19th consecutive start Colorado will look for their 4th straight win for the first time this season, two points will move them within two points of the 8th seed Los Angeles Kings who play the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight. Washington could move into third in the Metro with a win, right now they sit in the number one wild card spot or 7th seed with 52 points. Puck drops at 5pm MNT or 7pm EST tonight in Washington

At the start of the season, no one, including the Colorado Avalanche expected them to play so terrible. Many expected regression, and the loss of Paul Stastny was not suppose to be such a big deal. Yet the Avalanche find themselves fighting to stay out of the bottom five spots of the NHL in a year that they should just stop fighting and let #30 sink in. The troubles first began when injuries were over and over an issue. At one point the Avalanche had ten players injured including their number one and back up goaltenders. Rookies Calvin Pickard and Sami Aittokallio were in net and on the bench against the Montreal Canadians just six games into the season. The best news to those injuries was that none of Colorado's top notch players were on that injured list. In the likes of Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, Gabe Landeskog, Erik Johnson and so on. On top of injuries, players that had a spectacular season for the Avalanche last year hit a solid, one hundred percent in-movable brick wall. Nathan MacKinnon could not and still cannot score to save his life. Matt Duchene is playing pretty typical of himself, being a number three pick that these days would slip to a top ten not top five. Landeskog took penalty after penalty to start the season. Jarome Iginla was never on the ice, or so it felt. Worst of all, Nick Holden just simply forgot how to play hockey and his -16 eventually benched him. As the Avalanche began to get healthy near the end of December things started to look up. Players were coming back and goaltending between Calvin Pickard and Semyon Varlamov was solid. Up until the Holiday break, Colorado had gone 4-0-2 in the six games leading up, including out scoring their opponents 11-2 in their three consecutive wins, their first three game win streak of the season. But then it happened, break on a hot streak and Colorado failed to gain points against division opponents, Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues. Where they were out scored 8-2 in those games before winning an overtime thriller against the Flyers. Opening the New Year was decent with a win, however, they could not score against the NHL's last place Edmonton Oilers. Colorado had to win in a shootout against the Oilers 2-1. Two wins in a row and here comes the bad mojo hockey gods got Colorado again. The Avs would lose in regulation when David Savard and the Columbus Blue Jackets would stun them with a goal late in the third period at the 18:59 mark. This loss would drop Colorado back under .500 once again, proving that the Avalanche cannot get above the .500 mark. Tonight Colorado will play their 40th game of the season. A win will tie them with the Minnesota Wild for 11th in the Western Conference, though the Wild will have two more games to play before reaching 40 after they take on the San Jose Sharks tonight. With a win tonight the Wild would remain two points above the Avalanche if they too win. Gabe Landeskog broke is scoring droubt againt the Columbis Blue Jackets, Nathan MacKinnon is looking for his 7th goal of the season while Jarome Iginla looks to stay hot as he had 5 goals and 4 assists in 13 games during December. Tyson Barrie is on a three game assist streak while Matt Duchene has back to back assist games after having no points in the prior three, Duchene has not scored since December 11th against the Winnipeg Jets. Colorado coach Patrick Roy said that Calvin Pickard would likely be called back to Denver during the Avs upcoming 5 game road trip. Varlamov is expected to play in at least 5 of the next 8 games. Basically saying that, Reto Berra will only be playing in the case that Varlamov is pulled from a game, while Pickard sees action in Lake Erie and then flies out to play some games for Denver to fly back to Lake Erie? I suppose that is exactly whats up, though Colorado will need to make a choice sooner or later on Reto Berra since there seems to be no confidence. "I'm not going to use Varly all the time," Roy said. "We're going to use Varly for this period of time. When we're going to hit the road our plan is to (give) about three games of five to Varly and give two other games to someone else." If Colorado can beat the Chicago Blackhawks they will again be at .500. The upcoming road trip is Colorado's best chance to get above .500 as they are playing a few teams in the same boat, low in the standing and struggling. At the same time, these teams are fighting for their life to make a run also. If Varlamov can stay healthy and continue to put up solid numbers and Colorado's scorers can get going, the Avalanche could be in a good place heading into February. Trade rumor surrounding Colorado right now: Ryan O'Reilly (who is getting hot with production) is being rumored by Buffalo and Toronto The biggest rumor header via hockey writers has been. Ryan O'Reilly, a D prospect and a 1st rounder to Buffalo for Tyler Myers and Mikhail Grigorenko - which thank goodness this is a rumor, because Colorado would LOSE this trade huge. O'Reilly and Myers fair trade, a d prospect and Grig is fair only if it is not, Geertsen, Bigras or Siemens. Therefore Buffalo gets a free 1st rounder? Naw bro....

