LAST SEASON

Most of the teams that used 40 or more players last season were rebuilding (SJS), aging (PIT), in the thick of a firesale (BOS), or just plain bad (NSH). It’s remarkable, then, that the team at the very top of the list, with a whopping 49 used players, finished with 102 points and an automatic playoff berth. The Colorado Avalanche didn’t have a moment’s peace last season but were often too talented for that to matter.

The Avs got off to a turbulent start to 2024-25 when incumbent starting goalie Alexandar Georgiev fell to pieces over the first two months of the season. Colorado GM Chris MacFarland had to move quickly to swap Georgiev and backup Justus Annunen out for Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood in separate trades, and the new guys did brilliantly well to turn the Avalanche’s season around amid injuries and suspensions to several key forwards. Still, MacFarland wasn’t done yet.

Satisfied that a Mikko Rantanen extension would destroy Colorado’s chances of building a balanced roster around Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar (and perhaps aware that all $7-million of captain Gabriel Landeskog would be back on the books ahead of 2025-26), MacFarland and team president Joe Sakic made Rantanen the best player to be traded midseason since Joe Thornton by shipping him to the Carolina Hurricanes.

That decision looked great when it netted the team a nifty top-line winger in Martin Necas and created room for long-awaited Nazem Kadri replacement Brock Nelson. It backfired, however, when a discontented Rantanen swapped Carolina for the Avs’ division rivals, the Dallas Stars, after only a few weeks. Naturally, the Avalanche ran smack into Rantanen and the Stars in the first round, bowing out after their old friend went nuclear in Game 7. Will Colorado be better prepared to brave a tough Central Division bracket without so much in-season drama in 2025-26, or was moving on from ‘the Moose’ a critical blunder?

KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES

Additions

Victor Olofsson, LW
Brent Burns, D
Gavin Brindley, C
Danil Gushchin, LW

Departures

Jonathan Drouin, LW (NYI)
Charlie Coyle, C (CBJ)
Ryan Lindgren, D (Sea)
Erik Johnson, D (UFA)
Miles Wood, LW (CBJ)
Chris Wagner, C (AHL)
Jimmy Vesey, RW (Swi.)
Jere Innala, LW (SHL)

OFFENSE

There is no stopping Nathan MacKinnon once he gets up to speed, which takes about half a second. MacKinnon is too explosive to be discouraged from driving to the middle of the ice, where he creates scoring opportunities at a relentless pace (first in SOG since 2015). ‘Mack’ is third among NHLers in points and per-game scoring since his breakout season in 2017-18, and the Avs have finished no lower than 10th in offense in the years since.

Necas’s blistering shot and ability to match MacKinnon stride-for-stride made them a frightening tandem on the rush after the big trade. The mercurial Czech’s production (career-high 83 P) is finally living up to the eye test. Artturi Lehkonen’s work rate on the wall and around the crease makes the crafty Finn the perfect garbage man (27 G in 69 GP) for his speedy linemates, with whom he should start the year.

On the second line, Landeskog’s long-awaited return against Dallas opposite Valeri Nichushkin on the Nelson line gave Colorado a hulking, dangerous unit. Before a down season last year (26 G), Nelson averaged 34 goals per 82 games from 2019-24, a level the 34-year-old vet hopes to rediscover in Colorado’s high-octane attack. Nichushkin, meanwhile, is invaluable when he’s available, a hybrid of tireless forechecker and netfront beast. Colorado has played at a nearly 57-win pace since 2021 when the Russian dresses. He just needs to stay in the lineup; injuries and suspensions have kept ‘Nuke’ to fewer than 66 games in all six of his seasons as an Av.

Further down the lineup, winger Victor Olofsson could prove a smart late-summer signing. Streaky power forward Ross Colton (16 G in 61 GP) was the Avalanche’s only proven bottom-six scorer before Olofsson joined up, a scary proposition given what we know about Lehkonen and Nichushkin’s injury history (and what we don’t know about Landeskog’s reconstructed knee). Though Olofsson has never topped his promising rookie season (20 G in 54 GP), the Swede is still a talented shooter who could help out the Avalanche’s seldom-used second power play.

Then there’s the blueline, which happens to include the most captivating defenseman to hit the NHL since Bobby Orr debuted nearly 60 years ago. Cale Makar just posted the second 30-goal season by a D-man since 1993, and his dazzling end-to-end charges make it almost disappointing that his career-high is “only” 92 points. Triple digits should be attainable this season.

