The Colorado Avalanche are staring at a familiar kind of offseason problem: the kind that comes with having too many good players and not enough room to keep them all.
Cale Makar’s upcoming extension is the big-ticket item, the one that will make him a “very happy rich man” and reshape the rest of the roster picture for Joe Sakic. Even with the salary cap going up, the Avalanche still appear unlikely to hold their entire core together for the long haul.
Nathan MacKinnon, Devon Toews and Makar look like the long-term anchors. Artturi Lehkonen is the name hovering just outside that group.
Lehkonen is due for a new deal at the same time as Makar, and after playing on a $4.5 million annual contract over the last five seasons, he’s positioned to get paid more. That’s no mystery.
Jared Bednar and Lehkonen’s teammates have repeatedly made clear how valuable he is, both as a player and as a fit. He finished fourth on the team in goals this past season and sixth in points.
His importance could grow even more now that Valeri Nichushkin is gone, after being traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets this offseason. Lehkonen’s production may climb with the added opportunity, and he could again land in the mid-40s in points, where he has usually lived. More ice time is also on the table if the second line ends up thinner than before.
For all the contract talk, the Avalanche’s big picture hasn’t changed: the goal is still to win the Stanley Cup. Missing the playoffs would be a disaster, and that doesn’t look like a real concern.
The issue is what happens once the postseason starts. Colorado hasn’t returned to the Stanley Cup Final since winning it all in 2021-22, and that has become the hurdle that matters most.
If that keeps happening, Bednar could eventually push for changes. Lehkonen feels like too important a piece to move, but the Avalanche already showed this offseason that nothing is off-limits when they traded Nichushkin.
There is another path, though, and it may be the cleaner one for cap space: moving Brock Nelson, who the Avalanche just signed to an extension. Nelson isn’t a bad player, but he is older and, as the source put it, does not perform well in the playoffs.
So the pressure point is clear. Sakic doesn’t have to solve it right now, but he does have to start thinking ahead. The Avalanche are heading into the realities of the cap, where everyone can’t stay and tough choices eventually come due.
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Avalanche Goalie Prospect Ivan Yunin Is Forcing A Bigger Conversation
Ivan Yunins stock has started to rise in a way that makes the Avalanches long-term goaltending picture a little more interesting. The 20-year-old draft pick, taken in 2024, landed 22nd in Mile High Hockeys 2026 Top 25 Under 25 rankings, a nod to how much he improved over the course of the 2025-26 season in Russias MHL. He spent the entire year in junior hockey, but the performance drew attention because the numbers and the athletic traits behind them both pointed in the same direction.
The bigger question now is what comes next for a goalie who looks ready for a stiffer challenge. Yunin led the MHL with eight shutouts and finished with a .919 save percentage and 1.79 goals-against average, production that suggests he has already outgrown one level. The expectation is that his next stop will come in a higher league, with the VHL viewed as the most likely landing spot and at least a possible KHL look also part of the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Fans Just Earned A Reputation Rival Fans Already Knew
Avalanche fans have never exactly been shy, and now there is a study to back up what plenty of opposing fan bases already suspected. Casino.orgs Rage-Bait Index ranked Colorado sixth overall and No. 1 in the Western Conference, crediting the kind of online behavior that tends to get under rival fans skin, from postgame bragging to the sort of memes that linger long after the final horn.
For a team that has spent recent seasons shaping itself into a steady playoff presence, that kind of reputation comes with the territory. Colorados roster stability has already given its supporters reason to look ahead with confidence, and the possibility of another strong run in 2026-27 only figures to make the chirping louder, even if the rest of the league would prefer a little less celebrating. [Read more 🡒]