The scary thing about the Colorado Avalanche? They’re still in second gear

The historic regular-season dominance of the 2022-23 Boston Bruins will forever be attached to their subsequent playoff collapse. The B’s famously flubbed a 3-1 series lead against the eight-placed Florida Panthers, who went on to become Eastern Conference Champions three seasons running with a pair of Stanley Cup banners to show for it. Still, the Bruins’ crash landing shouldn’t overshadow what they achieved that year: the greatest regular season finish of all time, an eye-watering 135 points.

The real achievement of those Bruins was their wire-to-wire consistency. Any team can pace for 130+ points over its first 20 games. The subsequent Presidents’ Trophy winners, the New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets, respectively, did just that. The trick is keeping the pedal to the metal throughout the spring, when the postseason race has already become a formality. As such, we shouldn’t anoint the first-placed Colorado Avalanche as a legitimate challenger to Boston’s (probably) unbreakable record after 19 games. The Avs do have a key advantage on the Rangers and Jets as they near the quarter-season mark, though: they still have another gear to find.

It sounds ridiculous. Colorado has lost just one game in regulation, and we’re only a week out from the infamous US Thanksgiving benchmark. The Avalanche boast the best scoring defense in the NHL (2.37 GAA). They’re even more dominant at the other end of the ice, where they lead the field in total goals by more than 10 tallies (78, 4.11 per game). It’s not as though Colorado has merely gotten lucky, either, despite their third-placed PDO. They control more than 58% of scoring chances and expected goals at 5-on-5, topping the league in both categories.

Then there’s the heavy ordinance. Nathan MacKinnon, the runaway train at the center of Colorado’s lethal rush offense, leads the league in, well, everything (G, P, +/-, SOG). ‘Mack’ already seems to be tightening his grip on a second Hart Trophy. Newly extended Marty Necas has the speed (99th percentile in 20mph+ bursts, per NHL EDGE) and the finish (19.5 S%, 24 G in 49 GP for COL) to complement MacKinnon’s relentless pace. Their linemate Artturi Lehkonen has emerged as one of the NHL’s pre-eminent garbagemen; the crafty Finn has scored his eight goals from an average of just 11.6 feet. 

Add in Cale Makar, the most explosive offensive defenseman of the 21st century, and the under-the-radar excellence of Devon Toews on the top pairing in hockey, and the Avs have high-end talent to go along with their smothering dominance of the puck. It’s hard to ask for a better combination of Stanley Cup ingredients. And yet, despite Colorado’s four-point division lead with a game in hand, the team is still waiting on a few key contributors to get up to speed.

That starts on the second line, which has been a sore spot since Nazem Kadri’s services proved too expensive to retain after the Avalanche’s 2022 Cup triumph. General manager Chris McFarland paid steeply to end his 2C carousel by bringing in Isles‘ mainstay Brock Nelson last March. Nelson, returning captain Gabriel Landeskog, and big Val Nichushkin became fast friends during a seven-game postseason defeat to the rival Stars. Still, Nelson’s age (34), Landeskog’s unprecedented three-year layoff (knee), and Nichushkin’s frequent availability issues (53 GP per season since 2021) made the hulking unit a question mark coming into the new season.

It still is after a month and a half. Landeskog, still a fearsome forechecker, is taking some time to find his offense (6 P in 19 GP) as coach Jared Bednar eases him back into action with third-line minutes (13:41 ATOI). Nelson averages less than half a point per game between a rotating cast of linemates that has, for now, landed on power forward Ross Colton and rookie sparkplug Gavin Brindley. Nichushkin remains a two-way beast, but he’s out week-to-week after suffering a lower-body injury Nov. 11.

The original second-line plan of Landeskog-Nelson-Nichushkin is still too intriguing to discard as another failed top-six experiment. A breakout seems inevitable, and it’s already begun for Nelson, who has seven points in his last 10 after a frigid start. Landeskog is starting to thaw, too, after two goals in three games, as had Nichushkin, who had nine points in his previous 10 games, before his injury. The efficiency of Brindley (4 G, 7 P in 9:40 ATOI), Colton (3 G, 10 P in 12:40), and sniper Victor Olofsson (6 G, 15 P in 14:15) has helped keep the middle-six afloat while the veterans find their way. They’re not the only Avs who have had to punch above their weight.

In goal, veteran backup Scott Wedgewood’s early-season brilliance (.917 SV%, league-best 11 W) has kept the Avs from missing his younger, more athletic batterymate Mackenzie Blackwood, who has played sparingly (3 GP, .870 SV%) since his return from a lower-body injury. As great as Wedgewood has been, Bednar can only be so comfortable giving a 33-year-old who has never started more than 36 games the Marty Brodeur treatment. At some point, Bednar will need a similar hot streak from Blackwood, who gets paid to be the guy in the Colorado cage. A healthy split between the two former Devils will only strengthen the Avs’ already airtight defense.

That same defense is in the process of welcoming back diminutive puckmover Sam Girard from the IR. The seemingly immortal Brent Burns replaced Giard as gutsy righty Josh Manson’s partner without incident, opening the door for Girard to team up with breakout sophomore Sam Malinski, with whom Girard skated for more than 300 minutes last year. Malinski and Burns have both surprised on offense (9 A apiece), and Girard’s return from the upper-body injury he suffered back on Oct. 9 means Bednar no longer has to worry about hiding a “bottom” pair. 

The reinforcements won’t end with Blackwood, Girard, or even Nichushkin, once he’s back. Where ‘Nuke’ picked up a knock just as he was getting up to speed, the Avalanche’s top checking line from 2024-25 never even got off the ground this season. Defensive maven Logan O’Connor was always going to miss a few months as he continues to rehab from offseason hip surgery, and Joel Kiviranta’s week-to-week injury after just five games meant only grinder Parker Kelly remains in the lineup from what was a solid shutdown unit. Once Kelly’s linemates draw back in, Colorado will be that much stouter in a bottom six that already includes top penalty killer Jack Drury and, of late, Landeskog.

That might sound like a lot of shuffling for a team that’s already soaring, but the Avalanche haven’t been perfect. They’ve dropped five points in overtime, a bizarre number for a group with so much talent and footspeed. They’re cashing in on just 16.7% of power plays, an unfathomably low rate for a unit that combines top-10 scorers Makar, MacKinnon, and Necas. That’s the scary thing about the first-placed Avs, who will try to extend their winning streak to seven Wednesday in Nashville: their best hockey is still ahead of them.

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POST SPONSORED BY bet365

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