DEFENSE

Has Makar’s legendary offensive prowess made him an underrated defender? Jared Bednar likes to use Makar, partner Devon Toews, and the MacKinnon line as a five-man unit to force the opposition’s best players onto the back foot. For Makar, that meant the 12th-most minutes against “elite” competition of any defenseman in 2024-25, per Puck IQ. He still finished with the best scoring-chance share (58.9%) and second-most takeaways (60) at his position as he claimed his second Norris Trophy.

Toews, in the tradition of Brian Rafalski and the late great Brad McCrimmon, is severely overlooked due to his association with a superstar partner. The former Islander averages a +41 rating and over 49 takeaways per 82 games for the Avs. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also good for 10 goals and 50 points a season. An expert at using speed and timing to smother plays, Toews will partner Makar for Team Canada in Milan.

Playing the best pair in hockey for half the game lifts all boats in Colorado. Still, the diminutive duo of Samuel Girard and Sam Malinski deserves credit for keeping a patchwork bottom four afloat last season. Girard’s offensive production has cratered in recent years (24 P in 73 GP), but he’s a smart defender with the speed and skill to keep the Avs moving in the right direction. It’s a low-event style that Cornell grad Malinski was smart to mime in his first full season.

Josh Manson’s injury record (48 GP in 2024-25) and tendency to take bad penalties can make him a frustrating player, but a top-four spot beside Girard will still be waiting for him when camp breaks. The 33-year-old is unique in his ability to clear the crease while still keeping up with the pace Bednar demands (69th percentile in top speed by a D, per NHL EDGE). Manson’s new understudy, 40-year-old Brent Burns, will have to settle for bottom-pair minutes after a rough final season in Carolina.

Joel Kiviranta and Parker Kelly’s dogged work ethic on Colorado’s checking line made them fan favorites last season. Unfortunately, they could be without their usual left winger, defensive maven Logan O’Connor, until Christmas as he recovers from offseason hip surgery. Lehkonen, Nichushkin, and Kiviranta are all options to take over O’Connor’s minutes on the Avs’ penalty kill, which finished 12th last year.

GOALTENDING

Colorado’s 17th-ranked team SV% might fall right into the meaty part of the curve, but the overall number includes two months of Georgiev playing himself out of the NHL. From the time of Blackwood’s debut on Dec. 14, the Avalanche’s .907 mark was the fifth-best in the league. The only clubs ahead of Colorado over that span (WPG, TBL, LAK, DAL) boasted the top-four finishers in the end-of-year All-Star vote in order.

Blackwood’s reputation and confidence suffered behind skeleton crews in San Jose and New Jersey, but the big shotstopper looks like a new man in Denver. A 6’4″ netminder with elite post-to-post athleticism, Blackwood is never really out of a play until the puck hits twine. If he can bounce back from a disappointing postseason to prove 2024-25 was his new normal, a Team Canada bid is not out of the question. MacFarland was shrewd to lock up the 28-year-old for five years before the Canucks inflated the goalie market.

Scott Wedgewood actually arrived two weeks earlier than his old Devils teammate Blackwood, and was pretty much perfect in spot duty, enjoying the best stretch of his career (13-4-1, 1.99 GAA, .917 SV% for COL). Wedgewood will still be a reliable veteran hand even if he regresses to his previous career averages (2.98 GAA, .906 SV%).

COACHING

In the cutthroat world of hockey coaching, Bednar’s eight-season run at the helm of the Avalanche is now officially more prestigious than his Stanley Cup ring. Bednar surely treasures his ring over his job security, but Mike Sullivan’s amicable divorce with Pittsburgh made Bednar the second-longest tenured bench boss in the show by some ways behind only Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper. Paul Maurice’s championship double, meanwhile, means there are three coaches, including Bednar and Cooper, who have won the ultimate prize in their current posts.

Bednar hasn’t stuck around this long by coasting off 2022, though. It takes an elite motivator to implement a system with such rigorous physical demands, even with superstar workaholic MacKinnon around to help keep the troops in line. No club skates harder, and since MacKinnon’s first big year, the results have been there to match: Bednar’s Avs have collected regular-season wins at a nearly 105-point pace, enough to fight for the division crown more often than not. The great irony of Bednar’s glowing resume, which makes him a likely Hall-of-Famer at the spritely age of 52? He’s almost certainly toast if Colorado suffers another first-round exit, fluky or not. Such is life in the NHL.

