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What is the Colorado Avalanche’s long-term outlook?

By Adam GretzMar 30, 2020, 5:36 PM EDT

With the 2019-20 NHL season on hold we are going to review where each NHL team stands at this moment until the season resumes. Here we take a look at the long-term outlook for the Colorado Avalanche.

Pending Free Agents

The Core

It might be the best long-term outlook in the entire NHL. They are young, they are good, and they have a ton of salary cap space to work with. At the top of the lineup is the three-headed forward monster of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Gabriel Landeskog. Each player is a star on their own, and when they are put together on a line they form the most dominant offensive trio in the league. All three are signed through the end of next season at a combined salary cap hit of around $20 million. For the production they get out of those three it is an absolute steal against the cap.

MacKinnon is the foundation and still has three more full seasons remaining at $6.3 million per season. It makes him one of the most valuable players in the entire league because he not only gives them MVP, superstar level production to carry the offense, but his contract is so far below market value that it creates additional flexibility under the salary cap.

The same is true with Landeskog who has one year remaining at just a little more than $5.5 million.

Rantanen is the big-money player for now at over $9 million per season for the next five years.

The big question after them was their secondary scoring, but that was addressed over the summer with the additions of Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky, Joonas Donskoi, and Valeri Nichushkin. Kadri and Donskoi are both signed long-term, while Nichushkin — very pleasant surprise this season — and Burakovsky will still be  restricted free agents after this season with plenty of salary cap space to work with to re-sign them.

Beyond that, the Avalanche are set on defense with the quartet of Cale Makar, Samuel Girad, Bowen Byram, and Ryan Graves.

Long-Term Needs

While the goaltending duo of Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz has been outstanding this season, with both signed through at least next season at a very manageable salary cap number, it might still be the one position that gets a second-look from outsiders as a weakness.

Even that is probably a stretch because it is not really a true weakness right now, and if anything has been one of their biggest strengths this season. But given the contract situation beyond next season for Grubauer, and the fact Francouz is already 29 years old with less than 40 games of NHL action on his resume, it could be something that needs to be addressed over the next year.

A lot of it probably depends on how Grubauer plays when he returns this season and in the playoffs (we are still hoping for the remainder of this season and the playoffs) and through next season.

Long-Term Strengths

The obvious answer here is the top trio of forwards, and especially MacKinnon. Superstar talents are the toughest pieces of a championship team to acquire, and the Avalanche not only have those players, they are still in the prime of their careers — or just entering their prime — and signed long-term for team-friendly salary cap numbers.

What really starts to separate the Avalanche is the makeup of their defense.

Cale Makar looks like he is going to be a star and might have a Norris Trophy in his future. Samuel Girard is a fine No. 2 or 3 on a contending team. Bowen Byram, the No. 4 overall pick from this past year as a result of the Matt Duchene trade, is loaded with potential. Ryan Graves has been a huge development this season and only adds to the strength of that young blue line. Out of that quartet Graves is the only one over the age of 21, and even he is still only 24 years old.

The other big strength is simply the fact they are still swimming in salary cap space, even with the new long-term contracts for Rantanen and Girard (which begins next season). Having a team that is already among the best in the league and still having more salary cap space than almost every other contender is going to give them a significant advantage over their biggest competition, not only when it comes to keeping their secondary players, but also adding to their core.

No team is ever guaranteed a championship, but the Avalanche have everything in place to be a top Stanley Cup contender for the foreseeable future.

MORE:
• Looking at the 2019-20 Colorado Avalanche
• Surprises and disappointments

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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.

