With 18 games in the books, the Colorado Avalanche have already produced a few clear cases of players running hot - and a couple who are still waiting for the bounces to turn. Shooting percentage tells part of the story here, and for some guys, it’s shining a bright light on just how well the puck is finding the net.
Artturi Lehkonen has been the obvious standout. He’s long had that knack for popping up in the right spot with quick hands and a scorer’s touch, and this season he’s turned it into a blistering start.
At one point, he was shooting as high as 45%, a number that helped push him into the top three in NHL goals. That rate has come down to 31.2%, but the production is still there: 12 goals on 38 shots, which leads Colorado.
If he can get past 27 goals, he’d set a new career high.
Martin Nečas has also forced his way into the conversation after scoring twice in the shutout win against Detroit. That pushed his shooting percentage to 23.7%, the second-best mark on the Avalanche.
He now sits third on the team with nine goals and is tied with Nathan MacKinnon and Nazem Kadri for the team lead with three power play goals. Nečas scored a career-high 38 goals last season, and he’s on pace to reach 40 this year.
His game is built to create volume, especially with the man advantage, which gives him a real path to keep piling up goals.
Devon Toews has been one of the quieter success stories. He already has five goals, which is more than the three he scored in 68 games last season.
On 34 shots, he’s converting at 14.7%, a big jump from his 6.4% career average. He’s also getting to shoot a little more, averaging almost two shots per game.
At the same time, the Avalanche appear to be managing his workload a bit more carefully. Toews is averaging under 21 minutes per game, his lowest since the 2019-20 season, when he was in his first full year with the New York Islanders.
Even if the goal pace settles down, the lighter minutes could help him stay fresher.
Not everyone has found the finish yet. Brent Burns and Sam Malinski are still searching for their first goal of the season, even though both have been active shooters.
Burns has 27 shots, while Malinski has 23, leaving them third and fourth among the defensemen in shots on goal. Both are also showing up on the league leaderboard for shots without a goal.
TJ Hughes has been in a similar spot, only with a much smaller sample and a lot more uncertainty. The rookie is tied for second on the team with 46 shots on goal, but only two have gone in, leaving him with a 4.3% shooting percentage. He’s probably due for some improvement if he keeps getting regular minutes, but at this stage of his career, it’s still tough to know exactly how much of a jump to expect.
In Other News...
Avalanche May Have A Tough Lehkonen Decision Coming
Artturi Lehkonen has become one of the steadier pieces in Colorados mix, and his strong play this season only adds to the value he brings to the Avalanche. He is in the final year of his five-year contract, which means the front office is already staring at a familiar kind of roster puzzle: rewarding a player who has earned it while keeping an eye on the cap and the other business that comes with an approaching offseason.
Chris Johnston recently noted that Lehkonen would like to stay in Colorado, but the financial side of the equation could make that difficult. For the Avalanche, the question is not about whether he fits, but whether they can keep him at market value without squeezing the rest of their plans, a decision that could eventually force a hard choice between a departure and a discount. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Finally Have The Spark They Needed Before This Road Trip
The Avalanche got exactly the kind of lift they had been waiting for before heading back on the road, blanking the Red Wings 4-0 at home for their first shutout of the season. Martin Neas supplied two goals, Cale Makar finally broke through for his first power-play goal of the season, and Mackenzie Blackwood turned aside 27 shots to keep Detroit from ever finding a way back in.
Special teams were a big part of what made the night feel different for Colorado, which has been looking for a cleaner, sharper version of itself. With the power play clicking and the penalty kill backing it up, the Avalanche left the building with a performance that looked a lot more like the team they expect to be, and a little momentum to carry into the next stop. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Shake Up Blue Line As Bednar Searches For Answers
Colorados early-season defensive issues have pushed Jared Bednar to make a familiar kind of adjustment, one aimed at steadying a blue line that has looked too loose for comfort. The Avalanche coach split Cale Makar and Devon Toews into different pairings, with Makar skating alongside Brett Kulak and Toews matched with Sam Malinski, a move designed to spread out the workload and give the group a better chance to defend with more structure.
For a team built around elite puck-moving talent, the challenge has been finding a balance between unleashing that offense and tightening up on the other side of the puck. The recent losses have only sharpened the urgency, and Bednars reshuffled pairings are the latest sign that Colorado is still searching for the right formula before the season drifts any further off track. [Read more 🡒]