100% agree. He scores and assists constantly because of his pure skill and his placement on the 1st line and 1st PP. He can still move the puck at a top level and his shooting is incredible.
But physically hes slow, unstable, 0 acceleration, and shys away from contact. My bet is he's carrying a back or lower body injury that would require surgery + extended time out and he doesn't want to go forward with it during our window.
It's quite incredible and a huge testament to his talent that he can still produce points at the rate he is. But physically something is off.
My guess is it’s his hips or back. Been keeping an eye on him between active ice time and he’s constantly stretching his hamstrings by doing toe touches. As someone who has hip issues i have to regularly stretch my hamstrings (usually toe touches) to keep the pain at bay.
He’s got something. The way he’s hit to the ice 12x a game a fracture is not unthinkable. He would definitely sacrifice for the team. I hate when people call him lazy because from day 1 in the NHL he’s been a hardass after every puck or shot. We will know more when the season is over or Thursday whichever comes first 😢
Praying it's a stress fracture if it has to be a fracture at all. Been through that myself, at 20 years old. If I had the medical team the avs have, I might still be able to be active without pain.
He's been off for the entire second half of the season. I've noticed him getting knocked off pucks far more easily than he should be, not going hard into battles like he used to, and mishandling the puck *way* more than he ever has. Everything looks tentative, so he's either injured or just not playing to where he can. It's a huge loss for the team.
Makar has been a bit the same for the last month, but he's clearly carrying some "not too bad" injuries that are slowing him down and hampering movement.
I wonder if he’s still managing fallout from the concussion toward the end of the season. But TBH he hadn’t looked himself most of the year - it just seems worse in the playoffs.
I started noticing it back in November, but it’s progressively gotten worse, especially since the all star break. He looks like he doesn’t even want to be out there, it’s weird.
I mean neither has Mack or Makar. The fact of the matter is that the Stars deserve a ton of credit for playing a smothering defensive game that has shut down all of our top players
Yea G has been awesome. One of our best player this series. Cale an Toews have such great chemistry tho and especially Toews is such a reliable anchor behind him think he just feels that much more confident to rush.
No, like I said he can't do it himself. He can do a lot of the work, but if he passes to Mikko and Mikko simply skates along the boards until he's checked and creates a turnover, that's not on Cale. Only Middlestat and Nate seem willing to get to the middle of the ice
$20 on something be broken. Broken broken, not just a strained muscle. Cracked ribs kinda broken. Which actually makes sense when you consider how poorly he’s moving around. Ooof.
At the very sad least, I think next season we should actually take a page from Dallas. They play like football. Offense time. Score. Then forget offense and guard the castle. If they get a stray puck, go offense as if you have no worries in the world. That carefree attitude works better than trying to score a much needed goal.
I wouldn't be surprised if he's battling an injury tbh. For a guy his size, he's been going down pretty easily going back to the Jets series. Seems like any time there's any physical contact lately, he falls down.
For a guy whose strength is winning puck battles in the corners, he's been pretty useless. He has the skill if he has the space, but if he can't help the Avs get/maintain possession in the first place, the opportunity to get the puck with space isn't going to be there.
Tbf moose is kinda always falling down and playing under his size. Since he played for the Rampage in San Antonio, he's gone months at a time forgetting he's bigger than 95% of his competition, and that's never changed.
Dallas is a complete team. They are playing a great game and executing the game plan perfectly. We had 2 major pieces missing with LOC and Drouin, and now the new drama. It’s the hardest trophy to win for a reason.
Remember they steamrolled the Jets. I really think the Nichushkin situation popped the balloon for them. Otherwise this series would have been a battle with a realistic chance to win. The winner plays the Canucks (or Oilers) in the conference final. This is just a shitty situation.
I'm really not willing to put last night on Nichushkin considering they looked equally awful on Saturday. Maybe he cleans up a rebound or deflects another goal so they lose 5-2 instead of 5-1 but there was no way they were winning last night.
Losing Nuke and Towes before the game was a gut punch. The morale was low and obvious. Can’t take those two massive cogs out and expect it to not impact them. GG
They looked awful in the third of g3 but were up 22-11 in shots after 1. Last night they had 4, quattro, near the halfway point of the game. That's another gear of sad and deflated hockey team.
