Lab #74: The Final Countdown

One more week until regular season hockey!

The 74th installment of the Mile High Hockey Lab is available on your preferred Podcast platform! Don’t forget to download our new episode and give us a follow!

This installment is the last episode before the regular season, and we have you covered heading into opening night! Will Cal Ritchie make the cut? Can Sam Malinski stick with the Avalanche? Will they ever re-sign Mikko Rantanen? Let’s discuss.

Preseason Takeaways & Still No Mikko Extension

It’s hard to extrapolate much from a few preseason games, but we did our best to start the show. One of the major takeaways for us was that the preseason rosters have been largely underwhelming, even when playing a home contest. Also, the Avalanche have been shady with releasing their rosters before the preseason games. Preseason games cost money, too, so I would appreciate a few more appearances from the “regulars.” Then again, I suppose it’s better to protect them from being injured, as we’ve seen a few key players around the league sustain injuries while playing against lesser talent.

It’s October 2nd, and we still have nothing to report regarding the Mikko Rantanen extension. We were all hoping he would be signed before this regular season, but there is still about a week before that happens. We all agree that now isn’t the time to panic but that the longer it takes, the more expensive it will be for Colorado to extend the Moose. I again wonder if we are naive in thinking Mikko makes less than MacKinnon, especially with word that the salary cap is set to go up another $5M. Negotiation advantage, Rantanen.

Divisional Preview and News around the league

After our Moose talk, we looked at teams around the Central Division and voiced our opinion on where we think the Avalanche will finish. I agree with Ezra, who said Winnipeg probably got worse since last season, but Nashville got better. Managing editor Evan Liu is drinking the Preds Kool-Aid and thinks Stamko’s presence as a leader in Nashville should make them a threat.

We all agree that we aren’t as concerned with playoff positioning this season as we are with developing younger talent (e.g., Kovalenko, Ritchie, and Annunen). This season will be tainted with a ‘hurry up and wait’ feel if they don’t allow some young guns to give it a go instead of whatever veteran they have slated to fill the Lehkonen, Landeskog, and Nichushkin void. Don’t worry. We still think the Avalanche will make the playoffs with this approach.

How will the Avalanche finish inside the Central Division this season? Are you worried about the Predators? Let us know in the comments!

‘Give and Take’ Young Guns Edition – Week 3

We are two weeks into our new segment, in which we will quantify how we view six bubble prospects throughout the four weeks leading up to the beginning of the season. We have chosen Cal Ritchie, Andrei Kovalenko, Oskar Olausson, Jean-Luc Foudy, Sam Malinski, and Sean Behrens. Each week, each contributor will give points (-2,-1,0, 1,2) to each player to position them among each other, from most likely to make the team least likely (all points carry from week to week). Here are our results for week two:

#1 Cal Ritchie | 12 pts

#2 Nikolai Kovalenko | 6 pts

#3 Sam Malinski | 4 pts

#4 Ivan Ivan | 4 pts

#5 Sean Behrens | -1 pts

#6 Jean Luc Foudy | -5 pts

#7 0skar Olausson | CUT

This week, the first thing to discuss was Oskar Olausson being cut from the roster. He received negative marks from the panel and subsequently was replaced by Ivan Ivan on our ticker. His being cut isn’t all that surprising when you start to play the numbers game. It does feel like there are three spots up for grabs in the forward group, with PEB feeling like a lock for one of them (4C). Olausson didn’t do anything spectacular to firmly plant himself in the running for one of the other openings.

Sam Malinski, Cal Ritchie, and Nikolai Kovalenko all got positive marks this week, and the three genuinely feel like they will be the ones to make the roster after the dust settles on the preseason.

Ivan Ivan has a try-hard vibe, which seems to sit well with Jared Bednar. His appearance on the list is due to his being around and complimented by his head coach. However, his competitiveness will only get him so far, with plenty of talent vying for a job.

Bold Predictions

We ended the show as usual with our bold prediction of the week! Listen to the broadcast on your preferred podcast platform and see who earned a ding or a buzzer this week! Here’s Evan Liu’s bold prediction, and he went with reverse psychology this week:

Be sure to share your #BoldPredictions on X and in the comments here! We will discuss them on our show and give you any dings you might earn!

Please like, subscribe, and share our pod with your fellow Avalanche fans!

Go Avs!