For the second consecutive season, the Colorado Avalanche missed the playoffs. Granted, they were closer to making them in 2015-16 than they were in 2014-15, but that’s no consolation prize.
The Avalanche were in the thick of the playoff race down the stretch. They battled the Minnesota Wild for the final Wild Card spot in the West, but in the end, they came up five points short. The pressure of the postseason chase may have been a bit too much for them to handle because they went 1-8-0 (yes, you read that correctly) in their final nine games.
Three seasons ago, the Avs surprised many when they won the Central Division by collecting an incredible 112 points. It seemed as though their young roster would be dominant for a number of years. Unfortunately for the Avs, that hasn’t been the case.
Now, forward Matt Duchene believes they need to change their mindset if they want to be back in the playoffs next year.
“We didn’t take control, we didn’t go out there every night with the confidence we needed to win and to go and take what we needed to take,” Duchene said, per the Denver Post. “We had a little too much fear, I think, of losing and what we had to lose and I think that’s something we all can think about this summer. It’s a change of mindset. All the tools are there. We have a very good team, so we want to challenge for a playoff spot next season and hopefully a Stanley Cup.”
Duchene put up some solid numbers this season. He led the Avs in goals (30) and points (57). Those totals were good enough to earn him a spot on Team Canada’s World Cup roster. But overall, the Avs weren’t so good. They ranked 19th in goals scored with 216 and 23rd in goals against with 240.
Improved play in their own end would certainly benefit them and getting a bounce-back year from goalie Semyon Varlamov would definitely help too. The 28-year-old had a 2.81 goals-against-average and a .914 save percentage in 57 games.
Is time running out for head coach Patrick Roy? Another lackluster regular season in 2016-17 may lead to some significant changes.