All Things Avs blog: tree falls in forest. film at eleven

http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2011/03/06/postgame-avs-oilers-15-out-of-16/6632/

The Avs-Oilers game, as seen from space.

In this blog entry we are treated to Dater's thoughts about the game featuring the Western Conference's two worst teams, the Oilers and the Avalanche. It would seem that the team with the worst record is not the worst team, as the Oilers had a disturbingly easy time with the Avalanche, winning 5-1.

Dater makes an attempt at an interesting introduction, and fares better than usual... if you can call a combination of Dater's late-night habits, Vince Lombardi, the Colorado Avalanche, and Charlie Sheen "better than usual." Unfortunately for his readers, we can.

Dater follows with some basic thoughts about the team having no confidence, being young, etc. Pretty standard, boring comments without any real insight, but that's S.O.P. for this blog. Dater picks on Erik Johnson a bit... apparently, Dater thinks that a 22-year-old kid in his first couple weeks with his new team should be a "leader type" and help turn the team around immediately, and so he plans to make a note of every time he fails to do so. I think Johnson will be just fine, but since Dater has already stated he is 'against' the trade that brought him here, he's apparently going to go out of his way to point out every time Johnson fails to excel (and, of course, every time Shatty and Stewart have great games). That's just the way Dater is... some people would call it a grotesque lack of objectivity, but around All Things Avs, it's par for the hole.

He also kind of throws Elliot under the bus, when really I can only remember one goal that was remotely his fault. As ignorant as Dater is of the finer points of hockey, he is especially ignorant about goaltending. It's not like the Oilers, even missing their best players, are the Colorado Eagles or something... they wouldn't be in the league, Dater, if they couldn't score. Also absent is any mention of Peter Budaj, who stepped in after the Oilers' fourth goal and played fairly well, giving up only a single goal on a shorthanded odd-man rush. This is notable not because Dater failed to say something positive about Budaj, but because Dater usually finds a way to blame Budaj for goals scored on shorthanded odd-man rushes.

He closes by explaining that "people's job security" will be in doubt if the Avs don't start winning. Well, yeah... Hannan, Stewart, Anderson, & Shattenkirk have already lost their jobs, and there will be more to come, I'm sure. But he quickly moves on to let us know he's talking specifically about Sacco here. As usual, Adrian hedges his bets... he says that "Sacco is definitely coming back" next season, but then he immediately says that if they keep losing, he may be fired. Dater really sticks his neck out with those predictions, doesn't he?

Nothing terribly interesting or informative in this blog entry, but other than Dater's typical lack of objectivity mixed with his lack of extensive hockey knowledge, there's nothing really notable worth complaining about, either.

C+

All Things Avs blog: grab bag

http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2011/03/02/leftovers-from-avalanches-cali-road-trip/6626/

http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2011/03/05/avalanches-mueller-shut-down-for-season/6628/


These are two blogs Dater posted this week. Both are short and sweet, and since I don't have much to say about either one, I'm just putting them together here.

The first one is exactly what I think the All Things Avs blog on the Denver Post website should be: little video clips taken (presumably) by Dater himself... interviews with players, peeks into the atmosphere at other NHL arenas, etc. These are things that fans can't really get anywhere else, but Dater can... and I think it's great that he shares them here. Dater didn't add too much to this in the way of commentary, he just posts the videos. Well done.

A

The second is a little update about Peter Mueller. It should come as no surprise to anybody that Mueller will not play this season. Here, Dater passes on the message that the Avalanche have officially "shut him down" (a term that when used in sports rubs me the wrong way, for some reason) and that he hopes to be ready for next season. Dater offers his opinion that Mueller's injury contributed to the Avs' bad season, which is hard to argue against... but at this point, what hasn't contributed to the Avs' bad season?

This is another quick blog that gets to the point, offers little in the way of new information, but doesn't confuse the issue with a lot of unnecessary commentary.