The Buzzer: Ovechkin remains red hot; Beauvillier lifts Islanders in OT

By Scott CharlesFeb 5, 2020, 12:20 AM EST

Three Stars

1) Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

The Russian superstar is on an incredible pace and added his third hat trick of 2020 on his quest to reach 700 career goals. Ovechkin recorded a natural hat trick in the final six minutes and 10 seconds as the Washington Capitals erased a one-goal third-period deficit in a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings. Ovechkin became the second player in NHL history to reach the 40-goal mark for the 11th time in his career, trailing only Wayne Gretzky’s record of 12 seasons. Players have often struggled when approaching a momentous milestone in their career, but Ovechkin has 14 goals in the previous seven games as he prepares to join an illustrious group.

2) Anthony Beauvillier, New York Islanders

The 22-year-old forward opened and closed the scoring in the Islanders’ 4-3 overtime victory against the Dallas Stars Tuesday. Beauvillier started the night with a beautiful backhander 90 seconds into the game. Jordan Eberle delivered a perfect pass which allowed Beauvillier to get behind the Stars defense. In overtime, Brock Nelson forced a neutral-zone turnover and set up Beauvillier for the overtime winner. No. 18 has five goals and four assists in the previous seven games.

3) Andre Burakovsky, Colorado Avalanche

Burakovsky has proven to be a wise offseason acquisition by Joe Sakic and continued his strong season with a career best four-point performance in the Colorado’s 6-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres. Burakovsky picked up his 17th of the season with a wicked wrist shot in the opening period. He also dished out three assists including a deft pass to set up Nikita Zadorov in the second period. The Avalanche were looking to add scoring depth to complement their top line and Burakovsky has helped fill the void.

Other Notable Performances

  • Joe Thornton became the 14th player to score 1,500 NHL point with two assists.
  • Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves and improved to 14-0-2 in his last 16 starts.
  • Kieffer Bellows recorded his first career point in his NHL debut.
  • Tuukka Rask picked up his fourth shutout of the season as the Boston Bruins extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks.
  • Cale Makar set the record for most points by a rookie defenseman in Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history with 27th assist and 38th point this season.
  • Antti Raanta recorded his second shutout of the season in the Arizona Coyotes’ 3-0 win against the Edmonton Oilers.
  • Ilya Kovalchuk netted the only goal in the shootout in the Montreal Canadiens’ 5-4 win against the New Jersey Devils.

Highlights of the Night

It is hard enough to control a bouncing puck off the boards, but Mathew Barzal was able to place his stick between his legs and score a third-period equalizer in the process.

Zach Werenski fired a wrist shot past his former teammate Sergei Bobrovsky to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 1-0 overtime victory against the Florida Panthers.

Bloopers of the Night

Samuel Girard knew where the puck was, but nobody else on the ice had any idea until it was too late.

Anybody have an idea where Alex Stalock was going early in the first period? Fortunately, the Wild survived the phantom delayed penalty.

Stats of the Night

Scores

Boston Bruins 4, Vancouver Canucks 0

New York Islanders 4, Dallas Stars 3 (OT)

Colorado Avalanche 6, Buffalo Sabres 1

Tampa Bay Lightning 4, Vegas Golden Knights 2

Montreal Canadiens 5, New Jersey Devils 4 (SO)

Washington Capitals 4, Los Angeles Kings 2

Columbus Blue Jackets 1, Florida Panthers 0 (OT)

Anaheim Ducks 3, Ottawa Senators 2 (SO)

St. Louis Blues 6, Carolina Hurricanes 3

Minnesota Wild 3, Chicago Blackhawks 2 (OT)

Nashville Predators 2, Winnipeg Jets 1 (OT)

San Jose Sharks 3, Calgary Flames 1

Arizona Coyotes 3, Edmonton Oilers 0

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Scott Charles is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @ScottMCharles.

WATCH LIVE: Avalanche host Wild on NBCSN

By Sean LeahyDec 27, 2019, 7:00 PM EST

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with Friday’s matchup between the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

The League returns from the Christmas break with 11 games on the schedule, including this Central Division matchup – the third of five regular-season meetings between the Wild and Avalanche. Each team has won at home against the other with the Avs winning, 4-2, on Oct. 5 (second game of the season for both clubs) and the Wild pulling out a 3-2 victory on Nov. 21.

