Rookie Kevin Shattenkirk Shining For Colorado Avalanche

Finally, injuries have caught up. The Colorado Avalanche have hit a rut, winning only one of it's last seven games.

The Avalanche play a very up tempo style that relies on puck control and speed, but long term injuries to forwards Chris Stewart, Peter Mueller, and T.J. Galiardi has caused the team to sputter. Avalanche GM Greg Sherman recently tried to fill holes by acquiring forward Thomas Fleischmann and defenseman Matt Hunwick, but the team has gone 0-1-3 since the trades.

Unfortunately, these struggles are going to happen when you're one of the NHL's youngest teams with one of the lowest payrolls. The constantly changing roster isn't going to help, either. 

Through these struggles, however, rookie defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk has emerged as a core player for the Avalanche.

The 21 year old defenseman was pointless in his 10 games with the AHL's Lake Erie Monsters, so it's a surprise to see him leading all NHL rookie defenseman in points (14) despite playing barely half as many games (16).

The fact is that Shattenkirk has been one of the Avalanche's best players since being recalled in mid-November and is also one of the best puck moving defensemen they've had in years. Avalanche head coach Joe Sacco has been feeding Shattenkirk the minutes he'd been giving to the injured Kyle Cumiskey, and Shattenkirk has used them to cement himself an NHL job.

Like last year when the headline of the season was the development of rookie Matt Duchene, the 2010-2011 season will be when Kevin Shattenkirk comes into his own and revitalizes an old, worn out defense.