Josh Manson's play; Who does Colton replace?

Welcome to Evan’s mailbag, where Denver Gazette reporter Evan Rawal answers all your Avalanche- and hockey-related questions each Monday. Mailbag questions can be sent to [email protected].

Maybe premature, but who sits after Ross Colton comes back in 3-4 weeks? Was thinking LOC but last game was a great step forward of reminding his game.

I don't think Logan O'Connor is ever going to be in danger of being healthy scratched. He's too vital to the penalty kill for that to happen.

If we're looking at players that sit when Colton comes back, I would say that Ivan Ivan's numbers are trending in the wrong direction. All of his underlying numbers were tremendous in the first 10 games, but since then, they've dipped.

In the month of November, he's the only forward to have been on the ice for more shots on goal against than for, and his expected goals-for-percentage has dipped below 50%. Compare that to the other rookie in Nikolai Kovalenko, whose underlying numbers in the month of November look tremendous.

Let's be honest, though. Every team is always missing one or two players from their lineup, so the odds of the Avalanche being 100% healthy when Colton actually is ready to play seems low.

Will you step up and ask coach Jared Bednar to stop being a coward and bench Josh Manson?

That escalated quickly, didn't it?

Manson is a bit of a wild man on the blueline right now, but that's kind of who he always has been. He takes major risks in the neutral zone when it comes to pinching, but we're seeing it a bit more all over the ice, as he's doing a lot of chasing. His puck skills are underrated, but there have been plenty of mistakes with the puck on his stick this season.

Will they ever bench him? I doubt it, but the reality with a guy like that is you live with some mistakes in the regular season because of what he can bring in the playoffs. The Avalanche don't have another defenseman that plays with the edge that Manson does. He's not perfect, but his true value is typically seen in April, May, and perhaps even June.

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Is there a point where Avalanche management gives up the farm to acquire a goaltender they can actually count on?

They might consider it if there was a goalie like that available on the market, but there isn't.

If the Avalanche really believe in a goalie, they've shown they'll do it. They did it over a decade ago when they gave up a first-round pick to acquire a young Semyon Varlamov, and that worked out. They did it again a few years ago when they picked up Darcy Kuemper for a first and a good prospect. 

Going back to the summer, the Avalanche were rumored to be after top goaltending prospect Yaroslav Askarov, who eventually ended up in San Jose. That's somebody I could have seen the Avalanche throwing a lot of assets at to acquire. The problem is he was playing for a team in the same division, and it's unlikely Nashville really wanted to deal him to a team they'd have play a lot.

Unless a surprise goalie hits the market, there really isn't anyone that might be available in a trade that provides a clear upgrade, unless you're really buying hard on Mackenzie Blackwood.

In honor of Erik Johnson's 1,000th game, do you think the Avs will retire his No. 6 when his career is done?

That's a tough one to gauge, but I'll give my opinion, even if it might not be a popular one.

I don't think they should.

EJ was a very good defenseman for most of his Avalanche career and loyal to the organization, but was he ever one of the best defensemen in the world? He had just one season where he hit 30 points, and was an All-Star just once. Maybe my bar for retiring jerseys is a little too high, but I think it should be reserved for the greats, and as much as I love EJ, I wouldn't put him in that category.