Colorado, looking to return to the postseason for the third straight year, sit second in the Central, while Minnesota is in the thick of the Wild Card hunt – two points back of Calgary for the second position – and certainly not out of the race for a division spot, just three points behind Winnipeg. The Wild missed the playoffs a season ago after making six consecutive appearances from 2012-13 to 2017-18.

Nathan MacKinnon was voted an All-Star captain for the second straight season. Having another MVP caliber season (was the Hart Trophy runner-up two seasons ago), the No. 1 pick in 2013 has played in all 37 games this season and leads the Avs in most major statistical categories – goals (21), assists (34), points (55), shots (168), power-play goals (7), power-play points (20).

Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk missed over a month with a family issue, playing on Nov. 16 and then coming back on Dec. 19. He’s played in three games since his return (two starts). He allowed five goals at Arizona in a win in his first game back and then had the shutout against Calgary on Monday.

The consistent line of Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen is now fully healthy and the second line of Andre Burakovsky–Nazem Kadri–Joonas Donskoi, which is entirely new this season, has been just as productive a trio. After MacKinnon (21), it’s Burakovsky and Donskoi (13 each) and Kadri (12), who are tops on the team in goals this season.

[COVERAGE OF BEGINS AT 7 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

WHAT: Minnesota Wild at Colorado Avalanche
WHERE: Pepsi Center
WHEN: Friday, Dec. 27, 7 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Wild-Avs stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

WILD
Zach Parise – Eric Staal – Mats Zuccarello
Ryan Donato – Joel Eriksson Ek – Kevin Fiala
Jordan Greenway – Nico Sturm – Luke Kunin
Marcus Foligno – Victor Rask – Ryan Hartman

Ryan Suter – Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin – Carson Soucy
Brad Hunt – Mathew Dumba

Starting goalie: Devan Dubnyk

AVALANCHE
Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen
Andre Burakovsky – Nazem Kadri – Joonas Donskoi
Matt Nieto – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Matt Calvert
Tyson Jost – J.T. Compher – Valeri Nichushkin

Cale Makar – Sam Girard
Nikita Zadorov – Ryan Graves
Ian Cole – Erik Johnson

Starting goalie: Pavel Francouz

Kathryn Tappen will host Friday’s coverage on NHL Live alongside analysts Mike Milbury and Keith Jones. Chris Cuthbert will handle play-by-play duties alongside Pierre McGuire at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo.

Episode 2 of the three-part docuseries “Road To The NHL Winter Classic” will air on Friday, Dec. 27, at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. The season finale will be presented on Monday, Jan. 6, at 10:30 p.m. ET immediately following Oilers-Maple Leafs on NBCSN. 

The series will chronicle the Stars and Predators as they prepare to meet outdoors in the 2020 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on January 1 at Cotton Bowl Stadium at 1 p.m. ET on NBC.

Canadiens’ Kotkaniemi leaves game after scary fall (Video)

By Adam GretzDec 5, 2019, 8:39 PM EST
2 Comments

Scary scene in Montreal on Thursday night during the first period of the Canadiens’ game against the Colorado Avalanche.

Second-year forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi had to leave the game after an ugly fall that resulted in him hitting his head off the ice. He remained on the ice for a few moments before being helped off the ice by teammates with his head slumped over.

The Canadiens announced that he was out for the remainder of the game due to an “upper-body injury.”

You can see the sequence in the video above.

It all happened after Kotkaniemi was pinned against the boards by Nikita Zadorov, and then fell backwards. There are a lot of problems with Zadorov’s hit, including the fact it looked to be very late (the puck was long gone from Kotkaniemi when Zadorov initiated the hit) as well as the fact he appeared to lift his right leg and swing into the back of Kotkaniemi’s, knocking him backwards. That doesn’t really qualify as a slew-foot, but everything about the play itself seemed unnecessary.

