Fighting through ‘ups and downs,’ Ryan Graves is embracing a new role with Avs

It echoed through an empty Ball Arena. You could hear it from Club Level all the way on the other side of the ice, where this season’s “press box” is positioned for the media. And according to others watching it live on their televisions, those mics could hear it too.

27, that’s a hook.

Oh, f**k you!

It was his second penalty of the third period of the Avs-Sharks game on Jan. 26 — another pretty blatant hooking call with roughly 90 seconds to go in the game. The hook and the expletive-fueled tantrum was by No. 27 of the Avs, defenseman Ryan Graves, who was just coming off a healthy scratch the game before.

Graves spent all of a handful of seconds in the penalty box late in the third period before being escorted to the locker room. The referee had taken offense to Graves’ foul language, adding a 10-minute unsportsmanlike misconduct to his rapsheet. In total, 14 minutes of penalties came from Graves in the final period of that game against the Sharks, one that the Avs were already well on their way to winning 7-3. 

Graves, who broke into the league last season playing on the top pair with then-rookie phenom Cale Makar, had a rough go at it through his first 10 or so games of this season. The frustration boiled over in the waning seconds against the Sharks, and Graves lashed out. 

“I think he’s fighting it a little bit,” head coach Jared Bednar said of Graves after that game. “I met with him (the day before) and talked to him a little bit about the role I see him playing, because it’s a little bit different than last year…His role has slightly changed a little bit, but his game shouldn’t change from the way it was last year.”

Indeed, his role has changed, and with that comes the natural learning curve that accompanies any role changes across life.

“I think he’s fighting to find his game right now; he’s not on top of his game,” Bednar continued. “It hasn’t been great. It’s been good at times, but oftentimes not good enough…We know what he’s capable of. We saw it all last year. He was very consistent and what he did was very good.”

Graves knows it, too. 

“Being pretty critical and honest with myself, there’s been some ups and downs for me this season,” Graves admitted recently.

Graves — and Bednar — have struggled a bit to find a fit for the 25-year-old D-man, who just earlier this season passed the 100 NHL games-played milestone. Graves started the year with veteran Ian Cole. He then went on to play with Sam Girard, then Erik Johnson, then Conor Timmins, and Dennis Gilbert, and just about every other Avalanche defenseman on the active roster, except for Cale Makar.

Life was good for Graves on the top pair alongside Makar last season. He finished the season with nine goals, 26 points and a league-leading plus-40. This season has started out a bit rougher. Through the first 10 games or so, Graves was averaging just under 17 minutes, was a minus-four and was tied for the team lead in giveaways. 

Since that conversation that Bednar and Graves had a month ago, the Avs up-and-down D-man has seemingly turned a corner.

Since the start of February, Graves is averaging nearly 21 minutes per game, is a plus-two, and has become one of the team’s most reliable and effective penalty killers.

“He was unhappy with his start to the season. As his coach, I didn’t think he was playing as well as he had last year for us. I think he was getting in his own head a little bit,” Bednar told Colorado Hockey Now at Lake Tahoe.

“But the last handful of games, we’re seeing the old Ryan Graves that we saw last year. As a coach, you can see him get his game in order and the way he’s been playing,” added Bednar. “He’s coming up big on the penalty kill, making blocks, winning battles and taking out passing lanes down low, and he’s just a good all-around solid defending-defenseman and there’s a good physicality to his game.”

It is a decidedly different role for Graves to be playing. Last year, perhaps the expectation was set that he was a top-pair, offense-first D-man. Graves, however, says he’s never really viewed that as his role. The Ryan Graves we’re seeing this season — defense first, PKer, and everything else Bednar said of him — is the Ryan Graves that Ryan Graves really is, he says.

“That’s OK that my role can change a little bit. For me, my best part of my game is the defensive side, and the part I enjoy the most is penalty kill and shutting down top lines,” Graves said. “I can nestle into a role of PK and be tough to play against and physical and playing against top lines and being fully shut-down. That’s kind of what my strength is as a player.”

We’re starting to see it more consistently, too. After an “up-and-down” start to the year, Graves has become more consistent — and reliable — each time he’s on the ice. Take for example the recent game at Lake Tahoe. 

Due to a 5-on-3 penalty kill late in the third period, Ryan Graves was forced to work some extra minutes on the PK, in what was likely the best shift we’ve seen from the Avs defenseman all season. After making a couple of key blocks and cleared pucks, Graves helped save the Avs’ one-goal lead late in the game after dropping to his knees and taking away the passing lane from Vegas’ Max Pacioretty, blocking his attempt, kicking it out of danger and clearing the zone. The effort did not go unnoticed by fans on Twitter, nor by his head coach.

Graves is no longer the wingman for Cale Makar on an offensively-driven top-pair, and he’s just fine with that. He’s carving out and defining his own role this season, as one of the more reliable defensive-defenseman on a team replete with puck-movers on the backend.

“I think with the additions we’ve had this year, there’s more offensive guys. So for me to be able to round out the backend is something that I take pride in,” Graves said. “It’s something I’ve been working at and something I’ll continue to work at.”

Ryan Graves will be the first guy to tell you he struggled to start the year; he’s a very self-critical and honest man. Whether it was working through the inherent learning curve that comes with a new role, or perhaps a matter of shaken confidence after his poor start to the season, Graves has since been turning a corner of late, and he’s starting to put it all together. 

“I think it’s a little bit of realization of playing the right way,” Graves said. “I think earlier in the season I was trying to do a little bit too much, which brought me a few issues. I think I’ve been trending in the right direction. I’m working on it, watching a little video, trying to fill in wherever I can.”