Avs Down Stars 3-1

Colorado opened the preseason with a 3-1 win at home versus Dallas. Obviously, I (nor anyone not AT the game) wasn't able to watch it, but I can tell from the stats that Anderson was solid and apparently Duchene was good defensively.

I will say this: the preseason means very little. The Detroit Lions were 3-1 in the preseason this year, and followed it up be allowing 6 passing touchdowns last Sunday. Football is obviously alot different than hockey (though comparing the Lions to the Avalanche isn't a stretch these days), so let's take a look at Colorado's preseason stats from last year:

Team Record: 4-1-1

T.J. Hensick: 2 goals, 2 assists in 4 games
David Jones: 3 goals in 2 games
Darcy Tucker: 1 goal, 2 assists in 3 games

Peter Budaj: 3-0-0, 1.87 GAA, 0.936 SV%

Analysis: They don't mean much.

Ryan Stoa had a goal, but word on the street says he looked like a mess before scoring it. Adrian Dater has recently reported in his blogs that Stoa has looked "slow", and will have to shape up if he wants to make the team. So, the jury is still out on him.

What I don't think the jury is out on is the team's second line center role, though. Duchene had 16:28 ice time tonight, which was much more than the other candidates (Wolski: 14:46; Galiardi: 14:43) trying out for the job (Note: T.J. Hensick has been moved to RW). At this point, I'd be shocked if Duchene doesn't make the team. He simply brings too much to the table for a rebuilding team to send him back to the OHL.