With Colorado Avalanche training camp getting underway on Thursday, it’s a good moment to circle back to the kinds of storylines that can get lost beneath the obvious ones. Not the headline-grabbers.
The quieter questions. The ones that might end up shaping the season just as much.
Last year, the big questions were easy to spot: how Martin Necas would fit over a full season, whether Brock Nelson really solved the 2C spot, and if Jack Drury could lock down the third-line center job. Those were the obvious flashpoints. But there were also a few less flashy threads worth tracking, and that’s the lane again for 2026-27.
One of the most fascinating ones involves Brent Burns and what happens once he gets within striking distance of history. Burns is 41, carries an Ironman streak of 1,007 straight games, and sits just 57 games shy of Phil Kessel’s NHL record. The Avalanche brought back the same defensive group that closed last season, with Sam Malinski stepping into a second-pair role, Brett Kulak fitting in next to him, and Josh Manson shifting to the left side so he could spend most of his time with Burns when the games mattered most.
Now comes the real question: once the record is his, does Burns keep going every night, or does he and the Avalanche decide it’s smarter to protect the legs? The league is adding two more games this season, pushing the schedule to 84, and there were already signs late last year that the grind was catching up to him. If this is truly his final NHL season, and if the Stanley Cup is still the one major thing missing from his résumé, there’s a case for trimming his workload once the streak is secure and saving him for the stretch run.
Another spot worth watching is fourth-line center. Colorado spent two seasons trying to make Jack Drury work in the third-line role before landing on the same answer twice: he was better suited for the fourth line.
And he was excellent there, especially with Parker Kelly, Logan O’Connor and, at times, Joel Kiviranta around him. But Drury is now in Nashville, and that leaves a job that looks open but won’t stay that way forever.
Fedor Svechkov is the cleanest candidate. He came to Colorado from Nashville in the Drury trade and has a real chance to grab the role right away.
If that doesn’t happen, Jared Bednar has options he’s already leaned on. Kelly can move back to center, even if he’s been more effective on the wing.
Nic Roy is in the mix too; he handled fourth-line center duties for the Vegas Golden Knights during their 2023 Stanley Cup run, even though he’s mostly played right wing on Colorado’s third line since arriving. And then there’s the rookie group, with T.J.
Hughes standing out as the most interesting name. The 24-year-old centered at Michigan and wants to grow into a top-nine, and maybe even top-six, forward in Colorado, which would likely mean shifting to the wing.
That’s what makes the position so compelling early in camp. There are bodies for it. What the Avalanche need is certainty.
Then there’s Ilya Nabokov, who made his intentions clear when he spoke with the media last week alongside a translator. The 22-year-old goalie said he wants to play as many NHL games as possible. He’s under contract for just one season, but after that he’ll be an RFA with team control, and he did not come over from Russia to sit in the AHL long term.
He wants the NHL. He wants to earn it.
The question now is how he gets his chances, and how many there will be. A long-term injury to Mackenzie Blackwood or Scott Wedgewood would obviously open the door.
So would a stretch where one of the veterans struggles enough to force Colorado into a different look. Or Nabokov could simply take over the AHL and make himself impossible to ignore.
However it happens, that part of the season is going to be worth watching. The Avalanche clearly see NHL potential there. The only thing left to learn is how fast that potential turns into actual games.
In Other News...
Avalanche Face One Contract Question With Lehkonen Now
The Avalanche have already taken care of most of the heavy lifting on their roster business before the NHLs Sept. 16 deadline that restricts eight-year contracts, locking in a full group as training camp gets going. Cale Makars record-setting deal has already set the tone for the organizations long-term spending, but the front office still has one important file left open as the season approaches.
Artturi Lehkonen is in the final year of his five-year contract, and his next deal is the one that now requires the most projection. With player salaries continuing to climb, figuring out the market for a winger whose value has become clearer inside Colorado than outside it is not a simple exercise, and the Avalanche may have to sort through that uncertainty sooner rather than later. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Face One Big Question As Pressure Builds On Aging Core
The Avalanche enter the next stretch of their window with the same basic tension that shadows every contender once the shine of a Presidents Trophy season starts to fade. A top-heavy roster can look unstoppable when everything is clicking, but the grind of repeating that kind of year is rarely simple, especially when some of the familiar faces in the core are getting older and the teams pace can be tested by faster opponents.
At the same time, Colorado still has reasons to believe the floor is high. The core remains intact, which gives the Avalanche a level of stability most teams would envy, and there is always the possibility that younger players can help offset some of the concerns around speed and age. The real question is whether those internal gains are enough to push the group forward again, or whether the warning signs start to show up when the 2026-27 season arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Joe Sakics Role Just Gave Avalanche Camp A Different Feel
The Avalanches front office is heading into camp with a little more continuity than some around the league might expect. Colorado will keep Joe Sakic in his full-time general manager role and is not planning to bring in a new GM, a setup that keeps one of the franchises most recognizable figures at the center of the rosters next phase.
Across the NHL, the timing of long-term planning is getting more interesting as the current collective bargaining agreement moves toward expiration. Martin St. Louis just agreed to a three-year extension with the Canadiens, and players are locking in longer deals before the next labor cycle changes the landscape, including Brett Kulaks recent five-year extension with Colorado. For the Avalanche, Sakic staying put adds another layer of stability to a team that already knows how valuable it is to have decisions made with the long view in mind. [Read more 🡒]