It’s been far from a great start to the season for the Colorado Avalanche.
Heading into a Saturday slate packed full of games, they sit fourth in the Central Division, tied with the Oilers for a Wild Card spot. Their offence has continued to be as strong as ever, but their defensive game has been a big issue.
Colorado’s continued to be a strong possession team, driving play while controlling the shot attempt share, scoring chance share and expected goal share among the best of the best, but they’ve also allowed the third most goals against per hour of ice-time this season, dropping their goal share to just 47 percent.
The issue has been between the pipes, where their goaltending has combined for a league worst .855 save percentage. Alexandar Georgiev and 24-year-old Justus Annunen have been outright awful this season, while a single start from Kaapo Kahkonen and a relief effort from Trent Miner have been no better.
Colorado, desperate to find a fix, swung a trade Saturday morning, hours before the Edmonton Oilers pay visit to Ball Arena. It came with a goaltending swap with the Nashville Predators, as the Avalanche brought in veteran backup Scott Wedgewood in exchange for Annunen and a 2025 6th round pick.
It’s hard to say if Wedgewood will fare much better, given at 32-years-old, he’s carrying a .878 save percentage and 3.69 goals against average from five games in Nashville this season, but anything might be better than what they’ve gotten so far.
It’s unknown as of the time of writing if Wedgewood will arrive in Denver or be available for tonight’s 8 p.m. MST puck drop, but since Georgiev got the start Friday allowing four goals against on 23 shots in a 5-3 loss, the Avs might have to make a spot-start recall.
- There’s never been a lack of offence when the Oilers and Avalanche meet. In their most recent 10 matchups, Edmonton’s gone 2-5-3, while being outscored 42-31, for a total of 73 goals scored, or 7.3 per game. It might be a good night to sprinkle on the over.
- Last season the Oilers went 1-1-1, losing 3-2 in overtime and winning 6-2 on home ice, while dropping a 5-1 decision in a late-season visit to Denver.
- Vasily Podkolzin is finding his offensive spark, now having scored in back to back games for the Oilers. He leads the Oilers with 55 hits, and is now up to two goals and four points in his last four games, and seven points in 23 games this season. At 0.3 points per game, he’s slightly behind the scoring pace he had in his rookie NHL season or .33, and him continuing to find ways to contribute offensively — while maintaining strong defensive play — would be a huge boon to an Oilers team in need of more offence from players not named Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl or Evan Bouchard.
- Connor Brown sits three goals back from 100 on his career, and has fared well since being bumped up to the Oilers second line, alongside Draisatil and Podkolzin. He’s been more engaged offensively this season, now up to three goals and seven points in 23 games, increasing not only his offensive production, but his shot rate, too, climbing to 1.83 shots on goal per game. With these three on the ice at five-on-five, the Oilers have lost the shot attempt share battle, but are pushing the pace of play with strong expected goal and scoring chance rates, all the while outscoring the opposition 2-0.
- Jeff Skinner continues to struggle to find his way, but has looked more at home on the third line alongside Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark in recent games. When Viktor Arvidsson returns from injury, whenever that may be, I’d like to see Brown on the right side of Henrique and Skinner, with Janmark bumping down to the fourth line.
- Despite a stop at home tonight, the Avalanche are in the midst of some heavy travel, spending 26 of 34 days on the road between November 17th to December 20th. They’re also in the midst of a stretch of three games in four nights, having hosted Vegas on Wednesday, playing in Dallas last night, and hosting Edmonton tonight.
- The injury bug continues to be an issue in Colorado, despite Valeri Nichushkin returning from injury recently. Gabriel Landeskog, Ross Colton, Miles Wood, and Jonathan Drouin all remain out of the lineup for various ailments in the foreseeable future.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
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