Logan O’Connor isn’t pretending the Avalanche’s playoff exit was anything other than a gut punch.
Colorado had ripped through the first two rounds, sweeping the Los Angeles Kings and then getting past the Minnesota Wild in five games. The run looked like it had real championship momentum behind it. Then Vegas shut it down in the Western Conference Final, and O’Connor says the way it ended still sticks with him.
“I think just the way we lost is tough,” O’Connor told Guerilla Sports’ Meghan Angley at Monday’s Alumni Golf Tournament. “Losing in four was definitely a wake-up call.”
That loss landed especially hard because of everything Colorado had already accomplished. After coming up short in a seven-game first-round series against the Dallas Stars a year earlier, the Avalanche won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top regular-season team.
They also led the league in goals scored and allowed the fewest goals. But once they finally reached the Western Conference Final, the whole thing ended almost immediately.
“I don’t know if we underestimated Vegas or just didn’t play close to our potential,” O’Connor said. “Or they-you know, give them credit too.
They played a great series as well. But I just didn’t think we had our stuff.”
Even with that disappointment, O’Connor made clear the standard inside the room hasn’t changed.
“Conference finals is nothing to slouch about,” he said. “But we know the goal of our group is to win the Stanley Cup again.”
Colorado’s roster will look different when training camp opens. The Avalanche traded Jack Drury to the Nashville Predators for Fedor Svechkov and Zach L’Heureux, signed Jaden Schwartz to a three-year contract and acquired Fabian Lysell from the Boston Bruins for Ivan Ivan. Veteran forward Vinnie Hinostroza was also added.
O’Connor thinks those additions, along with the younger players who will be fighting for roles, can bring a fresh edge.
“We’re gonna have room for younger players this year,” O’Connor said. “I think that’s a big thing-the different type of hunger young players can provide.”
He also stressed that the job won’t fall only on the newcomers. Colorado’s veteran core will need to help them settle in fast and keep the team’s identity intact. The Avalanche, he said, have to find that identity early, trust what they do, and stay connected through the bumps that come with an 84-game season.
“Just focus on ourselves, I think, try and trust our process,” O’Connor said. “Figure out what gives our group success early on.”
There’s also a belief that a loss like the one against Vegas can harden a team.
“Failing as a group can bring a group together,” O’Connor said.
And that may be the lesson Colorado carries forward. The Avalanche don’t just have a first-round disappointment to shake off anymore. They have a conference-final loss that showed them how close they were - and how much more it hurt because of it.
“Once you get a taste of how close it can be, it hurts that much more,” O’Connor said. “So, it’s on us to come back with more hunger, more details, and learn from our mistakes going forward.”
O’Connor’s own year had its own challenges. He returned late in the regular season after a long recovery from hip surgery, his second in as many years. He posted two assists in 13 regular-season games, then suited up for all 13 of Colorado’s playoff games and finished with one goal and one assist.
One of the clearest bright spots for the Avalanche was Parker Kelly, who put together a career season and earned plenty of respect in the room. He played all 82 games in the 2025-26 regular season and set personal bests with 21 goals, 14 assists and 35 points.
O’Connor said Kelly’s rise wasn’t surprising to anyone who’s been around him.
“His work ethic is undeniable,” O’Connor said. “His charisma, as a person, and the attitude he brings every day, in his work, throughout the locker room-he’s a loved teammate.”
For O’Connor, Kelly’s breakout was the kind of payoff that comes after a lot of unseen work.
“Seeing him get rewarded with a great year goes to show all the work he’s put in,” O’Connor said. “It was definitely really cool to see, and we’re rooting for him to do it again now.”
In Other News...
Cale Makar Contract Talk Just Shifted In A Fascinating Direction
Across the league, the defense market is already starting to reshape itself, and that matters for Colorado as much as anyone. Erik Karlssons future could become a trade storyline if Pittsburgh slips out of playoff contention, the Red Wings are trying to sort out their management situation while working through Simon Edvinssons deal, and Quinn Hughes talks are moving slowly enough to keep attention on Minnesotas side of the board.
For the Avalanche, though, the focus stays on Cale Makar and the belief that a new contract will get done before the season starts. Colorado has every reason to want that kind of certainty in place early, especially with the rest of the leagues top defensemen still tied up in one form of negotiation or another, and the timing of those other situations only adds to the sense that the market is shifting around them while they work toward their own finish line. [Read more 🡒]
Artturi Lehkonen Is Forcing A Bigger Avalanche Debate Than Expected
Artturi Lehkonen has quietly become one of the Avalanches most useful pieces since arriving during the 2021-22 season, the kind of complementary winger who makes the stars around him easier to deploy. He fits neatly next to Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar because his game leans on the hard areas: forechecking, net-front work and a willingness to do the little things that tilt shifts in Colorados favor both offensively and defensively.
What makes Lehkonen more interesting now is that his value may still be climbing beyond that already important role. The power play has not been a major part of his output, but there is enough of a track record elsewhere in his game to suggest more could be unlocked there, and that possibility is part of a broader Avalanche conversation about just how much impact he can still have on an already loaded roster. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Enter Camp With One Big Reason For Real Cup Belief
A healthy start has become one of the clearest reasons for optimism around Colorado heading into training camp, and Joe Sakic said the Avalanche expect to arrive in mid-September with the roster in good shape barring any late setbacks. After a season shaped by early absences, the sense around the organization is that the team is better positioned to show what it can really be when its core is available and the standards are where they need to be.
Sakic pointed to the talent on hand and the changes made around it as reasons to believe the Avalanche can again be a legitimate contender. The last season still offered proof of how competitive this group can be even when circumstances were far from ideal, and now the focus shifts to whether a cleaner bill of health can let that upside show from the start. [Read more 🡒]