Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)”
WASHINGTON — Greetings from the opening stop on the Avalanche’s five-game road trip. I have the first four games (Washington, Carolina, Florida and Tampa Bay) and then Mike Chambers finishes out the trip in St. Louis. We’re splitting up the remaining road games as I help out Mike for the rest of the season. He vetoed my suggestion that I do all road games in cities where the average high temperature in January through March was 70 degrees or higher, so I have drawn some of the cold-weather trips, too.
Some opening-trip thoughts:
— is in the Monday paper. I found his comments about last year’s Olympic snub to be both revealing and interesting.
I has some extra Johnson comments that didn’t make the column. Here they are:
On whether he still considers validating his selection as the No. 1 overall choice in the 2006 draft as part of his motivation: “I don’t even think about that as much because thatap a different organization. Colorado traded for me to be their number one defenseman, and I know I’ve been that the last two years and I’m going to continue to do that going forward and continue go strive for greatness. You don’t want to be satisfied. You want to continue to dig on. When you’re satisfied, thatap when things go wrong for you because people are nipping at your heels and trying to take your spot. So for me, I know what type of player I am and it feels good to be an All-Star.”
On playing in the defensive pairing with Jan Hejda: “We played together his first year for 20 games and then we didn’t see each other until Patrick came and we played together all last year. I think it was the 10-game mark they put us back together this year and I know Patrick and Andre (Tourigny) wanted to try me with (Brad Stuart), and they switched us back when things weren’t going so well as a team. I think we’ve just taken off. We complement each other so well. I know he’s going to be back there to cover for me when I want to go on the offensive. He deserves a lot of credit. He really lets me play my game, lets me go on the offense and he’s a good player in his own right. You’re not going to see him light up the scoreboard all the time, but defensively, he’s just always in the way. I’m good friends with Patrick Kane and he said, ‘That Hejda guy is just always in the way out there’ and thatap a good thing when you’re playing against star players like that. I give him a lot of credit and I love playing with him.”
— Post scribe Nick Groke has a . I’ve covered both leagues extensively and I’ve long been convinced they are counterproductive, especially in hockey. Every time I say this, I get email from traditionalists or those who claim to have extensive knowledge of physiology and such, telling me I’m nuts. Rather than go over all the points again (I’ve got a morning skate to get to), he’s . And, yes, if some hockey analytics proponent can document that they’re counterproductive and get coaches to change their ways, I will alter my stand and begin quoting hockey analytics in every story.
— I’ll be covering Avalanche-Capitals tonight during much of the Ohio State-Oregon national championship football game. Here’s a little cross-talk …, 76 years ago, and also touches on attending the Oregon spring game in May, when my father — the former Ducks coach — was honored on “Military Appreciation Day” to belatedly recognize something he kept quiet during his coach career, his decorated stint as a P-38 fighter pilot in World War II.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or twitter.com/TFrei
