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Downie Dogs Tippett, Cherry

December 23, 2016, 4:10 PM ET [24 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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It is my experience that NHL tough guys are usually very thoughtful, passionate people. Don't judge a knuckle chucker by his profession.

Steve Dowie is a tough guy's tough guy. He's big, fast, fierce, skilled, and as we found out on his Twitter timeline, very opinionated.

Downie won't be exchanging holiday wishes with the Arizona Coyotes, their head coach or Donald S. Cherry for that matter.


The 29-year-old brawler played only 26 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.

A veteran of 434 career NHL games, Downie scored 76 goals and 12 assists. He has also accumulated 1,057 PIMs. Downie is a brawler in a league where fighting isn't allowed anymore.







Downie expressed his displeasure for the Coyotes organization on Twitter on Thursday night and again Friday. Downie also lambasted teh NHL for it's "Fight Club" culture. Downie took a couple of parting shots at Don Cherry and his "Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em" hockey fight video/dvd franchise for perpetuating the fighting culture.

I especially love how Downie rips NHL executive Colin Campbell and Tippett for disrespecting his teammate Big John Scott, former Coyote, who was traded to Montreal, and subsequently dumped to their AHL team in St. John, last February after he was voted top the NHL All Star Game.

Parental warning: salty language.


Downie shouts out to his buddy Max Domi, Arizona Coyote rock star, who is nursing a busted hand suffered in a recent fight against Calgary.





He then ripped Tippett











Downie, like many of us wonders aloud why Domi, the best player on the Yotes, is fighting his own battles?











































































































































































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The Colorado Avalanche have been a gawd awful hockey team this season.

The Avs are 11-20-1 (23 points) and are the worst team in the NHL standings.


Their recent 10-1 shellacking by Montreal was a microcosm of their disastrous 2016-17 season.


The Avs have earned just four of the past 28 point available to them.

That's a nice way of saying that they are 2-14 in their past 16 games.


Former head coach Patrick Roy no doubt saw the hand writing on the wall when he bolted from Denver in September.

Joe Sakic was a Hall Of Famer on the ice. Operative word: "Was'. Unlike fellow hockey hall of fame player Steve Yzerman, Sakic has yet to make a profound impact as an NHL executive. Sakic has a lot of work to do in order to be considered a peer of Yzerman, who has built the Tampa Lightning into a perennial powerhouse.


Sakic finds himself in sweltering hot water right now with Avs ownership. Sakic's fingerprints are all over this dysfunctional Avalanche roster.


On Friday, my friend in hockey, fashion and chirping, the inimitable Andrew Peters, asked Darren Dreger on his most awesome The Instigators radio show if Sakic has to make trades to save his job and to salvage the rotten season. Time to tear down that which Sakic has built?

“Well, a little of both. Just automatically as a general manager, when your team is struggling as mightily as his is, there’s going to be tough questions asked. I don’t think that there’s any doubt of that either.

“There are some, be it close to Sakic or not, I guess it depends on your view of these individuals, who wonder if Joe might say in the off-season, ‘I don’t know if I’m cut out for this.’ I’m not suggesting that’s the case, but I’ve heard that".

“He (Sakic) is the architect of this group. He decided on the core, dating back to maybe even Stastny going to St. Louis as a free agent, but most certainly Ryan O’Reilly being traded to the Buffalo Sabres. He decided at that point that the core was going to be led by Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog and Nate MacKinnon and some of the younger guys and it hasn’t worked out.

“And the issue really is that this is a proud hockey market. The Colorado Avalanche, historically, have had a high level of success, and recently have had some success. And now this market is in trouble because of that. The culture has eroded. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of push from within that room. You had Nathan MacKinnon yesterday in The Denver Post talking about how embarrassing it is, and that was before getting trounced by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“So Sakic is going to have to do something when the freeze lifts. And that something might have to be hitting one of his core guys, be it Landeskog or, like I said, Matt Duchene.”


Sakic has taken a long look at himself in the mirror. He mustn't like what he sees staring back at him. The core players that he hand selected are miserable and are struggling mightily. Frankly, the Avs are too talented a team to be this bad right now. The Avs have scored just 65 goals in 32 games played. They have scored just 40 even strength goals. Their 3.25 combined goals against average is dead last in the NHL. The Avs have allowed 104 goals against in 32 games played.

I scratch my head when I look at Colorado's offensive stats.

How can a team as offensively gifted as Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, Carl Soderberg, Gabe Landeskog, Jarome Iginla, Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie be this bad?

Sakic has an opportunity to stop the bleeding by trading one of his core players. The Avs would be wise to pull the chute, and trade a couple of his stars away in exchange for building blocks. If I'm Sakic, I go diving to the NHL basement to get into first position for Nolan Patrick, the first overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft.



