News Avalanche Team Notes

[Colorado Avalanche]

Preview: It’s Nordiques vs. Whalers at Ball Arena

Well, folks, the long-anticipated wait is finally over. The teasing and trolling are over, and we have the new Nordiques Jersey. The first game they will see comes against the Hartford Whalers, or as they are currently known, the Carolina Hurricanes. This game doesn’t just set up as a sight for sore eyes because of the threads and nostalgic aesthetics, but also because these two teams are good. Let’s put it this way: they might look like NHLers from the early ’90s, but this game will be played at a much higher pace.

A clash of the classics pic.twitter.com/pneMKyraEV

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 23, 2025

Colorado Avalanche: 5-0-2​

The Opponent: Carolina Hurricanes 5-1-0

Time: 7:00 p.m. MT

Watch: Altitude, Altitude+, ESPN+

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio, 92.5 FM

Quebec Nordiques (Colorado Avalanche)​

The Avalanche were a bit disappointed in their performance last time out against a seemingly pesky and tenacious Utah Mammoth club. That might be true, but stealing a point and remaining unbeaten in regulation seven games into the season is among the more idealistic ways to begin a season.

Colorado lost in part due to a controversial offside ruling by referees and Toronto NHL HQ alike when Gabe Landeskog’s first regulation goal in three years was taken off the board. The NHL spent a good chunk of time and effort on Wednesday, detracting fans who weren’t satisfied with, “Nichushkin’s actions forced the Utah player to put it back into his own end.” Jared Bednar had this to say regarding the ruling, “It’s bogus… I think they got it wrong.” He also called it nonsense, and I tend to agree.

Let’s see if Landeskog and the whole second line can get back on the scoresheet tonight against Carolina, who will test Colorado’s depth just like any other Stanley Cup Contender.

We will get to see Scott Wedgewood’s throwback goalie gear tonight, which will be awesome. I have said this in many different ways in all of my previews so far this season—Scott Wedgewood is good. The Avalanche is currently allowing the fewest goals per game (1.86 GAA), and seeing as no one else has even gotten a start between the pipes, that’s all, Scott, who currently holds the NHL’s fourth-best save percentage (.927) as well.

Last thing I’ll add, and I’ll be quick. Let the Marty Party roll on and let it roll against his former club!

Projected Lineup:​

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Gabe Landeskog — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton — Jack Drury — Viktor Olofsson
Parker Kelly — Zakhar Bardakov — Gavin Brindley

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Josh Manson — Brent Burns
Ilya Solovyov — Sam Malinski

Scott Wedgewood
Trent Miner

Hartford Whalers (Carolina Hurricanes)​

As mentioned, the Hurricanes are a great team and a solid litmus test for the Avalanche, as hopes of a long playoff run and cup quest feel more and more legitimized. The Hurricanes are all about puck possession, as Jackie Kay mentioned in this week’s edition of the Mile High Hockey Lab, so we should key on that part of the game early, given that Colorado similarly prioritizes puck possession.

This game could get spicy and has the potential for a pseudo-rivalry, as many fans of the two clubs are at odds over the Mikko Rantanen and Martin Necas/Jack Drury trade. Brent Burns, also formerly of the Carolina Hurricanes, will be honored ahead of tonight’s game for his 1,500th career NHL contest as well. Any revenge-game scenario can play into the formation of a rivalry, but I say “pseudo” because the two won’t play much due to conference alignment.

Carolina is off to a good start themselves with just the one regulation loss in their first six games, which came on Monday at the hands of the Mitch Marner-led Vegas Golden Knights. Seth Jarvis, Sebastian Aho, and Shayne Gostisbehere are the point leaders in Carolina, and they’ve added K’Andre Miller to their back end, who has 4 points in six games so far.

A classic matchup between two franchises hits the ice tonight at Ball Arena.

Be there pic.twitter.com/SLWn6xQE4o

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 23, 2025

Projected Lineup:​

Nikolaj Ehlers — Sebastian Aho — Seth Jarvis
Taylor Hall — Logan Stankoven — Jackson Blake
William Carrier — Jordan Staal — Jordan Martinook
Andrei Svechnikov — Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Eric Robinson

K’Andre Miller — Sean Walker
Alexander Nikishin — Jalen Chatfield
Mike Reilly — Charles-Alexis Legault

Frederik Andersen
Pyotr Kochetkov

let’s go BACK IN TIME!