Not exactly half way through the season we look at teams on the rise and fall for the remaining of the 2014-15 season. We will break down entire league so far this season and where I think they will land when game 82 is complete for every team: 1. Anaheim Ducks (28-8-5 51 points) Anaheim made their off-season splash to obtain forward Ryan Kesler (and a 3rd round 2015 pick) from Vancouver in exchange for centre Nick Bonino, Defenseman Luca Sbisa and Anaheim’s 1st and 3rd round picks in 2014. 36 games into his first career season, Kesler is not disappointing. Defensively he has not been gold, but on offense Kesler could be looking to repeat his second highest career numbers. The Ducks currently own the NHL as they are two points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins. To close the season, Anaheim will play 27 games against current playoff contenders and 19 against current non-playoff teams (some on the bubble both ways.) With goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov signing and Frederick Andersen playing like goal, the Ducks will easily continue their NHL terror. Anaheim’s number two point producer the last three seasons will return to the lineup in the Duck’s next few games, Corey Perry sustained a knee injury and has not played since December 5th. My Projected end of season rank: 3rd in NHL – 2nd in Western Conference2. Pittsburgh Penguins (22-7-5 49 points) Trading away point producer James Neal could not have turned out better, and the firing of Coach Dan Bylsma has seen last year’s Penguins turn it around to become the NHL’s top dogs once again. Patric Hornqvist (obtained in the James Neal trade) has been near perfect for Pittsburgh, his 29 points are third on the team and his plus-13 leads the team. The biggest story for the Penguins has been the resurgence of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury is 19-4-3 with six shutouts this season, he has allowed a goals against average of 2.09 and a save percentage of .929 so far this season. He could certainly be a top contender for this seasons Vezina Trophy. (The Vezina Trophy is an annual award given to the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at this position as voted by the general managers of all NHL clubs.) My Projected end of season rank: 1st in NHL – 1st in Eastern Conference3. Chicago Blackhawks (23-10-5 48 points) Chicago could easily be the number one team so far this season. Captain Jonathan Toews has his Blackhawks pushing for another President’s Trophy and want to raise that Stanley Cup again. Patrick Kane has 36 points and is looking for his best season since 2009-10. The addition of Brad Richards has not been an explosion, but his defensive aspect has been a help, only two players have a higher +/- while Kane and Toews share a +9 with Richards. My Projected end of season rank: 2nd in NHL – 1st in Western Conference4. Nashville Predators (22-9-2 46 points) Though Nashville has been this seasons Colorado Avalanche of the Western Conference, they have found spark from their rookie sensation. Trading Martin Erat and Michael Latta for Filip Forsberg was the best Predator move since drafting Pekka Rinne in 2004. His 32 points and +24 are tops on the Predators while the rookie looks to earn this seasons Calder Trophy for rookie of the year. Pekka Rinne has been that go to guy for Nashville since establishing himself in 2008-09. After a terrible last season with injuries and poor team play in front of him. Rinne has rebounded and leads the NHL Vezina race, he is 22-6-1 this season with a sensational 1.84 goals against average. If Nashville looks to remain a top playoff contender, Rinne and Forsberg’s play is key, if either slack off this team could fall to a lower seed and face a tougher challenge. My Projected end of season rank: 10th in the NHL – 5th in Western Conference5. New York Islanders (23-11-0 46 points) The Islanders are the only team in the NHL that have yet to lose an overtime or shootout game. The teams signing of goalie Jaroslav Halak was all the team needed to get into the win column. Halak was traded from St. Louis to Washington last season where Washington was not the play for him. His solid presence