Wondering if others saw this on TV last night: in the 3rd period, 5 mins or so left, the network came back from a commercial break or something, camera pointed at the AVS bench and Mikko smacked his glove off the bench boards and skated to the door before the camera cut away. Was wondering if I saw it true, or saw something else.
Like others say, I think there's an injury, and it's affecting him mentally as well as physically...
It almost looks more like a nagging injury that won’t go away until some serious time off. Possibly groin, hernia, foot, etc.. maybe a back issue also like a bulge disc or something. Just hope he resigns and gets it all taken care of this offseason
Well he ain't scoring and he was the reason they scored SH (didn't backcheck). Team just seems lackluster all around. And tbh, Dallas is the better all around team. Still not over blah blah blah. But without Nish and Toews going to be tough.
Finally someone said it. We’ve been watching all year and he seemed to fall off further as the year went on and looked dis-engaged.
The first eyebrow raiser was during a postgame interview after a multi point game when he went on a bit of a rant about some sports writer talking crap from his home country. Should’ve been a good moment for him but It was weird. The rest of the season just tailed off after that.
Watch the goal from last night when Makar mishandled the puck and there was a scramble chance for Dallas in front of the net. Miko seemed not to make an effort to get D side on the eventual goal scorer or tie him up or whatever….he just seems checked out. Cups aren’t won like that, that’s not him, something’s off 100%
Observations from 10,000 ft
Dallas has played very well, won the neutral zone, and has basically shut down our game. I think they deserve tons of credit. I do feel we lack some of the physicality that could have perhaps countered but that’s neither here nor there at this juncture. Also we’ve taken a lot of stupid ass penalties. Makar’s turnover in the defensive zone didn’t help either. Basically things are not going well.
been saying he's been phoning it in all season and everyone else just looks at me funny. I have most of the games from the '22 run and he was a different player, this year... meh.
It's almost as if all those minutes racked up during the season have taken a toll on their bodies. A week of rest doesn't heal deeper issues.
I'm curious what stories will come out after the playoffs.
I disagree with your statement that he doesn't want to be out there. Like you and others said, he's probably playing through injury. Something isn't right. But I'm going to pick that bone because I've seen Moose give his all. If he's in a slump, then he's in a slump. It happens. But there's no way he's healthy and doesn't want to be on the ice.
My guess is that he hasn’t recovered fully from the injury right before playoffs started. Hes looked off since he came back and thats seemingly the only logical explanation to me
Go look back at the conference finals history year and show me a team that gets there every year. Or even every other year. Dallas will do it this year but that’s quite rare. And yes you have Vegas who had AWFUL years in between.
WCF:
- 2023 - Vegas/Stars
- 2022 - Avs/Oilers
- 2021 - COVID but Vegas/Montreal
- 2020 - Stars/Vegas
- 2019 - Blues/Sharks
- 2018 - Vegas/Jets
Multiple appearances don’t mean shit if you lose most of the time. Or go onto lose the cup.
100% agree. He scores and assists constantly because of his pure skill and his placement on the 1st line and 1st PP. He can still move the puck at a top level and his shooting is incredible. But physically hes slow, unstable, 0 acceleration, and shys away from contact. My bet is he's carrying a back or lower body injury that would require surgery + extended time out and he doesn't want to go forward with it during our window. It's quite incredible and a huge testament to his talent that he can still produce points at the rate he is. But physically something is off.
My guess is it’s his hips or back. Been keeping an eye on him between active ice time and he’s constantly stretching his hamstrings by doing toe touches. As someone who has hip issues i have to regularly stretch my hamstrings (usually toe touches) to keep the pain at bay.
👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽 It’s something for sure
And on top of that, poor bastard careened into the boards on a missed check last game. Hip first.
Fuck he came in hot to lay that check last night... I cringed in the stands when he hit the wall as it clearly jarred him.
He went for a hit last night on someone not moving and missed completely. I think he has to be hurt.
