Game Day: Colorado Avalanche

The Avs have been one of the biggest surprises this season. We'll get to see a big piece of the reason why as Craig Anderson is expected to start in net against Moose. The Avs also have great veteran leadership from Adam Foote on the blueline and a group of forwards that looks very similar to the one on the Thrashers' roster. Hejduk, Stastny, Duschene, etc. Should be a good test for Atlanta's solid defense as well as the new team oriented offense.

Today's In Praise Of: The Falconer's efforts putting together a "Grade Your GM" worksheet for the past two years.

Approach it however you want. Obviously if you're only looking at the transactions for the last two years, moves in which DW got rid of dead weight look good, but you have to keep in mind that he brought that dead weight into the organization in the first place. That being said, the moves are overwhelmingly good over the past two years. Too little, too late? Maybe.

We all bristle when we hear the GM say that "we've got a good core of young talent" after trading away Kovy. However, the statement does have a lot of truth to it. If you look at the guys who are poised to be leading this team two or three years down the road, the future looks pretty bright.

Kane
Bergfors
Little
Cormier
Morin
Crabb
Machacek
Klingberg
Leveille
O'Dell

Bogosian
Enstrom
Postma
Kulda
Vishnevskiy

Pavelec
McIntyre

Add two more first round picks for this year and it's a pretty darn impressive stable of talent. Now we just need to hold on to them all, develop them responsibly, and add veterans through free agency and waiver pick ups.