Avalanche enter do-or-die season with several key pieces missing
Photo credit: Quinn Allen / Clutch Points
In order for the Colorado Avalanche to be true Stanley Cup contenders, they will have fill at least three key missing pieces before or throughout this NHL season.
This upcoming season can easily be considered do-or-die for the Avalanche, and these three obstacles need to be dealt with to give them a chance at any success.
Avalanche look to overcome three obstacles during a pivotal upcoming season.
Aarif Deen from Colorado Hockey Now claims the Avalanches' odds at success will remain low if they can't solve these three problems. The importance of this season can also not be stressed enough as the Avalanche have only one series win since their Stanley Cup run against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Simply put the Avalanche need three things to succeed this year: They need their top six to be available for the majority of the season, bring in more grit on the blueline, and improve their depth especially on the bottom six forwards.
"Landeskog hasn't played in three full seasons. In the first year, he was replaced with Evan Rodrigues, who had 39 points in 69 games. In the last two seasons, the Avs had Jonathan Drouin, who did an admirable job. Drouin produced at a clip of 62 points per 82 games in Colorado.
The problem wasn't his production. It was his availability. He missed more than 25% of the regular season games in the last two years. And that came after Rodrigues missed 13 games. In total, Landeskog's replacement in the top six has missed 55 games in three seasons - which comes out to 18 per season. That's a lot of hockey for such a big piece of the roster." -Deen
The problem wasn't his production. It was his availability. He missed more than 25% of the regular season games in the last two years. And that came after Rodrigues missed 13 games. In total, Landeskog's replacement in the top six has missed 55 games in three seasons - which comes out to 18 per season. That's a lot of hockey for such a big piece of the roster." -Deen
When it comes to depth we can see when the Avalanche won the cup in 2022 guys like Andrew Cogliano and Josh Manson whom came in via trade made a significant impact on the team during their run. The following years players like Lars Eller, Yakov Trenin, Brandon Duhaime, Juuso Parssinen, and Jimmy Vesey were quite the opposite. Same story with Ryan Lindgren and Sean Walker on the blueline.
Despite the added acquisition of Brent Burns who should prove to be useful for some added offense on the back end. Colorado still has a grit problem with their defense core and are simply not tough enough to play against.
"The reality is, the blueline is a big part of the reason why the Avs have struggled to win playoff games in recent years. The Dallas Stars are a tough team to play against. And if you get past them and the rest of the Central Division, you're probably going to struggle with the size and physicality of the Vegas Golden Knights. Which, by the way, were no match for the Edmonton Oilers' physicality just two months ago. Everyone else is beefing up. Colorado needs to adapt." -Deen
It remains to be seen whether or not the Avalanche head office recognizes the urgency they should have in such a crucial year, and whether or not they do what is necessary to reach the top of the mountain again.
| POLL | ||
AOUT 10 | 26 ANSWERS Avalanche enter do-or-die season with several key pieces missing Will the Avalanche fill the gaps throughout their lineup before the start of next season? | ||
| Yes | 18 | 69.2 % |
| No | 8 | 30.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
TRENDING NOW