in net has stabilized the Islanders where they could easily be one of three Eastern Conference teams to reach the Stanley Cup final. Halak was not the only wise addition to the club. Both Johnny Boychuck and Nick Leddy were trade acquisitions to start the season. Both defensemen bring a Stanley Cup winning mentality and solid defensive support. They have straightened the blue line for the Islanders and could be a huge reason the team heads to the Eastern Conference Championship. My Projected end of season rank: 4th in NHL – 2nd in Eastern Conference6. Montreal Canadians (22-11-2 46 points) A serious four way tie for fourth place in the NHL has the Montreal Canadians wanting to win. The Habs will look to extend their two game win streak with games coming up with three current non-playoff teams who are struggling. The play of Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk have this teams hopes of high for a run in the playoffs. Goalie Carie Price looks to avoid his tenth loss of the season where he also looks to become the second goalie in the NHL to break 20 wins. His 2.23 save percentage is currently a career high, but there are still 47 more games for Montreal. My Projected end of season rank: 6th in NHL – 4rd in Eastern Conference7. Tampa Bay Lightning (21-11-4 46 points) Tyler Johnson has seemed to avoid the sophomore slump quite easily. Johnson leads even Steven Stamkos in scoring for the Lightning by one point, but owns the team with a +23. He is at 37 points to this point and is on pace to crush last season’s career high 50 points. Ben Bishop has continued his performance of last season that saw him finish third in the Vezina Trophy race. Bishop suffered a lower body injury on December 15th, but is set to return after the NHL holiday break. Though his save percentage and goals against are lower and higher than he would like, Bishop owns a 16-6-2 record and could near last season’s career year. I do not believe Ben Bishop at this point is a Vezina candidate. My Projected end of season rank: 5th in NHL – 3rd in Eastern Conference8. St. Louis Blues (21-10-3 45 points) The Blues are the feel good story of the year for Missouri, not to neglect the KC Royals, but they have done what was expected without Jaroslav Halak who they trade to Washington. Instead young goaltender Jake Allen has exceeded what was expected from him as backup to Elliott. Elliott sustain an injury that has kept him out for quite some time. In 18 games, Allen is 11-4-2 and since being basically the starter over legend Martin Brodeur (signed due to Elliott’s injury) he has gone 5-2-2 (one overtime loss was the game Elliott left with his injury.) St. Louis owes their young star Vladimir Tarasenko much credit as he has exploded this season, the 23 year old has 20 goals and leads St. Louis with 37 points. Young defensive stud Kevin Shattenkirk continues his offensive dominance with 23 assists and 28 points on the second, second on the team in scoring to Tarasenko. My Projected end of season rank: 7th in NHL – 3rd in Western Conference 9. Detroit Red Wings (18-8-9 45 points) Detroit had a bit of a scare in December where they lost six in a row. After a 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabers, the Wings look to get back on track with the hopeful return of Jimmy Howard and after the New Year at some point Jonas Gustavsson. One bright spot for Detroit has been Gustav Nyquist playing in his first full season with the Wings. His 22 points rank fourth among Red Wing players while his -7 has been his Achilles heal, only Johan Franzen has played worse defensively. My Projected end of season rank: 8th in NHL – 5th in Eastern Conference10. Toronto Maple Leafs (20-12-3 43 points) While I love the Leafs, I do not feel the Leafs will continue their success to a “T” but should stay in range of a playoff spot. James Reimer and Jonathan Bernier have not always played their best hockey in Toronto, while Reimer continues to produce sub-par numbers, Bernier has proven why he should be number 1 alone in Toronto. His 14-8-3 record and 2.65 goals against average with a .921 save percentage make Reimer’s look like AHL rookie goalie numbers at 6-4-0 3.26GAA and .907 SV%. The Leafs could turn to trading Reimer who has the remainder of this season and one more on his contract. Phil Kessel has been great offensively but defensively the entire team has been pretty terrible. Mike Santorelli is contributing in both aspects with 23 points and a plus-14. My Projected end of season rank: 12th in NHL – 7th in Eastern Conference11. San Jose Sharks (19-11-5 43 points) The San Jose Sharks have been very quiet to start the season. None the less, they are once again in the playoff race. Before the holiday break, the Sharks had won eight of the last ten and earn at least one point in nine of those ten. Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton each have 20 or more assists, while Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture are scoring goals. Antti Niemi shut the door on Alex Stalock, who many though would be San Jose’s number one this season. Niemi is 14-7-4 with a 2.12 goals against. Stalock sits 4-3-1 with a 2.44 goals against average. My Projected end of season rank: 20th in NHL – 9th in Western Conference12. Winnipeg Jets (18-10-7 43 points) Winnipeg has played some of their best hockey since making their only playoff appearance in Atlanta. The play of rookie goaltender Michael Hutchinson has been their key to success. The 24 year old Ontario, Canada native is 8-2-2 with a league leading 1.67 goals against and .944 save percentage. If Winnipeg continues to ride this kid, there is a chance they make the playoffs as Ondrej Pavelec has proven time and time again to be a worthy backup. Evander Kane is the weakest link “super star” once again for Winnipeg. Picked #4 in 2009, Kane has never lived up to the hype in Atlanta or Winnipeg. The Jets could trade Kane and win a key roster play with a good pick or prospect, but the kid needs to get out of dodge before his NHL career tanks completely. My Projected end of season rank: 23rd in NHL – 12th in Western Conference13. Vancouver Canucks (20-11-2 42 points) The addition in goal has been one of the best things for Vancouver when they picked up Ryan Miller. Eddie Lack was demolished last season proving he needed some more mentoring. Miller has come in and posted an 18-7-0 record so far for the Canucks allowing a 2.59 goals against. While Eddie Lack also posts a 2.59 goals against, he is 2-4-2 for Vancouver. Henrik and Daniel Sedin have been revitalized by Radim Vrbata and lead the Canucks with 59 points combine, while Vrbata has helped with 25 more points. Trading away Ryan Kesler has seemed to be a winner as Nick Bonino has 8 goals and 13 helpers, Luca Sbisa has 2 goals and 2 assists but sits a -7. My Projected end of season rank: 10th in NHL – 4th in Western Conference14. Los Angeles Kings (17-11-7 41 points) Defending the cup title seems to be the hardest thing to do compared to anyother sport. They should know that having won the title two of three years. Los Angeles has been all but out of the gate again this season, it seems to be their motto, start slow and finish hard. Jeff Carter leads the team with 26 points, while Jonathan Quick has been fairly decent at 14-8-6. Los Angeles again is relaying on solid goaltending while their scoring production is low. Only four players at this point have twenty or more points, Williams at 19 looks to be number five. My Projected end of season rank: 16th in NHL – 7th in Western Conference15. New York Rangers (18-10-4 40 points) The New York Rangers, much like the Los Angeles Kings are hanging low after their last season. Losing in five games to the Kings for the cup had to Rangers in a sad place this off-season. The month of December has been very friendly playing only 9 games before the holiday break going into the break with six straight wins. Rick Nash has finally found a rhythm in New York and has 23 goals on the season adding 13 apples and a plus-16. If he and Henrik Lundqvist can continue to play well, New York could find themselves in the playoffs again, but it cannot come down to just them. My Projected end of season rank: 17th in NHL – 10th in Eastern Conference16. Washington Capitals (17-11-6 40 points) Washington continues to be mediocre with Braden Holtby in net. Though his numbers have been decent this season at 15-8-5, Holtby’s save percentage has been brutal at .917. The 25 year old goaltender is looking to carry his team to the playoffs and it might just happen. Alex Ovechkin has played fairly well but not anything near his 51 goal past season. The captain in second in scoring on the team with 28 points while Nicklas Backstrom leaded the team with 36. 22 year old Evgeny Kuznetsov and 19 year old Andre Burakovsky are playing pretty low for what is expect, but each posted 13 points this season. My Projected end of season rank: 11th in NHL – 6th in Eastern Conference17. Boston Bruins (18-14-3 39 points) After his Vezina winning season, Tuukka Rask has struggled out of the gate for Boston this season. He is only four games above .500, his 10 losses are five less than last season’s total. Tuukka’s .912 save percentage is also a career low thus far with the exception of his four game rookie start in 2007-08. Another dead spot for Boston is their lack of scoring, their leading scorer Patrice Bergeron only has 26 points, and Brad Marchand leads the team with 10 goals. If Boston expects to make the playoffs, scoring needs to increase and goaltending needs to tighten up. My Projected end of season rank: 15th in NHL – 9th in Eastern Conference18. Calgary Flames (18-15-3 39 points) How can anyone overlook the amazing start to the season Calgary had. December exposed weaknesses in Calgary and brought