A-

All Things Avs blog: Avs lose moral victory in moral shootout

http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2011/03/02/postgame-avs-sharks-point-gained/6622/#disqus_thread

This blog entry contains some comments on the Avs' 2-1 shootout loss to the Sharks, one of the hottest teams in the league.

Dater opens by griping about his hotel not having wireless internet access. When AD writes about something personal in his blog, you're likely to get one of two extremes: griping, or maudlin. Here, we get gripey... and if I'm given the choice, I guess that's the lesser of two evils. While I don't think it's alarm-bell emergency that there are hotels out there without wifi -- even in Silicon Valley -- I do think it odd that the Post would put him up somewhere without it. On the other hand, the hotel does have internet access, and Dater does have a laptop... so why not simply plug his phone into his laptop with a cable and go that route? Oh, I know... because that wouldn't give him anything to complain about.

As he did in his real-news article, Dater calls Joe Thornton's game-tying goal a "lucky tip." As I explained in my comments for that article, when a beer-league guy tips one in like that, we can call it luck, but when a player of Joe Thornton's calibre does it, it's not luck. Describing it subjectively is not only an example of his bias as a reporter/fan, but it also it robs Thornton of the credit he deserves for a nice, clutch goal.

Dater then moves on to write about Elliot for a moment. As he said, Elliot looked very good in this game... thanks, in no small part, to the Avs looking good defensively (or, if you want to be more pessimistic, the Sharks looking a bit flat). As you knew he would, however, Dater manages to get a shot in at Budaj, despite the fact that he didn't appear in this game at all:

 I liked how fundamentally sound he looked. He doesn’t flop all over the place like Peter Budaj does, and was good and square to the puck. 

Adrian Dater (l), Peter Budaj

As one commenter put it, "That wasn't passive-aggressive at all, was it?" Dater's insistence that he does not have a bias against Budaj gets more and more comical with each passing day, because each day contains comments like this.

Dater's assessment of Budaj's play isn't even accurate. Budaj is anything but a "flopper." He is, ironically, exactly what Dater claims to admire in a goalie... fundamentally sound and square to the puck. Budaj's problem is that he's not a super-quick, reaction goalie... he relies on that positioning, but the team in front of him doesn't cover anybody, making it very difficult to anticipate the next shot.  Budaj also still has the occasional night where he kicks more rebounds right out to opposing shooters than you'd like to see... but again, a lot of that could be remediated if there was an Avs player covering said shooter, which there hardly ever is. In extra bonus irony, if Budaj were a "flopper," he'd probably look a bit better on this particular team... but Dater doesn't get that, because he doesn't really understand the position.

Dater then moves on to compliment Johnson's game, but not without throwing in another gripe about the trade that brought him here. He then compliments a guy he's had nothing good to say about this season, Matt Hunwick. It's good to see Dater finally come around to what savvy Avs fans have known for a while, namely, that Hunwick has been playing pretty good hockey over the last couple months (relatively speaking, of course). Yes, he had trouble adjusting to the Avs defensive "system" (such as it is) his first dozen games or so, but he's been a good player since then... but that hasn't stopped Dater (among others) from continuing to harp on him unfairly. Better late than never, AD.

Dater finishes with some random comments about Stoa, Jones, and the goaltending situation for next year, suggesting the Avs take a run at Vokoun. I think that's a terrible idea... while I believe that Vokoun is one of the NHL's elite goalies, he is a terrible fit for this Avalanche team. He is a very, very good positional goalie... but this defensive team requires a goalie to be in two or three positions at once (see above comments on Budaj). Voukoun would definitely be an upgrade, no doubt about it... but to assume that goaltending is what needs fixing on this team is to not understand this team.

Dater does indicate in his closing sentence that Voukoun will likely have many offers from better teams than the Avs, and why would he come here? That is a great question... I don't think he will, and neither does AD, apparently.

A decent blog entry tainted by some lack of objectivity on Thornton's goal and yet another example of Dater's inability to treat Budaj fairly, or even to just leave him alone when he had nothing to do with the game in question.

