from Adrian Dater of the Denver Post,

Let's take a more in-depth look at some of the problems, and how the Avs can turn things around.

1. Turnover City: The Avs can book their offseason plans right now after Game No. 82 if they don't take better care of the puck. In 82 games last season, Colorado recorded 535 official giveaways — sixth-fewest in the league. Critics will say "that's because they didn't have the puck enough," but that team took better care of the puck than this sloppy group in the first seven games.

Coach Patrick Roy constantly preached the value of "gap control" between the forwards and defensemen, and odd-man rushes against the Avs were fewer than previous years as a result. Not so much this time.

"Right now the way I look at it, is we want an easy game," Roy said after a 4-3 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. "Until we're where we want to compete at the level we were last year, we're going to struggle. We're not sharp mentally."

Reason for optimism: Nobody works harder than Roy when things aren't going well, so he already is scheming to find ways to tighten his team up again.

2. Big guys not scoring: Jarome Iginla, signed to a three-year, $16 million free-agent contract over the summer, has yet to score a goal. Nathan MacKinnon, the reigning NHL Calder Trophy winner, hasn't scored a goal either.

more plus they have lost dman Ryan Wilson for up to three weeks with a bad shoulder...