Denver Post hockey writer Adrian Dater posts his Avs Mailbag on Thursdays during the NHL season.
Pose an Avalanche- or NHL-related question for the Avs Mailbag.
Adrian, over the summer, Peter Forsberg and Rob Blake were elected to the Hall of Fame. What does this mean for the Avs? Also, What are your favorite memories of those two over the years?
— Taylor, Englewood
It’s nothing but a compliment to an organization when players make it to the Hall of Fame, obviously. We never quite realized it when the Avs first came to Denver, but we were all blessed by seeing some of the best hockey players of all time on a regular basis.
Forsberg and Blake both deserve it, and I will be there in Toronto to cover their inductions.
My favorite memories of Forsberg are kind of eclectic. I remember little things a lot, especially from the early years of not only the team’s existence here, but my career covering hockey. I remember sitting with Forsberg in the stands of the old Ottawa Civic Center, for instance, early in the Avs’ first season, 1995. It was my first time to actually sit down and look him in the eye and talk with him, and it was great. His English was a lot worse back then though. He peppered his sentences with “eh?” all the time, probably a leftover from playing in Quebec the year before. He knew he was a real good player, but he was basically like me and a lot of people connected to the Avs franchise: basically, we were all starting out together, so there was a different kind of bond between everyone, more than any other team I’ve covered since.
I remember, in the first two years covering the Avs, watching scouts from other teams shake their heads at each other like “Did you just see that?” after watching Forsberg. I haven’t seen that much since either. I remember Forsberg walking up to me and saying “Welcome to Sweden” not long after I arrived, along with my wife, at the Globen Hotel in Stockholm just prior to Avs training camp, on Sept. 9, 2001. Two days later, the whole world changed. A couple days after that, Forsberg took a leave of absence from the team because of his foot injuries. Talk about a most unpleasant change of events.
I also remember being frustrated by Forsberg, several times. Let’s just say he was a very difficult person to get on the phone or get almost any information about — and there were always big stories about him. Whether it was his brilliant play, his contracts, his injuries or anything about his private life, Foppa always kept us reporters hustling. I remember the night he had to be rushed to the hospital after his spleen burst, in 2001, and being told be a doctor how easily he could have died had he not gotten care so fast. I remember when he came back to the Avs in 2011 — just three years ago — and how unbelievable that all seemed to me and everyone else. The comeback didn’t last long.
He had the best agent in the world for keeping his life private. His name was Don Baizley, also the agent for Joe Sakic and many others, and he never ever gave up a secret, even to my most wily of reporter tricks. Baizley passed away a couple years ago, a real loss to the hockey world.
The bottom line though: he’s a great guy and the best player I ever saw in his prime. He was just unreal to watch.
Rob Blake? A terrific guy, terrific player. He was the most gentlemanly player ever off the ice, and the most terrifying on the ice. His open-ice hits genuinely made people flinch in the press box, and imagine it felt to the people on the ice.
He was a big, blond guy who just seemed to do everything easy, whether it was on the ice or off.
I remember him getting up out of his table, with family and friends, to come over and say hi to me and my wife at a breakfast spot in Aurora not long after the Avs won the Cup in 2001. It should have been me doing that, but it was him. That was Rob Blake.
Hilary Knight, a two time Olympian, practiced with the Anaheim Ducks. I feel this should have been bigger news. Do you agree? Also what is the possibility of Knight playing in an NHL exhibition game?
— Jeff, Aurora
It would be awesome to see a woman play in an NHL game, on pure merit. Some day hopefully. …
Adrian, I saw your story on the Avs playing the Kings at the World Arena in Colorado Springs. The Olympic-size rink is a lot bigger then what players see in the NHL. Do you think the NHL should look at making their rinks bigger, or do you like the smaller rinks and faster play of the NHL?
— Blake, Highlands Ranch
Good question, but I think I prefer the NHL rink size as it is. People love to rhapsodize about the play in the Olympics on the big ice sheets, but I submit: the reason you love Olympic hockey more than your typical NHL game is because of the quality of players involved, not the size of the rink. Put a bunch of average players on the big ice, and you’ll get bored in new ways you didn’t know about. First off, the scoring chances aren’t as frequent. More geography means more space to travel for puck handlers, who are human and get tired after 30 seconds of a shift and can’t do much when the time is up.
What is your take on the seemingly excessive focus on new stats like CORSI these days? Publications like the Hockey News seem to go out of their way to call the Avs’ 52 wins last season “lucky” because of their low CORSI score and have condemned the team to doom and gloom this season because of it.
— Jeremy, Denver
Another good question. I’m slightly on the side of the new analytics. I think more information is always a good thing, and I like some of the new ways of quantifying the game. That said, it can make for some awfully boring reading.
Sports writers who do nothing but tout analytics all throughout their stories miss the “story” part of their job. I still would rather read something about a player’s real life as a human being playing the game, instead of feeling like I have to have an advanced degree in math for every article.
A lot of advanced stats stuff, in hockey I think anyway, is quantifying stuff we already knew. Like, “teams that have the puck a lot usually win.” “Teams that outshoot teams usually win more.” But there are other things that I have found illuminating, like the instances of scoring opportunities for teams that carry the puck over the blue line instead of chipping it in and forechecking to get it back.
Two questions 1) Is there a chance of seeing Michael Schumacher back this season? 2) Have you heard anything about the Cuthroats coach and GM talking to Avalanche about possible affiliate next year?
— Dan Rutter, Brighton
1. You never know and 2, I do think there will be a return of the Cutthroats in some form next year. Stay tuned.
Can you remind me why Howler was removed as the Avs mascot? The yeti/sasquatch was so much more original than a St. Bernard (and explains the shoulder patch). I seem to recall hearing about some disturbance, but don’t know the details. Any chance he comes back?
— Raphael Ramos, Milwaukee
Howler got into a fight with a fan in the parking lot of McNichols Arena. That is essentially the story of why the team retired his paws.
