The Avalanche are in the Stanley Cup playoffs, a remarkable accomplishment.

The fact that 50 percent of the defense corps expected to play in Thursday’s series opener against Nashville were claimed on waivers in the past 14 months is certainly noteworthy.

Mark Barberio came from Montreal on Feb. 2, 2017; Patrik Nemeth from Dallas on Oct. 3, 2017; and Mark Alt from Philadelphia on Feb. 26, 2018.

“Just because you’ve been put on waivers doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t play,” Nemeth told Hockeybuzz.

And then there’s forward Matt Nieto, who came from San Jose on Jan. 5, 2017. He scored a career-high 14 goals this season while playing on a solid line with Carl Soderberg and Blake Comeau.

“That kind of says how some guys get stuck in organizations,” Nemeth said. “There’s different reasons why that happens.”

The 6-feet-3, 219-pound Nemeth, 26, easily had the best season of his NHL career, finishing with 15 points (three goals, 12 assists) in 68 games with a team best plus-27 rating while averaging 19:51 in ice time. He missed 14 games with injuries, 12 with a lower-body injury from Nov. 10-Dec. 5.

Nemeth played in 108 NHL games with the Stars, who made him their second-round pick (No. 41) in the 2010 draft, 40 of them coming in 2016-17.

The Stockholm native compares his path this season to that of the Avalanche, who had 95 points after last year’s 48-point disaster.

“It was about changing the culture, the way we see ourselves, expecting to win,” he said. “I think we really embraced that, especially after Christmas when we felt we could play with better teams, when we got results with the work we put in.

“It’s a process, it takes time. When you start believing in yourself, when you believe in your group, when you have a tight group as we have here and you play for another, good things can happen.”

Injuries, contract situations, style of play, numbers games … all can contribute to a player’s ability to earn a place on a roster -- or not.

Nemeth believes his situation with the Stars changed after he sustained a severe wrist laceration against Philadelphia in the fifth game of the 2014-15 season. He was called up from Texas of the AHL late in the season before, played in eight games and five more in the playoffs, so he felt he was on his way.

“When I was playing in the AHL and in Sweden you felt you were a good player,” he said. “I played in playoffs a couple years ago against Anaheim and then you get a freak injury and you’re out for almost a whole year. Then you get back and you’re a step behind.”

The injury kept Nemeth off the ice for around five months, and other players took advantage of his absence. He played in 40 Stars games last season.

“Last year in Dallas wasn’t great, we had four or five guys that were in and out of the lineup,” he said. “Sometimes that’s just the way things are. Maybe the coach doesn’t see what you bring to the table or the type of player you are. You might have guys that are (ahead) of you in the system. It’s different scenarios. In my case, I think it was just a matter of getting a new chance.”

Coach Jared Bednar credits the Avalanche's pro scouts for finding players who can help, along with the players for taking advantage of their opportunities.

“They’ve come in and done what we’ve asked them to do at a high level in all those cases for me and stepped up and elevated their game and fit into our system, real good team guys," he said. “They’ve played more here than in their other situations. Our guys as individuals and as a group surprise me all the time, and that’s why they’re so much fun to coach.”

Sometimes it's just a matter of being with the right team at the right time.

“For me, it was just getting a regular chance to play regular minutes,” Nemeth said. “When you start playing regular minutes that’s when you start to develop your game and play with confidence. If you know you make one mistake you’re not going to be taken out of the lineup. When you get a new chance, you have to take advantage of it.

“You start off trying to prove something and then you see that you can get results. After a while when you feel that you get results, then you start in believing in yourself and you set the bar higher. I think it’s very similar for me personally and for our team.”



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