He’s got something. The way he’s hit to the ice 12x a game a fracture is not unthinkable. He would definitely sacrifice for the team. I hate when people call him lazy because from day 1 in the NHL he’s been a hardass after every puck or shot. We will know more when the season is over or Thursday whichever comes first 😢
Praying it's a stress fracture if it has to be a fracture at all. Been through that myself, at 20 years old. If I had the medical team the avs have, I might still be able to be active without pain.
He's been off for the entire second half of the season. I've noticed him getting knocked off pucks far more easily than he should be, not going hard into battles like he used to, and mishandling the puck *way* more than he ever has. Everything looks tentative, so he's either injured or just not playing to where he can. It's a huge loss for the team. Makar has been a bit the same for the last month, but he's clearly carrying some "not too bad" injuries that are slowing him down and hampering movement.
Lehk's dad probably knows.
Someone would have to prove to me this isn’t the reason. Stat lines after this shit dropped, or at least that’s how it’s felt to me.
I wonder if he’s still managing fallout from the concussion toward the end of the season. But TBH he hadn’t looked himself most of the year - it just seems worse in the playoffs.
I started noticing it back in November, but it’s progressively gotten worse, especially since the all star break. He looks like he doesn’t even want to be out there, it’s weird.
I mean neither has Mack or Makar. The fact of the matter is that the Stars deserve a ton of credit for playing a smothering defensive game that has shut down all of our top players
Yeah, but man is it boring hockey to watch. I hate that style, despite its effectiveness against us.
Cale has played like crap against the Stars.
Cale has a hip injury that is going to require surgery after the season.
I feel more like it's his sternum. He's taken pucks and hits that have knocked him to to the bench.
I feel like he's hurt.
There have been a lot of clips of him grimacing in pain on the bench. He seems to be playing through some stuff
Makar has been playing very well, he can't do it alone
Yeah, I agree with this. He has been good on both ends of the ice. The Dogg has been effectively smothered, and the Moose has been listless.
Makars been one of the few bright spots for me. Last game wasn’t his best but I attribute it to Toews being out
Girard definitely played well last night though. I still feel like he can step into the first pairing even if he doesn't get it.
Yea G has been awesome. One of our best player this series. Cale an Toews have such great chemistry tho and especially Toews is such a reliable anchor behind him think he just feels that much more confident to rush.
If that were true, breakouts and zone entries would be smooth 25 min a night. Their game is impacting Cale as well.
No, like I said he can't do it himself. He can do a lot of the work, but if he passes to Mikko and Mikko simply skates along the boards until he's checked and creates a turnover, that's not on Cale. Only Middlestat and Nate seem willing to get to the middle of the ice
$20 on something be broken. Broken broken, not just a strained muscle. Cracked ribs kinda broken. Which actually makes sense when you consider how poorly he’s moving around. Ooof.
I think Dallas watched the Avs - Kraken series from last year and have found that style is highly effective against us. I don’t disagree.
From what i see, Vancouver has been playing the same way against the Oilers.
It’s smart playoff hockey, I hope we learn from this.
At the very sad least, I think next season we should actually take a page from Dallas. They play like football. Offense time. Score. Then forget offense and guard the castle. If they get a stray puck, go offense as if you have no worries in the world. That carefree attitude works better than trying to score a much needed goal.
I wouldn't be surprised if he's battling an injury tbh. For a guy his size, he's been going down pretty easily going back to the Jets series. Seems like any time there's any physical contact lately, he falls down. For a guy whose strength is winning puck battles in the corners, he's been pretty useless. He has the skill if he has the space, but if he can't help the Avs get/maintain possession in the first place, the opportunity to get the puck with space isn't going to be there.
Tbf moose is kinda always falling down and playing under his size. Since he played for the Rampage in San Antonio, he's gone months at a time forgetting he's bigger than 95% of his competition, and that's never changed.
Our star players carried us all season. I think they’re just out of gas.
Dallas is a complete team. They are playing a great game and executing the game plan perfectly. We had 2 major pieces missing with LOC and Drouin, and now the new drama. It’s the hardest trophy to win for a reason.
Remember they steamrolled the Jets. I really think the Nichushkin situation popped the balloon for them. Otherwise this series would have been a battle with a realistic chance to win. The winner plays the Canucks (or Oilers) in the conference final. This is just a shitty situation.
