Avalanche Trade Brad Richardson

I have to run get my precious locks cut but I spotted on Jori's blog that the Avalanche traded Brad Richardson to LA for the 61st pick.

We all saw the writing on the wall for Richardson and I'm actually glad to see him go to LA. He was never able to find a permanent home here but I think he'll do well with the Kings squad.

Jori's also been keeping tabs on the draft which resumed today at 9 am EST time. Otherwise known as "before I wake up on Saturday"

Richardson Reassigned...Again

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, the Avalanche announced that Brad Richardson has been sent back down to Lake Erie.

And unfortunately it's not for a conditioning assignment or it would have been mentioned in the news release. So I guess he was sent down for underperforming.

It makes perfect sense too. The team is currently short on forwards so they send down a center and call up a defenseman.

I suppose since Arnason is about to come back it makes a forward expendable but what about T.J. Hensick? Or am I the only one unimpressed with Hensick's time with the big boys?

The Hits Just Keep Coming

And so does the misinformation. Brad Richardson has been placed on the IR and good ol' Davey Jones has been called up to fill a roster spot. Richardson is on the IR due to a "minor" shoulder injury suffered against Nashville on December 13th. It's caused him to sit out the last 3 games while he was "evaluated."

They're really trying to downplay this one as the official announcement starts off talking about Jones, then lists all the call-ups the team has had then pulls out this at the end: "In related move, the Avalanche placed forward Brad Richardson on injured reserve with a shoulder injury."

This is injury #6 for the Avalanche at the moment. They currently have the following players out:
Joe Sakic - groin, day-to-day
Ryan Smyth - neck, day-to-day
Jordan Leopold - thigh, day-to-day
Tyler Arnason - wrist, IR
Brad Richardson - shoulder, IR
Kurt Sauer - neck, IR

Joe Sakic recently tested his groin on the ice but quickly nixed that idea and continues to sit out and let it heal. He has no pain walking but you don't use your groin much while walking. Unless you're doing it wrong.

Skating really puts a strain on those muscles so it's best to let them fully heal. It would be nice if they'd stop jerking us around though. He's fine, he's not, he's gonna skate, he didn't. Yeesh.

Ryan Smyth woke up with a sore neck on Wednesday and the team isn't sure what the problem is. Team doctors are going to check him out to rule out anything serious like a herniated disc. Everyone better hope that isn't the case or he could be out for the rest of the season.

Jordan Leopold, while extremely lucky to be an NHL hockey player, has been extremely unlucky with injuries. The latest one is a cut suffered during practice after coming back from a broken wrist.

I mean, you seriously can't make that stuff up. He played one game with the injury but the cut opened up and they decided to let it fully heal. Don't take this man to Vegas folks.

Tyler Arnason had successful wrist surgery and should be out 4-6 weeks. It's unfortunate that he had to have surgery although it did give my wish of having him sit a game or two to see if that would spark his interest in hockey again.

Brad Richardson is an unknown really. The team calls it a minor shoulder injury but it'll keep him out long enough to warrant going on the IR. The claim is 7-10 days and he'll be back but I don't really trust them on injury news at the moment.

Kurt Sauer was supposed to have a neck injury and it turned out to be a concussion. I could understand this one as an error as opposed to misinformation. Well, if a concussion would ever cause neck problems I suppose. They cause head problems and just because the head is connected to the neck, it don't make them the same.

Out of those six, I count 3 where there hasn't been flip-flopping or un-truthiness. We'll see what happens with the Smyth injury though. That's the one I'm not concerned about at the moment.

This is a tough period for the Avalanche as they're starting to ice a team of Monsters. However it would be nice to get straight up information on the injuries. The playoffs don't start for a few months yet.

Avalanche Injury News - Dec 15

Not sure how I missed that while checking the online papers this morning but Dater has a comprehensive injury update in his All Things Avs blog.

Of all the news, Sauer and Richardson are likely the worst. Sauer has concussion symptoms, not just a neck injury as previously reported, and Brad Richardson could have a serious shoulder injury.

Tyler Arnason has a possible broken wrist which was being evaluated last night. We should hear more from the announcers during the game.

Joe Sakic did not skate this week and I'm starting to get a little tired of the team downplaying his injury. If he's hurt, just say he's hurt and don't sugarcoat it. I guess they could be doing a worse job with injury disclosure though.

Wyatt Smith Put on Waivers

TSN is reporting that Wyatt Smith has been placed on waivers today. The reason for Richardson being demoted and recalled within couple days is now clear. They meant to put Smith on waivers but someone clicked on the wrong player name. It happens. By the time FG noticed the error, Richo was already on a plane to Cleveland so he figured he'd give him some time there to work on his game while resubmitting the waiver form for Wyatt Smith.