The help looks a little different this year, with former Jack Adams finalist Dave Hakstol on the bench in place of Ray Bennett, who got the axe after the Avalanche’s usually potent power play went just 3-22 against Dallas. Hakstol ousted the Avs from the playoffs in 2023 as Seattle’s head coach and led the collegiate North Dakota Fighting Hawks, archrivals of the Denver Pioneers, for 11 seasons. No hard feelings, right?

ROOKIES

Woof. The NHL’s true blue bloods often swap long-term reinforcements for short-term help, and that’s certainly true of Colorado, owners of the league’s fourth-worst pipeline per Daily Faceoff prospect guru Steven Ellis.

That doesn’t mean the Avs will have no new faces this year. Young Gavin Brindley is a sparkplug center out of Michigan who came over from Columbus in a surprisingly rich return for Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood. Brindley had a tough rookie year with AHL Cleveland (6 G, 17 P in 52 GP) but was the 34th-overall selection just two summers ago. Given the durability concerns around the Avalanche’s wingers, he could get a look in next to MacKinnon or Nelson for brief stretches.

There are other kids in Colorado’s pro setup with potential to reach the big club this season. Danil Gushchin has at least another season of Calder eligibility and poured in 28 goals for AHL San Jose last season. His scoring hasn’t translated at the NHL level (5 P in 18 career GP), but he could see spot duty in a pinch. Fellow Russian Nikita Prishchepov was an unlikely debutant last season and needs plenty more seasoning to carve out a full-time role.

Finally, former seventh-rounder Trent Miner is nailed on as the third goalie after a strong season for the AHL Eagles and two NHL cameos in 2024-25. Miner’s continued development in his fifth pro season could inform the team’s approach to Wedgewood’s expiring contract.

BURNING QUESTIONS

1. What’s left of Gabriel Landeskog? When Landeskog emptied the tank and destroyed his ailing right knee en route to lifting the Stanley Cup as captain in 2022, he was an elite power forward, cornerman, and leader (77 P, 140 hits per 82 GP from 2018-22). When he came back against the Stars three years later, he was … the exact same player (4 P, 16 hits, 17:13 ATOI in 5 GP). So, all is well, and ‘Landy’ is no worse for wear after a fairly unprecedented cartilage transplant surgery and three-year layoff? The Avalanche hope so. He’s still just nine games into his return, and a potential Olympic invite could put even more strain on that bad leg. Landeskog’s line with an aging Nelson and the ever-unpredictable Nichushkin could be a championship X-factor or a ticking time bomb.

2. Is the window closing faster than we think? A championship outfit mortgaging its future in pursuit of another taste from the grail is a tale as old as hockey, or at least as old as the modern draft. The Avalanche aren’t through competing yet, but there are signs of decline, and not just because Burns just dragged their average age (29.88) into the top two. The unforgiving pace of this rush-obsessed team is showing in its injury record. Of the nine Colorado skaters who played full-time for Bednar in each of the past two seasons, just three, MacKinnon, Makar, and Toews, have avoided absences of 21 games or more. Two of them, MacKinnon and Makar, suffered similar layoffs in previous seasons under Bednar. What’s going to happen to Nelson, Manson, and Nichushkin when their contracts take them even deeper into their 30s? It never gets easier for an aging contender in this league, but Colorado might be in the biggest hurry of them all.

3. What’s the magic number, Marty? “Why didn’t they just pay Rantanen?” was a popular refrain after the Dallas debacle. It was also lazy and misleading. The lion’s share of the Rantanen money went towards extensions for Blackwood and Nelson, who plugged the team’s two most glaring holes. The rest helped activate Landeskog, who is far too respected to nudge towards Robidas Island. Still, with each passing day that Necas, the principal return piece for Rantanen, doesn’t play ball on a contract, a giant egg aimed at MacFarland’s face gains velocity. Necas has some of the most electrifying tools in hockey, and it’s all coming together for him just in time for a payday. If he’s a big fan of Nik Ehlers’ game, the Dane’s recent $8.5-million AAV contract is a good start for both sides. If Necas drags that number within $3 million of Rantanen’s deal, well … “Why didn’t they just pay Rantanen?”

PREDICTION

Colorado’s lineup on paper is stellar, but will that same lineup stick together for 65+ games? Even then, there’s a lot riding on Nelson, Landeskog, and Manson having game left. Still, the Avalanche strengthened their position as division rivals Winnipeg and Dallas became more top-heavy. If the Avs get even a little bit of injury luck, expect them to land atop a crowded Central Division and tangle with Vegas for the top seed in the West. What they’ll really care about, of course, is what comes after.

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POST SPONSORED BY bet365
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