Hockey Gil is back! With the Colorado Avalanche a little over a week away from their season opener Ryan Murphy from milehighhockey.com joined Whiteley to discuss the 2015-16 Avs campaign.
Colorado’s defensive struggles last season are well documented; chief among them was the discrepancy in shots on goal. Throughout the season the Avalanche had trouble clearing the puck from their own zone and limiting second chance opportunities. Joe Sakic spent the offseason addressing the defensive issues.
“The Avalanche have taken multiple steps in order to do that (upgrading their defense). Beauchemin was their first step, trading Ryan O’Reilly for young a Buffalo Sabres defensemen Nikita Zadorov is another step they’ve taken. He’s top talent defensemen that they hope is going to turn out to be a number one or number two guy for the team,” said Murphy.
Even with their upgrades and additions Murphy still thinks that Avalanche are a fringe playoff team. Listen to the full interview below.
Catch Gil Whiteley from 11p to 1p on Mile High Sports Radio AM 1340.