By Jordan Long
The Colorado Avalanche and the Denver Nuggets had high hopes for the season with the ultimate goal of bringing a championship back to the Mile High City. The Avalanche hadn’t won the Stanley Cup since 2001 while the Nuggets have never won the NBA Championship. Both fell short of that goal. The question is which one is closer to winning a championship right now?
The Colorado Avalanche were the favorites to win the Stanley Cup, but lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in game 6 of the 2nd round. Looking at their roster, they have two of the best young players in the league which include Nathan McKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. They would like to keep captain Gabriel Landeskog but he is a free agent. Brandon Saad, who was one of their leading goal scorers on the team in the playoffs, is also a free agent. Colorado wants him to stay as well. For both of them it will come down to money and how much cap space Colorado has to offer them contracts. If there is a better deal, they both may not be in an Avalanche sweater for the 2022 season.
On defense, Colorado has fire power to score from near the blue line. These include Samuel Girard, Devon Toews, and Cale Makar. Maker is a restricted free agent but more than likely he will be back with Colorado. Colorado, though, could use a defenseman who can play a more physical game to check skaters from entering the zone. Too many times the defensemen for Colorado allowed Vegas to carry the puck in for scoring chances without being hit.
In hockey, the only way a team wins a Cup is to have a goaltender who can stop the puck from entering the net. Colorado thought they had that in Philipp Grubauer. He played well until game 6 where he gave up 6 goals which ended Colorado’s year. Grubauer is also a free agent. Colorado needs to do whatever it takes to keep him. He played well this year. If not, Colorado could be hurting at goaltender but they could replace him in free agency.
Colorado is still in pretty good shape to make a deep run yet again. They just have some holes to fill. Once they do that, they may win the Cup again but how does that compare to the Denver Nuggets team right now?
The Nuggets were swept in the 2nd-round to the Suns. It was not a competitive series. The Suns won all 4 games by 10 plus points. Denver couldn’t stop Chris Paul or the outside shooting of the Suns.
The Nuggets though are in better shape than the Avalanche with their roster. They have two free agents who are probably not coming back in Paul Millsap and JaVale McGee. Out of all the Nuggets free agents Austin Rivers is most likely going to stay because they need depth at the point guard position. More than likely they won’t have Jamal Murray back until later in the 2021-22 season because he is recovering from surgery for a torn ACL.
The other two players who may not stay in Denver are Will Barton and JaMychal Green. Both have player options. If they decline, they are free agents and can sign with any team they choose. Both could sign their player options and still could be back with the Denver Nuggets.
Even without both of those players, Denver is still a threat to win the NBA Championship. They have the best center in the game in Nikola Jokic. Michal Porter Jr. emerged at least in the regular season as a shooter who can make a shot anywhere on the court. They have a defender they traded for at the trade deadline in Aaron Gordon. Gordon defends the top scorer on the opponents’ team.
Denver could use another scorer who can hit 3’s. Denver struggled against the Suns to hit the 3 pointers shooting just 34.8% in the series. That is an area to look for in free agency if Will Barton and JaMychal Green choose to opt-out of their current contracts. Denver could always use another defender to stop teams from scoring easy buckets or even 3-pointers. In the end they aren’t missing much to win the NBA Championship.
Looking at both rosters the way they are set right now, the Denver Nuggets are closer to an NBA Championship than the Colorado Avalanche. The Nuggets have more of a complete team and they don’t have many free agents. Sure there are a few holes to fill in free agency. Colorado has more decisions to make since they have more players who are restricted or unrestricted free agents. Of course, once free agency is over for both teams, this could change. They could both build teams to become champions in 2022. The Nuggets are clearly closer at this point in time.
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