With three victories in as many tries against Colorado this season, do the Red Wings have the Avalanche’s number?
“Oh, I don’t know,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said Saturday afternoon at the Pepsi Center. “The only time you have anyone’s number is if you beat them in the playoffs. This is all just preparation.”
Through Detroit’s 3-0 romp Saturday, the Avs haven’t just lost to the Red Wings, they have appeared overmatched. Given that one of the most likely scenarios is a Colorado-Detroit matchup in the first round of the playoffs, this is all rather darkly ominous for the Avalanche.
The Red Wings spent much of the afternoon in the penalty box?
No problem. Milan Hejduk’s absence because of a neck injury doesn’t mitigate Colorado’s ineptitude on the power play. This highlights the biggest problem with this 2005-06 edition of the Avs, especially when considered against the backdrop of the NHL’s new rules, anti-obstruction standards and retooled offensive expectations.
Sometimes numbers are misleading. In this case, the repeated trumpeting of the fact that the Avalanche is the highest-scoring team in the Western Conference too often lets its alleged stars off the hook of accountability.
This is a hard-working roster that takes fewer nights off than Avalanche teams of the past. The Avalanche is getting about the most it can out of Patrice Brisebois, Andrew Brunette, Pierre Turgeon and Ian Laperriere – all signed in the reconstruction period after the end of the lockout. The debate over how well Pierre Lacroix coped with the onset of the salary cap is secondary, as is whether he could have kept either Peter Forsberg or Adam Foote around with more aggressive and imaginative tweaking of the numbers.
Bottom line: Against the elite teams, or even against the decent ones when a play- off spot is at stake, Joe Sakic, Alex Tanguay, Hejduk and Rob Blake – the Avs’ remaining “core” players – have to be downright compelling. Never mind what they do against Columbus and even Minnesota and Chicago.
That’s what these problems against Detroit have driven home.
Again, that’s not a conclusion reached with a calculator or even complete derision at the decent numbers Sakic has put up, for example. It’s more of a gut feeling, an impression left. In the New NHL, and at least in this first season of a restructured roster, the stars have to take it to a whole other level.
If that doesn’t happen, this is a one- round-and-out team. At best.
Foppa under pressure
As great as Forsberg has been in his first season with the Flyers – and he has been Hart Trophy great when healthy – his periodic groin muscle problems sound familiar.
His visit last week to groin and abdominal specialist William Garrett at Duke University again raised red flags about whether this will be something more than an occasional nuisance.
Adding to the intrigue, Flyers chairman Ed Snider told Philadelphia reporters that he preferred Forsberg skip the Olympics.
“I’m a believer in the Olympics, and I think it’s good for the NHL to participate in them,” Snider said. “Having said that, the people who participate should be the ones who are absolutely healthy. Peter Forsberg, for example, isn’t absolutely healthy.”
Snider made his comments before the Canucks’ Markus Naslund announced he was pulling out of the Olympics, but Forsberg – who hasn’t played since Jan. 25 – doesn’t seem likely to follow suit.
Forsberg told reporters he understands Snider’s position, but the Swede added, “I play hockey to win and I am proud to represent my country, and if I can I will. I would not go if I didn’t feel 100 percent because I know who’s paying my salary and I have a responsibility here. But if I do feel good and it’s not going to bother me, then I’m going.”
Rare territory for a rookie
If Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby or Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin hits 100 points this season, it will be the first time a rookie reaches three figures since Teemu Selanne (76 goals, 132 points) and Joe Juneau (32 goals, 102 points) did it in 1992-93. If he pulls it off, Crosby will have earned it, now that his early linemates – Ziggy Palffy and Mario Lemieux – have retired.
Despite the red tape that remains between the Russian Federation and the NHL, the safest assumption is the Penguins – or the Portland Buckaroos or the Kansas City Blades or whatever the Penguins are next season – also will find a way to get their other super- prospect, 19-year-old Russian Evgeni Malkin, signed and in the NHL next season.
Former Flames and Canadian national team coach Dave King is Malkin’s coach in the Russian league.
“He’s the player people come to watch,” King told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “They want to see Malkin. I hear things from other people about Sidney and to have those two young players to build a team around, that’s quite impressive.”
Cheers for donating to charities
A salute is due the Avalanche organization for awarding $525,000 to 11 children’s charities last week through the Colorado Avalanche Community Fund.
The recipients: Craig Hospital Children’s Friendship Program, Children’s Hospital, Colorado AIDS Project, the Denver Public Schools’ athletic programs, Denver Museum of Nature and Science Health Outreach Programs, Project Angel Heart, Young Americans Center for Financial Education, Advocates for Children, Denver Children’s Advocacy Center, Parenting Place Family Strengthening Program, and the Women and Family Crisis Center.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
