By Jordan Long
The Colorado Avalanche season ended the same way as last year, in game 7 in the 2nd round. The Avalanche lost to the Stars 5-4 in overtime. Colorado is now into the offseason.
The Avalanche played well this year. Before the COVID 19 Pandemic, Colorado’s record was 42-20-8 for a total of 92 points, second in the Western Conference to the St. Louis Blues. It is possible had the season not halted, the Blues and the Avalanche would have gone down to the wire to determine who would win the Central Division and the number 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They were scheduled to play game 82 against one another.
In the NHL restart, Colorado ended up in the round robin and went 3-1, earning the 2 seed in the Western Conference. They beat the Arizona Coyotes in 5 games in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Colorado was a favorite in the second round against the Dallas Stars but fell behind 3-1, managing to win 2 straight to force game 7.
The Avalanche ran out of gas and had their season end in overtime. In game 7 they were missing key players including both starting goaltenders in Pavel Francouz and Philipp Grubauer, defensemen Erik Johnson and Conor Timmins, and forwards Matt Calvert, Joonas Donskoi and Captain Gabriel Landeskog. All of these skaters could have made a difference for Colorado. If they were all in the lineup, Colorado may have beaten the Stars to go to their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 2002. Instead, Colorado will look at how to make their team even better going into the 2020-2021 season.
The Avalanche are projected to have around $22.364 million in cap space to spend. General Manager Joe Sakic must decide what restricted free agents to keep. The top names include Andre Burakovsky, Nikita Zadorov, and Ryan Graves. The two that could stay are Andre Burakovsky and Nikita Zadorov. Burakovsky was on the 2nd line for the Avalanche. He scored 20 goals and 25 assists for 45 points. Burakovsky spent time on the power play. He set up in front for tip-ins and found his teammates for chances to score, totaling 2 power play goals and 9 power play assists. Sakic is most likely going to keep him because of his ability to put the puck in the net.
Zadorov could block shots and knock opponents off the puck, ending scoring chances. On offense, he scored 4 goals and 9 assists. Colorado needs to keep him because he is one of their toughest defensemen and he hits a skater hard which allows Colorado to take the puck up ice into the offensive zone.
After that Colorado will look at free agents. Offensively, Colorado has depth to score goals. This is not an issue. Defensively, Alex Pietrangelo would add scoring depth if St. Louis decides to let him go. He would add more firepower on the power play. He totaled 16 goals and 36 assists for 52 points. On the power play, he added 6 goals and 16 assists. Colorado needs a defenseman on the second power play who can fire the puck from the point and be the quarterback on that line. Pietrangelo fixes that.
The issue could be money with Pietrangelo. His cap hit might be $6.5 million which is a lot to take to take on. Sakic will probably pass and find a defenseman or two like him.
General Manager Joe Sakic will do what is best for the team. He may perhaps stand pat with the team he has built now. If he decides to go that route, they will once again be in the hunt for the playoffs and a legitimate Stanley Cup threat.
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