The Avalanche have a serious case of FOMO.
Was it cured with their first win of the season — in game 5?
Like a college dude forced to hit the library while his buds hit the pub, reigning Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon explained his visible frustrations behind an 0-4 start to the season.
“Every year we don’t have our (full) team. It’s really annoying, to be honest,” said MacKinnon, who wears his emotions right next to the No. 29 on his sleeve, prior to Friday night's 4-3 overtime triumph over the Anaheim Ducks.
The Avs no longer are O-fer. They're 1-fer (5).
Are the Avs concerned that games against Vegas, Columbus, Boston and the New York Islanders resulted in zero wins and zero points?
I didn't get the impression they’re concerned.
But frustrated? Oh, yeah. Big time.
“We’d just love to have our (full) team. That would be great,” said MacKinnon, who scored the game-winning goal on a 1-on-3 breakaway. "We’re like $40 million under the cap (due to injuries to big-money players). That’s probably not great.”
Devon Toews. Artturi Lehkonen. Gabe Landeskog. Jonathan Drouin. Valeri Nichushkin.
The Avalanche’s injured (or suspended, in Nichushkin’s case) would make a pretty sweet sweater collection in a Colorado superfan’s closet. And the chronic absences have led to a fear of missing out.
Missing out on a fast start that would ease the burden in March and April.
Missing out on home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Missing out on a championship window that’s not getting any wider.
While MacKinnon’s financial assessment was a tad inflated, the Avs are skating without $27 million worth of world-class players, as The Denver Gazette's Evan Rawal wrote in his NHL Insider. Evan's the best hockey writer in Colorado, by the way.
“It would be great to have them back,” MacKinnon said. "They’re pretty good players.”
I asked Jared Bednar if the coach — borrowing MacKinnon’s words — is annoyed, too.
“I can see why it’s frustrating to the guys,” Bednar said. "They’re used to a rhythm of the way our team plays when it’s full. That’s what you remember from last season and that’s what you’re hoping for out of the gate. I can see why it’s annoying to those guys.
“It changes everything when you’re missing one player or two players. When you’re up to five or six, everything has to change.”
The Avs’ 0-4 start was the franchise’s first since 1998. Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy recovered to reach Game 7 of an unforgettable Western Conference final vs. the Stars.
But the big-picture problem? This is (was?) trending toward the third straight season missing players have derailed a championship push in the prime of MacKinnon’s Hall of Fame career.
And that’s more concerning than frustrating.
“We started 6-0 last year and it didn’t work out. So maybe this will be different,” MacKinnon said. "We’ve seen a lot of teams in the past get hot after a tough start — St. Louis, when they won (the Stanley Cup), Edmonton with a great run (last season). I’m trying to be positive.
"There’s also a lot of teams that had bad starts and it didn’t go great. Hopefully we’re not one of those teams.”
The FOMO is real.
Local News
Comments / 0