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colo...review-its-nordiques-vs-whalers-at-ball-arena

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

How the pandemic helped Colorado win the Stanley Cup

One of the most popular talking points from the Colorado Avalanche front office in recent years has been how the pandemic has hamstrung their roster building efforts and ability to retain much of their 2022 Stanley Cup winning squad. But is that really the case?

Chris MacFarland on building out the Avalanche roster over the last few years:

“COVID hurt us — there’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it.”#GoAvsGo | @gs_off_ice pic.twitter.com/eu8feZxPjw

— Guerilla Sports (@guerillasports_) October 6, 2025

Building a Champion

First, let’s examine how the 2022 Stanley Cup champion Avalanche took advantage of the challenging landscape of the pandemic and three years of a flat $81.5M salary cap to fortify their roster worthy of winning a championship.

It all starts on the back of a major competitive advantage that the Avalanche held as their superstar Nathan MacKinnon was on a $6.3M average annual value contract through the 2022-23 season. The organization was able to utilize the extra salary cap space by investing in a lot of other contracts including most notably one of their most successful strategies which was targeting undervalued arbitration eligible Restricted Free Agents in trades. This blueprint began in 2019 with the Andre Burakovsky trade from Washington but the strategy really accelerated during the flat-cap environment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Avalanche front office’s crowning achievement may have been on October 12, 2020 when Colorado extracted Devon Toews from the New York Islanders just two days after he filed for arbitration. No doubt the flat $81.5M salary cap made an impact on the Islanders who were forced to let a valuable piece go before the 2020-21 season began and in fact Toews wasn’t the only defenseman in the league hastily moved that offseason. Colorado gave Toews a nice raise from the $700K he was previously earning to $4.1M over the next four years coinciding with their championship window.

Also in that fall of 2020 as the widespread uncertainty and diminished ability for teams to spend played a hand in Colorado signing both Andre Burakovsky ($4.9M) and Val Nichushkin ($2.5M) to moderate raises, which they were both under contract at when they lifted the Stanley Cup. Similarly, when both Gabriel Landeskog ($7M) and Cale Makar ($9M) signed their seven-year contracts in the summer of 2021, the Avalanche enjoyed the benefits of flat cap cost savings then as well.

In the spring of 2022 was when the Avalanche put the finishing touches on their successful RFA strategy with the trade deadline addition of Artturi Lehkonen. It was unusual to pry away a player with team control months before the offseason. But the Canadiens decided Lehkonen had priced himself out of Montreal to the benefit of Colorado. The Avalanche knew Lehkonen was due a raise upcoming that summer on his previous salary of $2.3M on a two-year contract.

The Aftermath

Now the argument is the NHL’s flat cap then in turn prevented the Avalanche from retaining the bulk of their championship roster. It’s true that tough choices have to eventually be made for every team that has built a contender. But a hypothetical salary cap that had continued to rise had there not been a pandemic isn’t an just easy solution with free get-out-of-jail money as the salaries would have continued to inflate along with the cap. Additionally, in the 2022 offseason the cap actually wasn’t flat as it began to move up by $1M annually as the league was emerging from the pande at that time ahead of the 2022-23 season with more growth expected on the horizon.

For the Avalanche, they still invested in long term contracts that summer after winning the Stanley Cup. Nichushkin signed his long-term extension in the 2022 offseason for $6.125M per year for eight years right before he walked onto the open market. The other big ticket signing was for the previously mentioned Lehkonen just a couple days later at $4.5M for five years. And despite the slowly rising cap at the time the Avalanche still found the $4.5M to retain defenseman Josh Manson for the next four years. All three contract values would certainly have been higher had the cap not been set at $82.5M for the 2022-23 season.

The greatest beneficiary to the Avalanche of all may have been signing their franchise cornerstone superstar center Nathan MacKinnon to his eight-year deal at $12.6M per year, which was the highest AAV contract in the league when he signed it on September 20, 2022. We don’t even need to do math to figure that had there not been three seasons of a pandemic depressed flat salary cap at $81.5M that someone else would have set the league’s highest AAV beyond Connor McDavid’s $12.5M which Colorado would have to beat to give MacKinnon the highest contract value. Even if the highest yearly contract wasn’t the ultimate goal, Nathan MacKinnon would have easily been paid more had there not been a pause on cap growth by the pandemic.

