We head to the playoffs. I thought that the season, the last stretch
of the season for the As wasn't as strong as they wanted it to be.
But you know, overall, I think the playoffs and succeeding in the
playoffs by getting hot at the right time. What are our chances? What
are the ass chances of getting back to the Cup this year? Yeah,
you know the I think the chances would be a lot higher if they weren't
going up against the best goaltender in the NHL. So it's really a series
of strength on strength as Colorado's the highest scoring offense in the league against the
best goal prevention team in the league and the number one goaltender who's going to
win the Vesna Trophy this year. So I think if they're able to get
through this, you have to really like their chances to move forward and then
make a deep run. But this was really this was really kind of the
worst matchup they could have drawn. Well, AJ, Even in games like
this, there are always some players who emerge as being those outliers. Now
who currently on the AB squad do you think could have a great series against
the Jets that we're not talking about? Well, I think one of the
guys that they got at the deadline. You know, obviously Casey Middlestatt needs
to do well here, but I think Sean Walker has a chance to really
be an impact player in the series, especially with the uncertain status of Sam
Gerard. The way that the way that Walker jumps up into the play and
activates offensively, the way that Colorado has a team attacks from the blue line
forward is one of the reasons that they are so difficult to handle and why
they score the way that they do. And I think with the way that
Seawan Walker plays, you know, he's so aggressive and he's such a good
skater that he's going to draw weaker matchups from the Jets depths guys, and
if he can get involved in the play a little more often, he can
create offense where he can. He can help Colorado's bottom sick really really find
a little more offense along the way, which you give Nathan McKinnon an opportunity
like that you had you had offense from your bottom six, and I think
you're really really hard to beat. So Sean Walker is one of the guys
that I'm really looking at for this series. I want to go back to
what you're talking about going up against the number one goalie in hockey, and
obviously you know Winnipeg is the best in terms of defense. It's it's interesting
because these teams seem evenly matched, even if they are opposites. You know,
Colorado the number one scoring teams three or two goals four. You look
at Winnipeg, who's number one against goals against, and then you go goals
against, They're both middle of the road. On the other statistic. Yeah,
it is a little bit better on the power play, but a little
bit worse on on penalty minutes. In other sports, like for instance,
basketball, football, the more matchups you get against somebody, typically a series
trends to the defense. Is it the same way in hockey, or you
know, can the offense sort of figure you out? Yeah? I think
it's it kind of is the same way in hockey, But I think it
more trends towards the coaching staff and which coaching staff is paying attention to where
they're succeeding and where they're not succeeding. And that's an area where I have
trust in Jared Bedner to beat Ritt Bonus in their head to head In terms
of how they adjust which matchups are doing well and using the home ice when
they each have it in order to go hunt preferable matchups. You know,
putting out Nathan McKinnon against Mark Scheifeley is something they should want to do because
that they're bad defensively, and try and stay away from Adam Lowry, who's
one of the league's best third line centers and is an excellent shutdown center.
And so I think I think it's going to come down to more than anything
code the coaching staffs and how they adjust their avenues of success as the series
gets deeper, Because you are right, they the screws get tightened a little
bit more in the best of seven. But it's about which coaching staff is
able to break down the film and figure out where they can put their team
in a better position to succeed. Hey day, every coach, no matter
what professional league, they always look back at previous matchups and say, okay,
well we didn't play this well against this team. Now we're facing them.
As the Aves are facing the Jets, could Jared Bennark find some kind
of motivation or what could that motivation be? Knowing as though they faced the
Jets team before, but it hasn't ended up well for the Abs. Yeah,
I think the I think the motivation is more going to be about the
end of the road than it is anything about what happened in the regular season.
If there's one team that's gonna make too much of the regular season,
it's a team that's not comfortable that in this situation, which is Winnipeg.
You know, the way that the seasons have kind of gone. You know,
the obviously have expectations internally, and I think the external expectations of lowered
because they were a disappointment at the end of the year, and the Jets
are trending up and they're they're a very favorable pick in a lot of statistical
models and in in you know, on on the internet right now, and
I that's an organization that historically has not handled expectations well. So Uh.
I think I think they will win the entire regular season matchups. They're almost
entirely irrelevant. Uh. And I think where Jared Bedner and his organization are
going to find the motivation, it's that they want to go and try to
repeat some recent history, and the Jets are desperate to avoid recent history.
But if you were if you're a leegering Man, how much would you say?
What would you say? The percentages? Already Avalanche can pull this series
out. What would you have their percentages that win in the Cup, well,
win in the win in the Cup. Gosh, it's I guess I
would say like ten percent, but that just because it's really hard to do
a lot of things have to go right for you, and even that number
is probably high. Winning this series, I would say I give them like
a forty sixty shot. I think Winnipeg is They're They're just the perfect They're
they're the They're the perfect counterbalance to what the Avalanche do at their best,
and I'm iffy on Colorado's ability to overcome that. They have not been a
team that has shown as much resiliency this year as they have in past years,
and in games, their emotional maturity hasn't been at the same level.
They have let one bad thing turn into three bad things a little more frequently
than I'm comfortable with. So I think that the percentages would I would say
forty sixty in favor I guess sixty forty in favor of the Jets. I
don't feel great about this matchup is Nathan McKinny MVP for my money, yes,
but this is also a historic MVP race. I will understand if he
doesn't get there, I will be frustrated. I do think he ultimately wins
it, though, Okay, I'm just you know, it was one of
those things where how much like yokichen Bet a couple of years ago, you
know, you understand if the other guy wins it, but you still kind
of feel like you guys should. Yeah, of course, you know the
way that Kucharov has been this year, he is the primary reason that the
Tampa Bay Lightning are where they are. But that's also true for Nathan McKinnon.
And I don't know why we have to pretend otherwise, just because Miko
Ranton and had a hundred points, the Breton point centered Nikita Kucharov all year
and almost had a fifty goal season, and we're supposed to act like Kucharov
was elevating scrubs, like give me a break. So I do think that
McKinnon, he's my guy. The consistency, the multipoint games, the dominance
at even strength, the historical dominance at han home ice, all of those
things kind of trend towards him being the more valuable player to me, but
it was an incredible race to witness. Absolutely well, AJ, we really
appreciate it. AJ. Hey with you from the MV are talking to the
labs with us here on Broncos Country, and I appreciate it. Thank you.
I appreciate it, absolutely