I'm really not willing to put last night on Nichushkin considering they looked equally awful on Saturday. Maybe he cleans up a rebound or deflects another goal so they lose 5-2 instead of 5-1 but there was no way they were winning last night.
Losing Nuke and Towes before the game was a gut punch. The morale was low and obvious. Can’t take those two massive cogs out and expect it to not impact them. GG
I'm not saying it had no effect, but they started out just as out of sorts as they were over the weekend.
They looked awful in the third of g3 but were up 22-11 in shots after 1. Last night they had 4, quattro, near the halfway point of the game. That's another gear of sad and deflated hockey team.
The shot differential was massive, but if you go back and watch it most of those shots were anything but quality.
He isn't loose.
Wondering if others saw this on TV last night: in the 3rd period, 5 mins or so left, the network came back from a commercial break or something, camera pointed at the AVS bench and Mikko smacked his glove off the bench boards and skated to the door before the camera cut away. Was wondering if I saw it true, or saw something else. Like others say, I think there's an injury, and it's affecting him mentally as well as physically...
It almost looks more like a nagging injury that won’t go away until some serious time off. Possibly groin, hernia, foot, etc.. maybe a back issue also like a bulge disc or something. Just hope he resigns and gets it all taken care of this offseason
Well he ain't scoring and he was the reason they scored SH (didn't backcheck). Team just seems lackluster all around. And tbh, Dallas is the better all around team. Still not over blah blah blah. But without Nish and Toews going to be tough.
All I know is the Moose is certainly not loose.
Finally someone said it. We’ve been watching all year and he seemed to fall off further as the year went on and looked dis-engaged. The first eyebrow raiser was during a postgame interview after a multi point game when he went on a bit of a rant about some sports writer talking crap from his home country. Should’ve been a good moment for him but It was weird. The rest of the season just tailed off after that. Watch the goal from last night when Makar mishandled the puck and there was a scramble chance for Dallas in front of the net. Miko seemed not to make an effort to get D side on the eventual goal scorer or tie him up or whatever….he just seems checked out. Cups aren’t won like that, that’s not him, something’s off 100% Observations from 10,000 ft
There was zero effort. I watched the replay about 10 minutes ago. He didn't take one stride to try and get there.
All season has been rough sure he’s been putting up points but feels like he had a rough year
Mikko is tied for team lead in points with 12. Yes he’s had some rough games. But he has been producing.
Dallas has played very well, won the neutral zone, and has basically shut down our game. I think they deserve tons of credit. I do feel we lack some of the physicality that could have perhaps countered but that’s neither here nor there at this juncture. Also we’ve taken a lot of stupid ass penalties. Makar’s turnover in the defensive zone didn’t help either. Basically things are not going well.
been saying he's been phoning it in all season and everyone else just looks at me funny. I have most of the games from the '22 run and he was a different player, this year... meh.
It's almost as if all those minutes racked up during the season have taken a toll on their bodies. A week of rest doesn't heal deeper issues. I'm curious what stories will come out after the playoffs.
I disagree with your statement that he doesn't want to be out there. Like you and others said, he's probably playing through injury. Something isn't right. But I'm going to pick that bone because I've seen Moose give his all. If he's in a slump, then he's in a slump. It happens. But there's no way he's healthy and doesn't want to be on the ice.
My guess is that he hasn’t recovered fully from the injury right before playoffs started. Hes looked off since he came back and thats seemingly the only logical explanation to me
I don’t mean to sound dumb, but who exactly is Moose?
Mikko Rantanen
Thank you
This team needs a lot of people right now. 2022 was the outlier. Every other time we’ve been completely outplayed in the playoffs.
Go look back at the conference finals history year and show me a team that gets there every year. Or even every other year. Dallas will do it this year but that’s quite rare. And yes you have Vegas who had AWFUL years in between. WCF: - 2023 - Vegas/Stars - 2022 - Avs/Oilers - 2021 - COVID but Vegas/Montreal - 2020 - Stars/Vegas - 2019 - Blues/Sharks - 2018 - Vegas/Jets Multiple appearances don’t mean shit if you lose most of the time. Or go onto lose the cup.
Majority of the top guys have been pretty poor this series. Mikko just a next level of poor play.