Friday Thots: I’m on IR too

Ross Colton and Miles Wood joined the IR party this week.

Landeskog, Nichushkin, Lehkonen, Drouin, and now Colton and Wood too – that’s six top-nine forwards, all on IR at the same time. So… me too. I’m out this week. No column, sorry.

I mean, what is there to say about this week other than that? We could dive back into the goalie drama, where Justus Annunen looked good for two periods against the Senators and really bad for one, Alexandar Georgiev continued to flounder, and Kaapo Kahkonen gave up three goals on the first five shots he faced as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.

We could discuss the defense, which looks great for stretches but feels the pressure to do too much when the AHL forwards are on the ice and make mistakes like this Sam Malinski desperation dive:

Yeah, Tampa scored three goals before the Avs even registered a shot. We could get into the Oliver Kylington debacle at forward but no one wants to see those first two Lightning goals again so I won’t subject you (or myself) to that kind of torture. Kylington deserves a little slack for playing out of position, but at the same time – he’s a defender, he should know to defend the open guy near him.

Or we could pretend all is good and just enjoy the brilliance of Cale Makar, the NHL’s First Star for the month of October!

He’s incredible – 19 points in 11 games including points in literally every game of the season and the league lead in both assists and points. Nathan MacKinnon is right there too with 18 points and his own 11-game point streak. This kind of magical start to a season should be fun!

But no. I’m on IR. I’m not writing anything about any of that.

THOTTIES AND NAUGHTIES

Last week the comment section was pretty confused by this terminology. I am extremely young (33) and incredibly cool (33) so I’m basically an expert on slang – let me break it down for you.

THOT originally was a derogatory shorthand for That Ho Over There that men used to describe women as sexual objects with no other value, but it was reclaimed by women and gay men as a term of endearment for each other to take its power as an insult away. Now thottie is typically used interchangeably with hottie.

TL;DR — Thottie good, naughtie bad.

THOTTIE: Cale Makar

I already told you he was the NHL’s first star for October, so he might actually be the thottiest thottie to thot this season. But it’s not just the points – last season Cale racked up 90 of them and yet somehow we all agreed he wasn’t looking like his usual dangerous self and his defense was lacking. Not so this year – every time the puck is on Cale’s stick he looks poised to make something dangerous happen, and he’s cleaning up his end of the ice consistently. With Connor McDavid out for a couple of weeks, Cale is looking like the best player in the world right now.

NAUGHTIE: Sam Malinski

Just after I heap praise on the kid and predict he’ll get a minutes boost, he dove for a puck at the offensive blue line like an actual kid and gave up a 3-on-1 rush that resulted in a goal. That’s a desperation play that seemed to be matured out of his game so far this year, but after getting shellshocked by two quick goals he lost his composure and made a stupid mistake. That can’t happen.

THOTTIE: Matt Stienburg

NAUGHTIE: Matt Stienburg

Stienburg was really cementing himself a role on the fourth line as a good forechecker, responsible defender, and penalty killer who was willing to throw hands and his body to spark the team – but he found the line on the Girgensons hit, then crossed it on the Cernak one. He got suspended for two games and sent to the AHL to make cap space for his replacement so he’ll have to actually serve that suspension at a later date.

THOTTIE: Nathan MacKinnon

NAUGHTIE: The Injury Bug

Quit it injury bug! This isn’t funny anymore!

The Avs head to Nashville tomorrow, then take on Seattle and Winnipeg. I’ll say they beat the Preds and Kraks but the Jets get to play Georgiev and that doesn’t end well.

Last week I thought Annunen would get two starts and win both, but no he just got won so I’m 5-6 on the season just like the Avs!