Scott Takes: It’s early, but Devon Toews looks every bit as advertised

He recorded nearly 26 minutes of ice time and six blocked shots on Tuesday night — both team-high’s. He leads the team in average time on ice through the first three games, as he does with blocked shots, as well. He’s only been on the ice for one goal against this season. He’s got goals in back-to-back games, and two goals on his first two shots on net so far as an Av — the only D-man in the NHL to boast a 100-percent in that category.

Of course, we’re only three games in and there’s really no way he keeps up this pace (…right?). Either way, pretty damn good start. Yes, it’s early, but Devon Toews looks every bit of worth-it, and some. 

That trade is paying off in spades for Avs general manager Joe Sakic. And all this for the low price of two second-round draft picks? That’s a cheap deal for a team that has arguably one of the most well-stocked cupboards of top-end prospects anyway. It’s pennies to the wealthy. For Sakic and the Avalanche, the rich keep getting richer it seems, and Sakic’s savviness of continually pulling off these highway-robbery, thief-in-the-night trades is just getting laughable at this point. 

On Tuesday night, this was evident once again. Brandon Saad, another savvy offseason addition of Sakic’s, scored his first goal as an Avalanche to open the scoring and give the Avs an early 1-0 lead. Goal No. 2 came from his other offseason acquisition, the aforementioned Devon Toews, who has had plenty of chemistry on the second-unit power play with fellow D-man Sam Girard.