The Colorado Avalanche are back at Ball Arena tonight with the kind of offensive profile that makes every shift feel dangerous. They come in at 9-6-1 through 16 games, scoring 4.13 goals per night and averaging 30.5 shots. Nashville brings a much tighter look into Denver at 6-4-5 after 15 games, with exactly 45 goals for and 45 against.
Colorado is the clear favorite on paper. The pre-game numbers give the Avalanche a 65.4 percent chance to win, with the moneyline around -222 and the total set at 6.5.
That setup is what makes the player prop board worth a closer look. Colorado’s shot volume has been steady all season, and Nashville is allowing 28.9 shots per game, so the individual markets line up naturally with the broader team trends.
Devon Toews is one of the cleaner shot props on the board at Over 1.5 Shots on Goal (+100). Cale Makar will draw most of the attention from opposing scouting reports, and that often opens space for Toews to work into the play behind him. Colorado’s system asks its defensemen to jump into the attack, and that can create room at the points as the Avalanche move through the neutral zone.
Nashville’s structure under head coach Andrew Brunette tends to collapse toward the slot, which cuts off cross-ice looks but leaves space out high. That’s where Toews can do damage.
He also carries a heavy workload against top forwards, and his second power-play unit role gives him another path to shots if the first group needs a change. Two shots is a modest ask for a defenseman in that kind of usage.
Nathan MacKinnon Over 1.5 Points (+105) is the other play that stands out. It’s not often you find plus money on MacKinnon for a multi-point night at home, and he remains the engine of Colorado’s attack. He runs the first power-play unit and drives the offense nearly every time he’s on the ice.
Nashville is organized, but MacKinnon is built to punish even small mistakes in transition. He can beat defenders himself or create for Artturi Lehkonen and Martin Necas, giving him multiple ways to get on the scoresheet. With Colorado scoring more than four goals per game and MacKinnon logging well over 20 minutes, two points is a realistic target.
In Other News...
Avalanche Forward Depth Just Took Another Hit They Can't Easily Cover
Colorados forward depth has already been under pressure, and Zachary LHeureuxs absence only adds to the challenge. The Avalanche have been without him since Oct. 10 because of an upper-body injury, and placing him on long-term injured reserve retroactive to that date underscores how much time they expect to go without him. For a team trying to keep its lines steady, losing another forward this early in the season is not an easy spot to absorb.
Jared Bednar has already labeled the injury long-term, though he stopped short of offering a return date, and LHeureux still has not resumed skating as he works through the recovery process off the ice. That leaves Colorado waiting for any sign of progress while the rest of the roster has to keep carrying the load. In a season where depth is always tested, this is one more absence the Avalanche would rather not be managing for long. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche May Have Found A Draft Gem With One Big Catch
The Avalanche used one of their fourth-round picks in the 2026 NHL Draft on Axel Elofsson, a puck-moving defenseman whose game is built around skating, vision and playmaking. The Swedish blueliner has already shown he can drive offense from the back end, and his production on loan with IK Oskarshamn in HockeyAllsvenskan has only added to the intrigue around his upside.
The catch is the same one that tends to follow skilled young defensemen with this kind of profile: Elofsson is undersized and still has work to do in his own end. Colorado clearly saw enough in the offensive package to take the swing, but his path to becoming more than a promising draft value will depend on whether he can round out the defensive side while continuing to produce at a high level. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Interest In Dylan Larkin Comes With One Huge Problem
The idea of Dylan Larkin in Colorado has enough appeal to keep circulating, but the practical hurdles are still doing most of the talking. Elliotte Friedman said a trade sending the Detroit Red Wings captain to the Avalanche is unlikely unless something major changes, and the reason is pretty straightforward: Colorado does not currently have the trade capital or the salary cap space to make that kind of move work.
For the Avalanche, that leaves the interest in Larkin more as a concept than a real transaction path for now. Detroit would also have to come down on its asking price, and until that happens, the fit remains more theoretical than realistic. It is the kind of rumor that makes sense on paper, but not in the current NHL marketplace. [Read more 🡒]