C+

Avs Mailbag

http://www.denverpost.com/avsmailbag/ci_17522456

In this installment of Dater's Mailbag, he half-answers another six questions with varying results. Each question gets its own individual grade... that's the sort of attention to detail you get here at GradingDater.

The first question is about whether the Avs have been too quick to give up on prospects. The questioner compares the Avs to the Red Wings, who seem to have a never-ending stream of talent coming up from their minor affiliates.

Dater takes a very weak jab at this question, giving one example (Stewart/Shattenkirk) of players the Avs may have traded too soon, but there isn't really an answer here anywhere. He then goes completely off-track to discuss Detroit, for some reason, explaining that they have "defensive problems" and "all those old guys up front." They are both odd criticisms, especially considering they've had injuries at defense but still have the probable Norris winner (again), and that their average age at forward is about 30. And at any rate, pointing out perceived weaknesses on the Red Wings really doesn't address the question about the Avalanche by any stretch of the imagination.

Overall, this was a good question that Dater essentially dodged in order to score cheap points from the Hate-Detroit crowd.
D+

The next question is about Peter Stastny's comments that the Stewart/Johnson trade "destroyed the team." Dater starts with Stastny, but then goes off on a wandering answer about how it may have been a terrible trade, but then again, it may not have. Dater basically waffles here. It's not an answer, but at least it's balanced.
C

The next question is one that I'm sure made Dater wince, as it is about Forsberg. It's a good question and one that needs to be asked: did Forsberg's ill-fated comeback create a distraction to the team?

Dater could have really provided a provocative answer here, but because it's Forsberg, he completely pusses out. He concedes that there may have been a teeny bit of distraction, but claims that

"I don't think you can ever say it was a bad thing to have Peter Forsberg around on your team."

Well, why the hell not? All the evidence you need is right there... they were playing decent hockey at the time he announced he was attempting to come back... and from that day to the day he retired, they won one game, and they're still reeling. Is it the only reason they've been losing? Of course not... the loss of Fleishmann was huge, Stewart and Duchene disappeared, Anderson seemed to pack it in... but to suggest that Forsberg wasn't a distraction is flat-out ridiculous.

Dater completely screwed up this answer, because there's no way Forsberg wasn't a distraction to this team. It was a circus that Dater helped to create... how's that not a distraction?  Terrible, terrible answer to a question that really deserved more thought... but I guess Dater doesn't have to worry about Peter asking for his half of their "BFF" necklace back.
F

The next question is about why the Avs do not have a full-time goalie coach, and if it affected the team's goaltending this season. Dater answers that the Avs had Kirk Mclean as a part-time goalie coach... which is really just re-stating the question. Unfortunately, he pretty much leaves it at that. He doesn't answer the question at all... he spends as much time claiming he doesn't have a mancrush on Kyle Cumiskey as he does not answering the question.
D-

The next question asks about the Avalanche's "rash of injuries," and whether their style of play or lack of size has anything to do with it. Another good question... often, Dater picks a few creampuff questions that he can answer easily and look smart in doing so, but the questions this week were actually pretty good. Unfortunately, Dater doesn't put much effort into any of his answers, and that carries through to this one.

Dater's answer is, basically, "size doesn't matter, if it did would Liles be able to play every game?" A guy asks a question about three or four years' worth of injuries, and Dater uses one player, in one season, to support his answer. AD would have been picked apart in debate class in high school.

Marc in Dallas, if you want an actual answer to this question, try mine: Yes, the Avs' lack of size and style of play has likely added to their injury situation somewhat over the last few years. Sure, they've had perhaps more than their share of "freak" injuries (snowblower accidents, pulmonary embolisms), but they've also had plenty of garden-variety hockey injuries, too. They've decided on a team philosophy based on speed and fast-paced play, and so they've built their roster with speedy, often smallish guys to match that style. As a result, they have a bunch of small guys playing a fast style through the neutral zone and then going into the corners against bigger defensemen. The rest of the NHL knows that the way to beat a team like that is to hit them. A lot. When you're skating fast and taking a lot of hits from generally bigger players, you get a lot of injuries.