them down to earth where they have gone 3-7-1. Mike Giordano has come blazing through the gates with 34 points in 36 games, only twice this season has he gone back to back games without a point. He does not have a point in only nine games so far this season. If the Flames expect to continue their success, Juri Hudler will need to continue his dominance. Hudler like Giordano has stepped up huge for the young club, Hudler has 33 points in 35 games this season. While rookie Johnny Gaudreau has 27 points, including his first career hat trick on December 22nd against the Los Angeles Kings. He has four goals in his previous two games going into the holiday break. My Projected end of season rank: 19th in NHL – 8th in Western Conference19. Florida Panthers (15-9-8 38 points) Florida has played well to begin the season, they have played a few games less than most every team but the solid goaltending from Roberto Luongo has been a big mark for them. Luongo is 13-7-6 to start the season with Florida and Al Montoya is 2-2-2 behind him. Florida’s biggest downfall this season is their lack of scoring. Their leading scorer only has 19 points, Nick Bjugstad and Aaron Ekblad are tied. The lack of scoring will not be friendly down the stretch when defenses around the league tighten up. My Projected end of season rank: 18th in NHL – 11th in the Eastern Conference20. Minnesota Wild (16-13-3 35 points) The Wild have not really played up to the expectation of many. Darcy Kuemper, like many expected to, has taken over the number one spot even though he is playing barely over .500. He and Backstrom share a .901 save percentage, while is nothing for either goalie to be proud of. Niklas Backstrom is 5-3-3 and has allowed 32 goals on 322 shots. Scoring has not been giant for the Wild, but they still get it done with four players over twenty points and twelve with more than ten. Nino Niederreiter has a team leading 14 goals with a team worst minus-11. My Projected end of season rank: 21st in NHL – 10th in Western Conference21. Philadelphia Flyers (14-14-6 34 points) Philadelphia has had one of those seasons that they would rather forget, the holiday break gives them just that chance. Though they have won three straight, they cannot find a way to finish games. Even with Jakub Vorachek have a career year, he leads the Flyers with 46 points. Claude Giroux has caught fire this season as well, his 41 points have him tied for third in the entire NHL. The key to a Flyer turn around will be Steve Mason in goal. After a revitalized 2013 season with the Flyers, Steve is struggling once again. At 6-10-5, Mason looks to improve his win column as the Flyers look to improve on defense. His goals against average and save percentage are better than some teams above Philadelphia, so the issue is not Mason in goal. My Projected end of season rank: 14th in NHL – 8th in Eastern Conference22. Ottawa Senators (14-14-6 34 points) The Senators are really just playing their norm this season. Their leading goal scorer is Captain Defensemen Erik Karlsson, his 23 points are tied with Kyle Turris as the both have 7 goals and 16 assists. Karlsson though is -14 as he is having trouble shutting down top scorers on other teams. Robin Lehner and Craig Anderson cannot stay in the win category, Anderson is 8-9-4 where his goals against are not too terrible allowing 51 goals on 719 shots. Robin Lehner on the other hand has nearly three goals against per game and is 6-5-2. My Projected end of season rank: 25th in NHL – 13th in Eastern Conference23. Colorado Avalanche (13-13-8 34 points) Colorado has had a tough start, lack of chemistry, injuries, goalie confidence lacking in Semyon Varlamov and Reto Berra. When healthy, Varlamov seems to have lost his Vezina touch from last season. After a shutout in his return against the St. Louis Blues, Varlamov would look to build on that for confidence after the holiday break. Scoring has evaded Colorado until their 11 goals in three games, six players currently have twenty plus points while two more players are one point away. Erik Johnson is playing with confidence of late while Colorado prays Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Ryan O’Reilly and Gabe Landeskog can all catch fire, if they do, look out. My Projected end of season rank: 13th in NHL – 6th in Western Conference24. Dallas Stars (14-14-5 33 points) Dallas traded for big wig Jason Spezza, after a slow start Spezza has 25 points and looks to heat up. Tyler Seguin has been MVP material this season and could be a top candidate for the Hart. His 42 points are second in the NHL and his 25 goals lead the NHL. Kari Lehtonen his pulling all the weight for Dallas in net, his backup Anders Lindback cannot win a game to save his life. The one he did win, came in relief against Edmonton on the 21st of December. His goals against average is an embarrassing 4.29 while his save percentage is no better