from Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post,

If Subban were wearing an Avs sweater, Colorado would be confident of returning to the NHL playoffs after a two-year absence, instead of hoping to sneak in the back end of the Western Conference bracket.

And if general manager Joe Sakic had pulled off a trade with Montreal for Subban instead of watching an elite puck-moving defenseman go to Nashville, maybe there would be more enthusiasm in Denver for the Avs than the Chicago Cubs.

The Avalanche lost 5-1 on Tuesday to Nashville.

“The work boots and work hats weren’t on,” captain Gabriel Landeskog said. Not that anybody in town noticed. It’s Raiders week and the Cubbies are wrestling a goat in the World Series. There were so many empty seats in the Pepsi Center, the Avs should have let folks in for free with a two-drink minimum.

It’s hard to watch this hockey team without a beer in your hand. Yes, Nathan MacKinnon can fly and Matt Duchene can score. But what Colorado management sees in goalie Semyon Varlamov at $6 million per year escapes me. What’s more, if the Avalanche really cared about Varly, why hasn’t Sakic gotten the 28-year-old goalie some meaningful help on the blue line?

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