But seriously, this is likely what should have happened in the first place. Not that Wyatt Smith was a terrible fourth-liner by any means but Laperriere is coming back soon and I'd rather see McCormick and Guite stay in as the grinders than Wyatt Smith.

Smith's PK time dwindled over the last couple games as Guite/Richardson/Stastny/Hejduk carried the load and his overall ice-time started going downhill as well. He had a game low 6:34 against the Sharks last night which made me go "Hmm..." but I didn't want to jump the gun and claim shenanigans.

If no team claims him, he'll be off to Lake Erie which is where I expected him to start the year. Who knew Richardson would get injured and then toyed with like a yo-yo before making the roster full time?

And on a side note, the term "Wyatt Smith" is the most common player name popping up in the keyword stats for this site. Bizarre.

Gameday: Avalanche vs San Jose

The Avalanche continue their bouts against Pacific division opponents as they face off against the Sharks at the Pepsi Center tonight. Thanks to a 5-2 win against the Kings on Saturday, the Avalanche are now 3-2 against the Pacific division.

The last game was a solid, energetic, bang-em-up game and I'm looking forward to the same thing tonight. There's nothing quite like a game where, for stretches at at time, players forget that the goal is to put the puck in the net and concentrate on dishing out bodychecks.

On Friday night, the Sharks won on the physicality end but not by much. The Avalanche dished it out in return and, while often still on the losing end of those hits, showed they have some fire down in their bellies.

They're going to need that fire tonight as Joe Sakic (groin) is possibly out of the lineup again along with Andrew Brunette (flu) being questionable and Ian Laperriere (knee) still recovering. So in case you're keeping track, that is the captain and both assistant captains possibly out of the lineup.

The Avalanche have recalled Brad Richardson from Lake Erie to fill up the roster in case Sakic and Brunette sit out tonight. If one of those two still plays, I hope they don't make McCormick the healthy scratch. He tosses his body around well and needs to be used against the Sharks on the presumption that they'll come out and play like they did Saturday.

Kurt Sauer is on the injured reserve now, joining Jordan Leopold, so there won't be any scratches on D tonight. I'm thinking (hoping?) Finger gets moved up and paired with Clark but Q might fall back on the comfortable Clark-Skrastins pairing.

It should be a fun game and I am definitely not forgetting to record this one if I can't watch it live. And what would be a reason I couldn't watch it live you ask? World War III breaking out or spontaneous dental hydroplosion. Anything short of that and I'm watching the game.

Related Links
ColoradoAvalanche.com Preview
TSN Preview
Hensick Earns a Souvenir

Hensick Up, Richardson Down

The Colorado Avalanche have recalled T.J. Hensick from Lake Erie. The Lake Erie Monsters are having a horrendous season - as can be expected from a new franchise - but Hensick has led them in scoring with 13 points in 18 games.

"But who's roster spot will he take up?", you might ask. To that I answer "Didn't you read the headline?" Yes, Brad Richardson is headed down to Lake Erie in a move that makes me go "Huh?"

I mean, I know last game Richardson was toiling down on the 4th line due to lack of space in the other 3 lines, but just a game before that he was skating with Sakic on line numero uno. And he's been prevalent and proficient on the penalty kill as well.

In related news, Sakic left yesterday's game with a minor groin pull. Oh, now I'm putting it together.

Sakic's "minor" groin pull may be a bit more "major" than "minor" so they called up another center. And of course with Lappy nearing a return from a tweaked knee, somebody had to go back down for him.

But why Richardson and not McCormick? In fact, why send anybody down at all? There are two healthy forward scratches per game typically comprimised of Scott Parker and the latest loser of the "toss the dart at the fourth-liner" game.

Wild Beat up Avalanche 4-1

D'oh! This has been a brutal roadtrip so far. However, you could make an argument that it's getting better. 6-1. 4-1. Next game may end up 2-1. Then it's shutout time!

Unfortunately, the next couple games are against the fiery Flames and the cocky Canucks. So some important divisional points are at stake.

First Period
It wasn't looking too bad in the first. There was some end-to-end rushes by both teams and it looked like it might be an exciting game.

Wyatt Smith took a hooking penalty and the team killed it off even though the Wild had some good puck movement going. Budaj chipped in with a couple nice saves.

At this point, the tables started to tilt a bit. After some initial open-ended play, the Wild tightened up a bit on defense but kept their offense going. Through the first half of the period, shots were 8-3 for the Wild.

A Liles miscue deep in the defensive zone led to a great chance for Stephane Veilleux but Budaj made a supreme toe save. Actually, it might have been his skate blade that caught the puck a bit to keep it out. Great flexibility and reach shown by Budaj there.

