Kiz: Coach Jared Bednar is correct. On too many nights early this season, the Avs have been a joke. And it’s not funny ha-ha. A team with the top-tier talent of Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon has no excuse for getting blown out on a regular basis. Is this a leadership problem? Do the Avs miss captain Gabe Landeskog more than we can possibly know? And how does Bednar fix it?
Masisak: For a team that spent training camp talking about the standards and culture here, including new guys gushing about how the grass was actually greener, the noncompetitive losses are startling.