at .864. My Projected end of season rank: 22nd in NHL – 11th in Western Conference25. Columbus Blue Jackets (14-16-3 31 points) Columbus has played huge of late, posting an 8-1-1 record. They were dead in the water at 6-15-5 and things were looking like Connor McDavid could be headed to Ohio. Sergei Bobrovsky has been fairly decent, while Curtis Mcelhinney has been miserable, almost as bad as Anders Lindback for Dallas. Lack of scoring has not been an issue for Nick Foligno or Ryan Johansen as the both have 30 points, though defense has been a huge issue for the team. Eight players are minus-10 or worse and 27 of 31 players to play in a Blue Jackets game are minus-1 or worse. My Projected end of season rank: 24th in NHL – 12th in Eastern Conference26. New Jersey Devils (12-17-7 31 points) The story in New Jersey is Cory Schneider, he has started 32 of New Jersey’s 36 games. He has faced 926 shots and has played 1,840 minutes, when New Jersey said he would be the number one they were not kidding. Keith Kinkaid and Scott Clemmensen have started four games and are 1-1-3 in those four games. Lack of goal scoring is killing the Devils, it would not hurt the Devils to finish in the bottom five this season, maybe they can land a key goal scorer to help out Adam Henrique. Henrique and old timer Jaromir Jagr lead the Devils with a whopping 20 points. New Jersey fired Coach Peter Deboer and hired, Adam Oates and Scott Stevens who will also be assisted by Lou Lamoriello the general manager of the Devils. My Projected end of season rank: 26th in NHL – 14th in Eastern Conference27. Buffalo Sabers (13-19-3 29 points) Buffalo sent down number two pick Sam Reinhart to start the season, a certainly good thing for the kid. So without their future leader and captain, Buffalo started the season horribly as expect, but found fire at the end of November. But since a 5-1 loss to Winnipeg, they have lost four straight, 5-1 to Colorado, 3-4 O in Boston and 6-3 against Detroit as defense evades Buffalo. Goaltending is an issue that will continue to be exposed down the stretch. Michal Neuvirth, the season starter and number one, went down with an injury and posts a 3-8-1 record. Jhonas Enroth has played better of late than to start the season but holds a sorry 10-11-2 record allowing a GAA of 3.05. My Projected end of season rank: 27th in NHL – 15th in the Eastern Conference28. Arizona Coyotes (12-18-4 28 points) Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson lead their team with 105 shots each, their nearest teammate is Shane Doan with 82. Lack of offensive shooting has Arizona in need of goals. A trade of one of their top two defensemen could bring a legit goal scorer into Arizona. Mike Smith has played like a rookie this season, even his backup Devan Dubnyk has played better. Smith is 5-15-2 this season and his save percentage is .884 with 3.48 goals against average. A trade could benefit this team to come out on fire next season. My Projected end of season rank: 29th in NHL – 14th in Western Conference29. Carolina Hurricanes (10-20-4 24 points) What has happened to Cam Ward? Lack of scoring is what has happened, Ward is still posting legitimate numbers, but the team is not helping him win. Backup Anton Khudobin feels the same way, though his numbers are not quite as nice, they are still better than many goalies of about teams. Ward is 9-12-2 while Khudobin is 1-8-1. Justin Faulk is leading the club with 20 points, while seven others sit with 13-18 points. Lack of confidence his eating at the Hurricane goal scorers while they also wait for Jordan Staal to recover from a broken fibula. J.Staal could return in the next month and could hopefully spark a very sad Carolina team. My Projected end of season rank: 30th in NHL – 16th in Eastern Conference30. Edmonton Oilers (7-21-7 21 points) No one can figure out the Edmonton Oilers, they have three #1 overall picks, a #3 all in their current lineup. Their defense is not a horrible list of names, but seems to have no connection. Their goaltending has been disgusting and this team is playing like all they want is a fourth #1 overall in the lineup. The firing of Coach Dallas Eakins has not helped change a thing nor did the firing of their goaltending coach. At this point the only thing that saves Edmonton is a trade sending away a top notch guy like Taylor Hall or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who are the top two scorers on their team. Jordan Eberle could also be trade bait for a serious goaltender or defensive player along with other assets. My Projected end of season rank: 28th in NHL – 13th in Western Conference *All projections are personal opinion and speculation, I take into account a lot more than just guessing, I did not put what teams need to change or expect for the rest of the season, just a little update of the teams with the addition of a speculated guess. Thanks for reading J