Sakic should pivot to Nathan MacKinnon, 21, who is THE player the Avs should be re-building around right now. He has scored just 8 goals and 13 assists in 32 games this season. MacKinnon dazzled for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey. He is one of the crown jewels of the NHL. MacKinnon scored 21 goals and added 31 assists last season. MacKinnon will be a $6.3 million cap hit for the next seven seasons. Talk about a steal of a deal for the Avs. MacKInnon will be a Hart Trophy candidate before too long. Sakic must make him the focal point.

Trade Duchene. Now.


Duchene is a $6 million salary cap hit for the next three seasons. The former Brampton Battalion star and Team Canada hero owns a very attractive value contract for a proven 30-goal scoring power forward. Duchene already has 12 goals and 10 assists in 28 games played this season. Duchene potted 30 goals and 29 assists last season. If he remains healthy, Duchene will score 30 goals again this season. Now would be an opportune time to trade Duchene away.


His former head coach Patrick Roy was frustrated with Duchene after a disappointing 2015-16 season. There appeared to be a lot on and off public friction between Roy and his star player Duchene.

Duchene and his former Avs teammate Ryan O'Reilly, now a star in Buffalo, both played leadership roles on Team Canada's gold medal winning team at the IIHF World Cup of Hockey. There was buzz heard round the World Cup practice rinks that Duchene was excited when his trade rumors ended immediately after Roy packed his bags and flew home to Quebec in August. Perhaps there is some truth to it. Without the fear of being traded hanging over his head, Duchene threw off the mental chains and played inspired hockey for Team Canada.


Gabe Landeskog is a curious player in that he will give you 20 goals and 60 points per season, plus rock solid leadership. The 24 year old forward is a $5,571,429 cap hit for the next five seasons.

Erik Johnson, 28, is Colorado's best/most consistent defensive D-man. He broke his leg earlier this month and is not expected back until March. Johnson earns $6 million per next seven seasons.



Tyson Barrie, 25, was mentioned in trade rumors for months leading up to him signing a new four year pact with a $5.5M AAV in August. Barrie scored 13 goals and 36 assists last season is untouchable at this point.

Semyon Varlamov, 28, is a likely expansion draft opportunity for Las Vegas. At $5.9M AAV for the next three seasons, and struggling mightily with his confidence this season, Varlamov is not a trade option.


Duchene and Landeskog will likely find themselves officially on the trade market when the calendar flips to January 1, 2017. The NHL roster freeze will end on December 28. The Avs were scouting the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.


Duchene and Landeskog are left wingers who would add immediate scoring punch and leadership to the top six forward group of other NHL teams.


Were I Sakic, the very moment the roster freeze lifts on December 28, I would put Jarome Iginla out of his misery and trade him to a Stanley Cup contender. Iginla is wasting his time and talent in Denver. He must watch Jaromir Jagr's record-breaking exploits and say: "Hey, that could be me".


Iginla will be 40 years old on July 1. He's played 1,506 career NHL games and is eager to compete for a Stanley Cup championship. Iginla has scored 615 goals and 666 assists. He's played in 81 career playoff games but has never had the opportunity to chug Don Perignon from Lord Stanley's Cup. Sakic owes it to Iginla to trade him to a winner. Iginla will be UFA on his 40th birthday and is earning $5.33M this season.


Sakic's next order for business should be trading Matt Duchene to an Eastern team in exchange for young, scoring power forwards and a defensive prospect. The Avs can also use a starting goalie now that Semyon Varlamov has injured his groin again. Calvin Pickard will be the starter with youngster Spencer Martin backing him up.

Sakic will earn quite a haul of assets in return for Duchene.

Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray made the Ryan O'Reilly/Jamie McGinn trade with Joe Sakic who received Mikhail Grigorenko, Nikita Zadorov, J.T. Compher nad a second round draft choice.

If the Sabres are going to earn a wild cared playoff berth, they are going to have to play .600-.620 hockey in the 49 games of their season. It will not be easy but it's attainable.

The Sabres have been struggling to score goals in their first 33 games of the season. They were curb stomped 5-1 by the lowly Islanders on Friday night and now have scored only 70 goals this season (23 PPG). They are averaging only 2.12 goals per game. When Jack Eichel, Ryan O'Reilly, Kyle Okposo, Samson Reinhart and Evander Kane are not scoring, they team struggles to score goals, Duchene would add reliable primary/secondary scoring to a lineup that needs it badly.

There is reason to believe that Sakic would do another deal with Murray, if the price were right.

The Sabres have lost four straight games as they head into the NHL holiday break. Murray has been patiently searching for a dynamic winger to add value to his top six forward group and power play. Duchene already has chemistry with Ryan O'Reilly and he checks all of the boxes: plays center/wing, plays hard on both sides of the puck, big PP contributor and scores big goals.


If Murray has to trade Evander Kane and Zemgus Girgensons for Duchene, then so be it.




Let the Sakicking begin.









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