Denver Post sports writer Adrian Dater posts his Avs Mailbag each Monday during the 2005-06 NHL season on DenverPost.com.
To drop a question into the Avs Mailbag or visit DenverPost.com’s .
Adrian: My wife is a member of several online groups discussing the Avs, and their feeling is that Joel Quenneville is not doing a good enough job of motivating this team to win, and is especially mishandling the goaltending controversy. What’s your opinion on how well “Coach Q” has been doing?
— Eric Bowersox, Denver
Eric – I know there is some chattering from the peanut gallery right now, on chat boards and the like, about Quenneville’s handling of the goalies.
I’m not sure what I think about it; on the one hand, I can see why he’d want to try something different if a goalie obviously isn’t playing well. On the other, I think there was a game or two where Quenneville was a little too quick with the hook. The other night against L.A., when , might have been one. David Aebischer came in stone cold, and he allowed a big softie of a goal right away. Maybe Budaj could have settled down quickly in that game, if given the chance?
Overall, I think Coach Q has showed lots of passion for the job, and I know he’s a smart hockey man. Look, he’s got the team over .500 after the loss of a lot of talent since he was hired. I mean, Patrick Roy isn’t walking through that door anymore.
Hi, I was just wondering about Ossi Vaananen. He’s always in the lineup but never on the scoreboard, and nobody ever talks about him. How has he been playing so far?
— Richard, Stockholm, Sweden
Richard – I think fair is the word for Vaananen. Maybe a little better than that. Other than Rob Blake, he’s the biggest and most physical defenseman on the team, and he works hard. He is not blessed with good offensive skill. But as long as he does his job at the other end, that’s OK. His only problem sometimes is penalty-taking. He tends to get called for the frequent clutch-and-grab type of foul. But you could do a lot worse than him.
Being a goaltender myself, I know that the position requires a lot of a goaltender psychologically. Is there any chance that David Aebischer could get a “pep talk” from Patrick Roy, similar to the one that Ray Bourque offered to his former Avs teammates the year after his retirement?
— Dorian Vonada, Pittsburgh
Dorian – Good question, but I doubt it. Roy was never the rah-rah type of player. He tended to worry about himself and victories, and that’s it. But I know that he and David Aebischer are friendly, and that Aebischer consulted with Roy in the past, after he retired.
But, no, Roy is not going to fly here and deliver a pep talk, I’m almost sure. First of all, he’s too busy coaching his own team, the of the QMJHL.
I appreciate your comments about the Avs not being physical enough. While the goaltending has been less than stellar, do you think lack of depth (or size) in defense is the bigger problem?
— David Namura, Alexandria, Va.
David – I don’t think that’s the real problem defensively. I think there has just been a lack of cohesiveness by the Avs defensively in all three zones sometimes. In order to play well defensively in one zone, you usually have to be playing well in the previous zone. Too often the neutral zone has looked like Main Street in Loveland at 2 a.m. – wide open.
The Avs aren’t making teams work hard enough to get the puck up the ice. They are giving up their own blue line too easily – never more so than in . They need to forecheck the heck out of the puck and just try to increase the pressure everywhere else.
Is it just me, or does Teemu Selanne seem to excel everywhere except Colorado. In 36 games this year, he is only four points shy of his totals last season with the Avalanche.
— Rusty, Hurley, Miss.
Rusty – Yes, Selanne is playing much better for the Ducks than he ever did with Colorado. Selanne blames a bad knee for his problems with the Avalanche, and that may be the case. But it just seemed like Selanne got real down on himself after the coaching staff moved him off a line with Joe Sakic and Paul Kariya, and he never got his confidence back. What a line that should have been! Instead, it was a tremendous disappointment for the Avs.
Adrian – Longtime reader here, first-time writer. You are 100 percent right on all your answers, but I would disagree with one of them. This is the fact that you thought that Bates Battaglia was a bad move for the Avs. I think it was, at the time, bad coaching. The Avs didn’t give him a chance.
— Johnny Spaggs, Toronto
Johnny – Well, what was the reason for Battaglia’s career fizzling out when he went to Washington then? I think Battaglia got a big head after being on a top line with a Carolina team that went to the Stanley Cup Finals, and stopped working hard. There was private criticism among the Avs about Battaglia’s work ethic and overall conditioning.
Battaglia played on a line with Joe Sakic right when he came to the Avs, if you recall. If he couldn’t score playing with him, then something was wrong with him.
Adrian – It seems to me that the team lacks vocal leaders in the locker room. Joe Sakic has never been loud. I do not see Alex Tanguay or Milan Hejduk being very vocal. Is this one of the many things that is killing this team right now? Everyone is trying to lead by example instead of telling his teammates how to help themselves?
— Nathan, Houston
Nathan – That’s a good point, and I think you are correct in some ways. This team seems to get along well and have good chemistry, but perhaps it does need a guy to kick his teammates in the rear now and then. Guys like Dan Hinote and Ian Laperriere are pretty vocal, and so was Steve Konowalchuk. I think they miss Konowalchuk a lot more than people realize. Sakic is not a vocal guy, but he’s a good leader otherwise. But, yes, sometimes a little hollering in the locker room is a good thing.
Hi, Adrian! What’s the deal with the “new goalie jerseys”? At the beginning of the season, the NHL said that goalies would be wearing form-fitting jerseys within a month. Just curious!
— Shawn Herrin, Colorado Springs
Shawn – They’ve been shelved temporarily, put on the backburner. There was a lot of vocal feedback from the goalies, suggesting the jerseys might not be “uniform” across the board, and basically the league is back exploring the whole issue.
How does sharing the minor league affiliate work with the Carolina Hurricanes? Does half the roster belong to Carolina and half to Colorado? When players were drafted by Colorado when Hershey was the affiliate, did all those players then get moved to Lowell?
— Mark Dahl, Parker
Mark – You are correct in your initial assessment. The Avs and Canes supply the majority of the Lock Monsters roster, basically splitting everything.
As for other players, there are some – including former Colorado Eagles goalie Tyler Weiman – playing for Colorado’s ECHL affiliate in San Diego. So, no, all the players did not get moved to Lowell. All I know is, Lowell, Mass., might be where the better league is located, but I’d sure rather be in San Diego than there.
Is it time to panic yet?
— Brandon Z., Casper, Wyo.
Brandon – Get off the ledge, come on down. Hejduk is playing better, Budaj has played well in two of three games and Abby even looked decent the other night in San Jose. So, things are looking up!
Now, if they go out and get hammered again by Nashville tomorrow night – then come back and ask me.
Adrian Dater has covered the Colorado Avalanche since the team moved to Denver in 1995. To drop a question into his Avs Mailbag or visit DenverPost.com’s .