Dater closes this half-assed attempt by throwing out an "injuries are weird, everybody gets them and the Avs just have got a few more than normal" answer. As I said, this was another good question, but Dater takes the easy way out, demonstrating once again that the mailbag is a great place to get an answer to "Whatever happened to Howler" or "What is Erick Johnson's nickname" type questions, but a lousy place to get a thoughtful and informed answer to a good hockey question.
D+

The last question is regarding Ryan O'Byrne's fairly horrific injury about a week ago, when a skate came up and sliced open the left side of his face. The questioner asks, "why did the refs not blow the whistle?" Dater answers by chiding the ref crew, calling them "idiotic," for failing to blow the whistle, but I'm not so sure the blame is that easy to place.

I don't think anybody, including O'Byrne, realized the extent of that injury. In fact, O'Byrne finished his shift... rarely, if ever, do the refs stop play for a guy who is still skating. Had O'Byrne fallen to the ice grasping at his cheek, I have no doubt that the refs would have blown the whistle right away. But realistically, in a situation like that, the ref has to go by what the player is telling him, and by skating back to the slot and finishing his shift, O'Byrne was telling them that he wasn't that bad.

Now, obviously it was a bad injury after all, but that's hindsight. I think Dater is off-base here in his criticism of the refs that night... but, after being critical of his inability to answer any other question with any sort of authority, I'll give him credit on this one, at least, for picking an answer and sticking to it.
C+

Avs/Sharks recap

http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche/ci_17516621

This is a fairly good recap of the Avs 2-1 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks. Dater wisely avoids any attempt at a clever intro, and gives a good and direct overview of the game.

I have one criticism, however: when a player as talented as Joe Thornton tips a pass into the net, I have a really hard time believing it was a "most fortunate" deflection. Sure, Elliot is going to call it a lucky bounce, but I have little doubt that Thornton knew exactly what he was doing. It was a nice play by a veteran guy.

Now, if Dater had interviewed Thornton, and he'd said "yeah, we got lucky there," then OK. But this is just Dater thinking it was pure luck, and I don't buy it.

Dater had this to say about the Avalanche defensively:

For the first time in a long time, the Avs weren't all spaced out from each other defensively. Too many times in this losing funk, there were wide-open spaces for skaters to make decisions with the puck, especially coming into their zone across the blue line.

Every time Dater writes something so perfectly cromulent about the way the game is played, I have to wonder if he overheard it from the next reporter over, or somebody in the bathroom, or something. I have a hard time believing that this is truly Dater's own observation, because it reveals an understanding of the way the game is played that is almost completely absent from his coverage. So when it shows up, it stands out, and I just find it hard to believe he didn't just grab somebody else's thought and call it his own.

A-

All Things Avs blog: Liles stays, yipeee! Dater knew it all along, of course...

http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2011/02/28/trade-deadline-day-2011-forget-it/6615/

This recap of the trade deadline -- in which the Avs did nothing interesting, all their big trades occurring earlier in the year -- starts off with Dater attempting to tell us that he "didn't trust his instincts enough [to] report what he really thought," namely, that Liles would not be traded... despite this on his twitter account:

If I had to bet on Liles being traded, I'd say 80-20 yes. We'll see

That doesn't sound like a guy who's unsure of his instincts. Dater just can't stand to be wrong... you think he'd be used to it by now. But it would be nice to see him just admit he was wrong, rather than trying the "I know what I reported was wrong, but what I thought was going to happen was actually right!" nonsense. He tries so hard to show that he knows a lot about hockey, it's just pitiful sometimes. This is one of those times.

At least he pokes a bit of fun at himself by sending that weakness to "the judges," who treated it more kindly than I would have.


Dater moves on to suggest that Liles will be captain of the Avalanche. I can only assume that when it ends up being Duchene, Dater will then write that he knew it would be Duchene all along, but because he had temporarily been taken over by some sort of brain slug, he accidentally reported that it would be Liles.

