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DENVER — They’re the youngest team in the league, they dress about five rookies a night and they started the year with a pair of 18-year-old centres.
They should be brutal.
Oilers brutal.
But the Colorado Avalanche are making it work.
They were picked by just about everyone to finish dead last in the West, but here they are, ideally positioned near the bottom of the NHL’s pay scale and the top of the standings - making the absolute most out of $52 million and a whole bunch of kids,
The Avs had an amazing 31 goals and 54 assists from their rookies heading into Monday's game against the Oilers. Before the game was 20 minutes old Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist to move ahead of John Tavares for the rookie scoring lead. Teammates Ryan O’Reilly and TJ Galiardi are also in the top 10 and defenceman Ryan Wilson has become a feared hitter in the league already.
The Avs have always drafted well, but the latest crop has sped up the rebuilding project by years.
And they’ve having fun doing it.
“We’re all going through the same things,” said Duchene, who went third overall in the 2009 draft. “So we can run stuff by each other, talk things over. It’s good to have guys like that to share the same experiences with.”
It helps that they’ve all been able to step right in.
“I knew I could play at this level, I had all the confidence in the world in that,” said Duchene, who just turned 19. When I went through that slump at the beginning of the year I kind of started wondering how things were going to go, but I came out of it pretty quick and things have turned out for me. It’s going really well.”
For all of them.
“I thought I was going to be back in junior,” said O’Reilly, who had the door open for him when Joe Sakic retired. “I told myself I’m coming to camp to make the team, but to have it actually happen... I couldn’t believe it after that first game. Even after the first 20 games I was like ‘Am I actually playing in the NHL right now?’ I never would have thought.”
They credit the Colorado veterans with helping them come in and feel at home, literally. Duchene lives with Adam Foote and O’Reilly moved in with Darcy Tucker.
On the ice, in the room and back at the house, the kids are made to feel equal and important.
“The reason we’ve had some success is because of the older guys, the leadership from them,” said O’Reilly. “They brought us together, they’ve taught us things, they keep us going.
“They just try and teach you as much as they can, they’re very unselfish guys who are just trying to make us better. A guy like Tucker taking me in and Foote taking Dutchie in, that just shows what kind of guys they are how they want the team to be successful. To have these guys to watch and talk to about anything, because they’ve been through just about everything,
“This is a great team to be a part of,”
ROBERT.TYCHKOWKSI@SUNMEDIA.CA