The Hockey News is still backing Colorado to win the Stanley Cup, and on paper it’s easy to see why. The Avalanche have kept building around Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, and this version of the roster looks deeper, tougher and more complete than the one that got knocked out last spring.
But that playoff exit in the first round against Vegas still hangs over everything.
Colorado was swept by the Golden Knights after Makar got hurt and MacKinnon wasn’t at full strength, and it’s tempting to file that away as a simple injury story. That’s not really the full picture.
By the time the conference finals roll around, everybody is banged up. That’s just playoff hockey.
Vegas captain Mark Stone was playing through a torn adductor, Noah Hanifin had an upper-body injury that could have kept him out for months in the regular season, and Brayden McNabb was dealing with two injuries before the facial injury that became one of the defining images of the Stanley Cup Final.
Vegas was hurt, too.
And Vegas still beat Colorado.
That’s what makes the matchup matter more than the injuries. The Golden Knights had the exact kind of structure, personnel and discipline to make life miserable for the Avalanche.
Colorado wants to fly, attack the middle of the ice and turn chaos into chances before the other team can reset. Vegas could slow that down, clog the lanes, win the wall battles and drag the series into a heavy, physical fight.
The injuries mattered. They always do.
But this wasn’t just a case of Colorado getting unlucky against a lesser team. It was a good team with a clear blueprint for beating the Avalanche - and the Golden Knights executed it.
That’s why the bigger argument for Colorado still has teeth. Makar is locked in for eight years.
MacKinnon remains the franchise engine. Martin Necas is coming off a 100-point season, and Nazem Kadri and Nicolas Roy give the Avalanche real depth up the middle.
Brett Kulak is back on defense, while Jaden Schwartz adds another veteran forward who could matter if he stays healthy.
There’s also Zach L'Heureux, who brings something Colorado has needed at times: bite. The Avalanche don’t have to give up their speed-and-skill identity, but there’s a difference between playing fast and being easy to play against. L'Heureux should help make them harder to move around.
Fabian Lysell is another name worth watching. If Colorado can turn him into another reclamation win, the kind of thing it pulled off with Valeri Nichushkin, the forward group gets even deeper.
Still, this isn’t a free pass to the Cup Final. The Central Division is loaded, with Minnesota and Dallas still very much in the mix, and the Western Conference has plenty of teams that can turn a series into a grind. And if Colorado sees Vegas again, the Avalanche will have to show that last spring was the exception, not the warning sign.
So yes, Colorado is the pick.
The reasons are obvious: stars, depth, goaltending and, finally, a roster that has a little more nastiness to it. But after what happened against Vegas, that’s not enough to hand them anything.
They’ve got the ingredients. Now they have to prove they can hold together when the games get tight, the ice gets smaller and the pressure gets heavier.
For all the talent in place, certainty is still a little ahead of Colorado.
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Avalanche Have A Costly Discipline Problem Fans Cant Ignore
The Avalanches edge last season came with a pricey downside. A study by Casino.org found Colorado paid $369,840 to players for time spent in the penalty box, the second-highest total in the league, after the club piled up 372.6 shorthanded minutes across 221 infractions.
What makes the bill sting even more is that the penalty kill was still one of the teams strengths, with Colorado allowing just 17 power play goals, a number that landed in the bottom third of the league. So the issue was not only the damage opponents could do on the man advantage, but the simple cost of constantly giving them the chance. [Read more 🡒]
Cale Makar Gives Avalanche Fans A Reason To Worry Before Opening Night
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There has been no official word confirming an injury, and the uncertainty has only fueled questions about whether this is a minor issue or simply a careful ramp-up after his contract extension. For a team built around Makars presence at full speed, even a brief absence is enough to make fans pay close attention. [Read more 🡒]
Ilya Nabokov Now Carries A Huge Avalanche Future Question
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What makes Nabokov so intriguing is also what makes his path so uncertain. Goaltenders can look promising on paper and still need time to adjust to the smaller rink, the pace, and the different demands that come with life in this part of the game. Colorado clearly sees enough there to place him at the top of its prospect rankings, but the real question is how quickly he can turn that upside into something usable for the Avalanche when the stakes get much higher. [Read more 🡒]