Welcome to Evan’s mailbag, where each week Avalanche reporter Evan Rawal answers all your Avalanche- and hockey-related questions. Mailbag questions can be sent to evan.rawal@gazette.com.
What do you make of (Nathan) MacKinnon’s comments, in light of the trades that shipped out young players for experience, that you can’t win with young guys? He said it two days in a row. Many fans (and media) overhype younger players, often for little reason. Curious to hear your take.
I found his comments interesting because the Avalanche won the Cup in 2022 with a 20-year-old playing top-four minutes on their blueline, and that same 20-year-old was probably their best defenseman in the Cup-clinching game. Alex Newhook, who was the same age, also played in their bottom six most of that playoff run. Florida’s fourth-leading scorer during its Cup run was 22-year-old Anton Lundell. Tampa won when guys like Anthony Cirelli, Brayden Point, Erik Cernák, Mikhail Sergachev and Ross Colton were all 24 or younger.
You can definitely win with young guys, it’s just unlikely you’ll win with a team full of young guys. Odds are you aren’t going to win with 18 or 19-year-olds, so moving those guys out for better players in the immediate makes a lot of sense for contenders, but you can definitely win with young players. It’s been proven before.
If a fully healthy Landy returns for the playoffs, how much does he actually help or hurt the team due to his extended time off?
If (Gabriel) Landeskog comes back for the playoffs who do you think comes out of the lineup? (Parker) Kelly or (Joel) Kiviranta? I would hate to see the 4th line broken up, they feel very similar to 2022.
The hockey world is abuzz because Gabriel Landeskog skated with the team at practice on Monday in all their non-contract drills. He didn’t look too bad, either.
There’s still a long ways to go in his recovery and always the possibility of a setback, but fans are excited. How much does he help after his time off? That’s impossible to truly know because this is uncharted territory. As for who he’d replace, I’d guess Parker Kelly, but people need to be prepared for the idea that if Landeskog does indeed come back for at least one game, it might be a situation where he’s not in the lineup every single night.
Again, that’s if he comes back. I hope for his sake that he’s able to complete the comeback but there’s still a ways to go for him to get there.
What’s the bigger impact on the franchise, if Landeskog never got injured or Forsberg played his career injury-free?
Talk about an impossible question to answer. I’d have to lean toward Peter Forsberg playing injury-free because he was an elite player during his prime. Nothing against Landeskog, but he wasn’t at that level.
Should we be worried about (Josh) Manson not being able to stay healthy?
Worried? Yes, but that’s because he’s rarely been able to stay healthy throughout his career. Last season’s 76 games was the first time he had played more than 70 in a season since 2018-19. His style of play tends to lead to more injuries. I’m sure the Avalanche were aware this was a possibility when they re-signed him after the Stanley Cup run.
Which goaltender do you think gets the start in the playoffs?
If Mackenzie Blackwood is healthy, he’ll start. Scott Wedgewood is a solid backup but the reason he’s been starting consecutive games is because Blackwood has been dealing with an illness. Blackwood is their starter.