As far as I know, Liles has never worn the "A" other than for one- or two-game stints. The team's full-time alternates are Hejduk and Stastny, and I haven't heard of too many veterans getting appointed captain unless they've worn the "A" for a while. I don't really see Hejduk as a captain, and so the smart money is on Stastny. However, I think the Avs will try the "name the exciting young star captain" thing, as many teams have done recently, and go with Duchene.


Of course, "smart money" is also quite often on the exact opposite of whatever Dater says, so I wouldn't put much money on Liles as the next Avs captain if I were you. Just doesn't make a lot of sense, except in the mancrush world in which Dater spends much of his time, where all sorts of ridiculous things apparently make perfect sense.


Dater continues with a bunch of little travel stories. Honestly, these don't really bug me all that much. I know it's an Avs blog, but hearing what the guy's up to as he covers the team isn't bad, and sometimes it's even entertaining. I have to wonder, though, about the hotels the Post is putting the guy up in... no wireless? You'd think that by now, the Post would know what hotel to send their reporters to give them the tools to do their job. 


Dater's silly attempts to backtrack on his Liles prediction just come across as desperate attempt to hide the fact that he doesn't know everything about the NHL, Don't worry, AD... that secret's been out for a while. Nobody's going to hold it against you.


C+

All Things Avs blog: things get uncomfortable

http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2011/02/27/postgame-avs-ducks-a-time-for-reflection/6603/

Not really sure where to go with this blog entry. In it, AD starts with a personal story (which in itself is not so unusual) that gets very personal, divulging to his audience some severe depression and suicidal thoughts he went through a number of years ago. It's tough to criticize a person for opening up like this, but then again, I question its appropriateness in a blog that's supposed to be about the Avalanche. I really don't mind some personality coming through in a blog, but this is such a personal story that it threatens to (and ultimately, does) overwhelm the subject. As I've said before, it's "All Things Avs," not "Some Things Avs, and Some Things Adrian."

I did really like the bit about Keith Jones noticing something was up that night and talking to AD about it... I think it's a good insight into the relationship an athlete and a reporter can have, and I enjoyed both that section and the idea AD was going for with it. But, if that's the sort of thing AD wanted to relay, it could have been done while still keeping that story as the focus, rather than the focus turning towards Dater himself.

Things really take a turn for the worse, however, when Dater tries to relate his feeling depressed and suicidal in the Avs' locker room to how Lilies might feel at the possibility of being traded. Really? A guy considering ending it all is in the same ballpark as a guy who might get traded within the next couple days? That's really a stretch, and frankly, I worry it's a bit insulting to those who have suffered true depression. If Dater hoped there would be any weight to the initial, personal parts of the story, he really sabotages it here, essentially trivializing his own struggles by suggesting that Liles' emotions at maybe being traded are somehow similar. Unless it turns out that Lilies was suicidal about the possibility of leaving the Avs, this ends up being really rather far off-key.

Things like this really make me question Dater's ability as a writer... when writing something like this, there should be a common thread that runs throughout it, from beginning to end. Dater tries to find one, but the thing he settles on ends up kind of wrecking the feel for both his personal story and what he was trying to say about Liles. So while I am glad to hear that AD's apparently worked through his issues, I do think that he could have done better with this entry.

The remainder is fairly standard, "will he or won't he be traded" stuff, primarily about Liles. Nothing new, nothing informative, but I guess it's OK. He closes with a very oddly-worded phrase

"You’ll all have a better memory in that room some night."

Again, while I can figure out what he was probably trying to say here, it's written so oddly that I find myself shaking my head in confusion rather than nodding it in agreement.

Overall, I give props to Dater on this one, actually. He made an attempt to do what I think should be done with a blog like this: to combine his personal thoughts about the Avs with some insider information and present it to the reader. If he can find a better balance between those "personal" and "insider" sides and create a more cohesive, flowing story, I think he'd have been on to something. The result was spotty at best, but I feel the effort deserves some recognition, so this entry gets a

B-