There was no penalty called on the play.

The Canadiens are already playing without two key forwards in Jonathan Drouin and Paul Byron.

UPDATE:

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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.

Bolt from the blueline: Avs rookie Makar off to flying start

Associated PressNov 14, 2019, 10:15 AM EST

DENVER — Cale Makar is on the move these days – into his own place and into hallowed hockey territory. He’s just getting settled in, too.

The Colorado Avalanche rookie became only the fourth defenseman in NHL history to record 18 points through his first 18 career regular-season games. His teammates maintain that’s due to his ability to see the ice with a veteran’s vision and rarely making the same mistake twice.

His own appraisal is much more subdued.

”I still feel like a rookie,” said Makar, who moved out of teammate Matt Calvert‘s house this year to achieve another level of independence. ”I still have lots to learn.”

Those are precisely the words fellow defenseman Ian Cole wants to hear from the 21-year-old who was drafted with the fourth overall pick in 2017 and received his first taste of NHL action last spring in the playoffs.

”But what’s he going to say? ‘Man, am I good!”’ Cole cracked.

The numbers and early accolades do tend to suggest that, though. Makar was named the third star by the league for the week ending Nov. 10.

On Tuesday night, he scored his fifth goal of the season in a 4-0 win at Winnipeg. It was a game in which goaltender Adam Werner stepped in after starter Pavel Francouz was hurt after 31 seconds. All Werner did was turn in a 40-save shutout in his unexpected NHL debut.

It could be another injury for the Avalanche to weather in what’s already been a banged-up season. They’re currently without captain Gabriel Landeskog, forward Mikko Rantanen, goaltender Philipp Grubauer, forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and defenseman Nikita Zadorov.

”It’s tough,” said Makar, who has 13 assists this season. ”At the end of the day, we have so much depth.”

Makar has given Colorado a big scoring boost.

A notable stat: The last rookie defenseman with more points than Makar through their first 18 regular-season games was Hall of Famer Larry Murphy, who had 19 for Los Angeles in 1980-81. The two other NHL blueliners with more points through 18 games were Hall of Famers Hap Day (21 points with the Toronto St. Patricks in 1924-25) and Harry Cameron (20 with the Toronto Arenas in 1917-18), according to research from NHL Stats.

Another noteworthy stat: Makar’s nine assists in October set an Avalanche record for a rookie defenseman in a month.

And another: His five straight games with at least a point to kick off the season matched the Avalanche record (since 1995-96) for the longest stretch to begin a career.

”He’s a guy that’s just so naturally talented,” Cole said. ”His maturity level is well beyond his years. He’s very analytical in the sense that when he sees something, we can talk through something and you can almost see him learning. He can catalog that.

”If I’m right in that assessment, he’s going to be very, very good very quickly and for a very long time.”

Last April, Makar signed an entry contract with Colorado after his Frozen Four run with UMass came to an end (he won the Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s top NCAA hockey player).

His first contest in an Avs sweater was Game 3 against the Western Conference’s top seed, Calgary. He made an immediate impact by becoming the first defenseman in league history to score a goal while making his NHL debut in the playoffs. Makar ended up with one goal and five assists in the postseason.

That jumpstarted his career. But it doesn’t lessen his learning curve, he maintained, through his first regular season.

”It’s just adjusting – whether it’s to the lifestyle or just the game schedule. Everything is different here,” said Makar, whose new place is within walking distance of most of his teammates. ”You have a lot more free time. It’s filling those times with useful stuff that’s going to help you. … It’s your job to worry about this.”

A little bit ago, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar sat down with his young defenseman after not seeing quite the same version of Makar he saw in the playoffs. They went over a few things – using his skating to work his way out of tough situations inside the ”D” zone and taking off if he sees openings in the neutral zone.

No need to tell him twice.

”He’s really implemented it in his game, and really bounced back in a hurry,” Bednar said. ”I feel really comfortable with where his game’s at.”