With just under 5 minutes left, the Wild were able to crack through. Matt Foy (who?) tried a wraparound and in the ensuing scrum, Aaron Voras (wha?) corralled the loose puck and put it in the back of the net. Scramble plays in front of your goaltender are tough ones but it would have been nice to not see a Wild player wide open at the side of the net.

Shortly after this play, the crossbar denied Belanger off of a nice feed from Gaborik. The first line then put some pressure on the Wild leading to a late powerplay. With Harding slashing Smyth in front, the Avs got a great chance on their own scramble in front but Belanger was able to clear it.

Second Period
The Avs start with 46 seconds left on their powerplay but don't get anything done against Harding and the Wild.

Hannan put in a weird pinch outside of the Wild offensive zone and he had no legs to get back. So it was a Wild 2-on-1 but again Budaj came up big against Belanger. Where's my bottle of Tums?

The aforementioned Matt Foy then broke very wide down the left side, fired off an average speed wrister which somehow eluded Budaj. That's one Budaj would like back as he appeared to be trying to punch it to the corner but mis-timed it.

The Avalanche then got their second powerplay of the night. The PP unit looked decent but not deadly. They had another in tight chance but Harding was up to the task.

Tyler Arnason had a great breakaway opportunity and made a nice move. Unfortunately Harding made a nicer save. Even more unfortunate, the puck was fired down the ice to Stephane Veilleux who found himself uncontested as the Avs looked a bit sluggish on a line change. He made no mistake and buried it shortside on Budaj who may have been distracted by Marian Gaborik streaking down the wing.

And 42 seconds later the Avalanche get back into the game with a flukey goal. Milan Hejduk was circling the net and then tossed a backhand across the crease. Harding went down at just the right moment for it to go under his right pad, then bounce off his left pad and in. Could the Avs be poised for a comeback?

No. Brian Rolston took control of the puck down low, Tyler Arnason lazily poked at the puck, then Rolston fed a pinching Brent Burns for a very nice goal. That made the game 4-1 going into the third and the writing was writ on the wall.

Third Period
About 5 minutes in to the third I realized that this game was available in HD so I switched over. The Avs looked even worse in HD. So did their powerplay which failed to convert on a Dominic Moore hooking call.

As the Riders had just finished putting a beatdown on the B.C. Lions, I wasn't paying much attention to the game. Not that it mattered as it was well out of reach.

The Avalanche and Wild then traded powerplay opportunities but there were no more goals to be had.

Odds and Ends
- Richardson was in on the 3rd line and played very well
- Budaj looked very sharp aside from the 2nd goal
- Josh Harding is a hell of a "backup" goaltender
- Wolski had a shift on the PK during the third period
- the Avs again took just 2 penalties on the night
- Arnason tripped and fell at the very end of the game which seemed an appropriate ending

Stats
Hannan and Clark were the ice time leaders with 22:33 and 22:03 respectively. Wyatt Smith only saw 5:41 including zero minutes on the PK as Richardson took his spot in that department. He's looking to be the odd man out once Lappy is back.

Tyler Arnason got off 7 shots tonight. Sakic had 4 and Hejduk had 3. And they had a grand total of 1 goal between them. Wolski had no shots tonight but had 3 attempts blocked.

The Avalanche registered 14 hits tonight which isn't bad at all. Finger, Svatos and Smyth each had 2.

The team went above 50% on faceoffs (55%), again proving that faceoff wins don't always correlate to points in the standings.

Final Note
The RoughRiders are off to the Grey Cup against the Blue Bombers who just lost Kevin Glenn to a broken arm. In other words, the Grey Cup is coming back to Saskatchewan next week! The Grey Cup will be broadcast on Altitude so all you Denver area folks, be sure to check it out.

Related Links
ColoradoAvalanche.com Recap
In the Cheap Seats Recap

Richardson Back with the Big Boys

Well, I think most people expected this one as soon as Laperriere went down with an injury. In his place will be Brad Richardson who the Avalanche called up today. I bet he's hoping he doesn't have to fill Laperriere's role as the Avalanche's pitbull/chihuahua cross.

Richardson's call up was delayed until today as the Avalanche had a 4-game layoff since their last game. So he's up just in time for the 4-game road trip the Avalanche are kicking off tonight in Dallas. Although he's been down in Lake Erie, it is still his first game back so expect a mistake or two to be made as he gets his NHL legs under him.

I'm thankful there was a long lay-off as I was still trying to kick whatever bizarre bug was beating the crap out of me for the last few weeks. I think I have the upper hand on it now though it caused me to put a hold on a few posts I was going to use to fill the void over the last few days. So stay tuned the next time there's a chance to breathe between Avalanche games!