Each day in the month of August we’ll be examining a different NHL team — from looking back at last season to discussing a player under pressure to focusing on a player coming off a breakthrough year to asking questions about the future. Today we look at the Colorado Avalanche.
Some questions to ponder regarding the 2018-19 Colorado Avalanche...
[Avalanche Day: Looking back | Under Pressure | Breakthrough ]
1. How good will Philipp Grubauer be?
The Avalanche made a big splash this offseason by getting Philipp Grubauer from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a second-round draft pick and taking on Brooks Orpik’s contract (which was then bought out, allowing Orpik to return to Washington on a cheaper salary). The Avalanche immediately signed him to a three-year contract, presumably to be their long-term starting goalie.
The question is just how good he can be? In his limited playing time with the Capitals Grubauer performed as well as any other goalie in the NHL, and was so good this past season that Barry Trotz actually gave him the starting job heading into the playoffs. It was a role he kept for two games before being replaced by long-time starter Braden Holtby -- who then helped lead the team to the Stanley Cup -- but it was still an incredibly strong statement in the belief that the Capitals had in Grubauer.
His limited resume is very encouraging, and he has certainly at least earned the right to be a starter. But it is all still based on an extremely small sampling of data, while goaltenders can be extremely difficult to project.
The potential is certainly there for the Avalanche to have landed an excellent starting goalie, but it is still very much of a mystery.
2. What about the defense?
The Avalanche have been a bad defensive team in recent years, giving up shots and shot attempts at a rate that has consistently placed them among the worst in the league.
Even with their turnaround in the standings this past season, that was still true. One of the things that bailed them out was the fact they received strong goaltending from Semyon Varlamov and Jonathan Bernier. This year the job gets passed along to Varlamov and Grubauer. Still, it would be beneficial for the Avalanche if they could become a better shot suppression team and not have to lean on their goaltenders so much.
Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie have been the mainstays on the blue line in recent seasons, and despite the trade rumors that always seem to follow Barrie around he is still a member of the team.
Nikita Zadorov, one of the pieces from the Ryan O’Reilly trade, took some positive steps forward this past season and is still only 23 years old. Samuel Girard, one of the players they picked up in the Matt Duchene trade is also loaded with potential and had a promising debut with the Avalanche this past season.
Then they also brought in Ian Cole in free agency on a three-year contract that will pay him more than $12 million (just over $4 million per season). Cole is a fearless shot blocker and logs big minutes on the penalty kill, and his role on a two-time Stanley Cup champion in Pittsburgh has certainly boosted his stock around the league. He is probably best served as a third-pairing defenseman, though, and if the Avalanche use him in that role (and with Johnson, Barrie, Zadorov and Girard all on the roster, that is possible) he could be a strong addition. An expensive third-pairing defender for sure, but probably a strong one.
3. Will anybody step up to take some pressure off the top line?
As mentioned in the Under Pressure look, there is going to be a huge expectation for Nathan MacKinnon (along with his linemate, Mikko Rantanen) to carry the offense this season, just as he did this past season. Whether or not he does that remains to be seen, but even if he does if the Avalanche are going to take the next step from a fringe playoff team to a contender in the Western Conference they are going to need another line (or two ... or three) to emerge as a threat offensively. When the MacKinnon-Rantanen duo was off the ice this past season the Avalanche were still a team that was outshot and outscored. That is not going to be good enough, and if there is any sort of a regression from the top line it could erase all the positive strides the Avalanche made in 2017-18.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.