In the four years before the pandemic the NHL salary cap had risen 14% from $71.4M in 2015-16 to $81.5M in 2019-20. If that same rate of growth occurred from that cap to the 2023-24 season when MacKinnon’s new deal kicked in he would have been negotiating off of roughly a $93M cap. Assuming then if he received the same 15.09% of the cap, which he signed in the aforementioned 2022 deal, his salary would have came out to $14.03M starting the 2023-24 season. Still a bargain considering where financials are going today but certainly a greater cost to the franchise. Furthermore, had the NHL experienced these recent jumps of $8-9M growth over the three pandemic years instead of the at the time projected modest $2-3M increases then MacKinnon might have easily cashed in at $17 million long before Kirill Kaprizov did. That jump simply doesn’t give the Avalanche more money to play with, it increases their expenses.

The true argument really is about Nazem Kadri and would the Avalanche have had their second line center for the last three years of early playoff exits following their Stanley Cup win had there been no flat cap? Again, the $7M and 8.48% of the cap he signed for with the Calgary Flames in 2022 would have been at least 10 percent higher had the salary cap continued to rise modestly. Would Colorado have had the appetite to pay that regardless? It seemed as they always made a calculated decision to move on from a beloved but inconsistent player past his age 30 season who increased his production from 32 points to 87 in a contract year. Had they known the repeated failures, wasted assets and big investments the organization would experience in the years since moving on from Kadri perhaps they might have evaluated the decision differently. But don’t blame it on COVID.

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colo...-pandemic-helped-colorado-win-the-stanley-cup

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Preview: A Saturday Afternoon To-Do is a Bruin Redux for the Avs

The Colorado Avalanche have been served a steady diet of Eastern Conference opponents here in the fledgling stages of the 2025-2026 season. Today, they go for seconds in Boston against the Bruins to kick off the first half of a back-to-back set this weekend.

Colorado Avalanche (5-0-3)​

The Opponent: Boston Bruins (3-6-0)

Time: 1:00 P.M. MDT/3:00 P.M. EDT

Watch: ALT, NESN, NHLN

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio KKSE-FM 92.5 FM

Colorado Avalanche​

Heading into their previous match-up last Saturday at Ball Arena, the Avalanche were looking to break a three game losing streak against Boston. Things didn’t look promising early on, as John Beecher gave Boston a lead just over three minutes into the first period. However, a two goal outing from Nathan MacKinnon and a three point effort from Artturi Lehkonen would power the Avalanche to a 4-1 victory. The Avs held the Bruins to a paltry seven shots on goal through the second and third period combined, and extended their unbeaten streak against the Eastern Conference on home ice to eight games.

The Avalanche had been playing some very impressive hockey coming into this past week, so a drop-off in their game was bound to happen sooner or later. They dug holes for themselves against the Utah Mammoth this past Tuesday, and again this past Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes. With the Avs trailing in the third period in both games, Martin Nečas and Valeri Nichushkin provided tying goals against Utah and Carolina, respectively, where opportunities to secure victory were there for the taking. Unfortunately, the Avs couldn’t complete the comeback in both games, culminating in an abrupt overtime loss to Utah and a shootout loss to Carolina.

Despite playing some of their worst hockey to this point in the season, there were some positives that the Avalanche can build on. When it looked like both games were destined for regulation losses, they managed to salvage a point in each game to continue banking valuable points in the Central Division landscape. Scott Wedgewood didn’t have his strongest performances this week, but the Avs managed to position themselves to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat despite coming up short in both games. Trent Miner had an admirable effort in relief during his first taste of regular season action against Carolina, allowing no goals in through regulation or overtime, and surrendering only one goal in the shootout session. Instead of folding against both Utah and Carolina, and they demonstrated that they can put themselves in a position to win when the deck is stacked against them.

(Of course, it helps when they don’t stack the deck themselves.)

Coming into this afternoon’s game against Boston, the Avs remain atop the Central Division, sitting just one point ahead of Winnipeg and Utah (both teams sit in second and third place, respectively). A win today in Boston would give them a welcome boost of confidence, not to mention preserve their slim division lead, before heading to New Jersey to face the Devils on Sunday.

The Avs remain one of only two teams without a regulation loss this season (Vegas is the other).

Projected Lineup*​

Forwards:
Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Nečas
Gabe Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton – Jack Drury – Victor Olofsson
Zakhar Bardakov – Parker Kelly – Gavin Brindley

Defense:
Cale Makar – Devon Toews
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Ilya Solovyov – Sam Malinski

Between the Pipes:
Scott Wedgewood
Trent Miner

*The Avs recalled Jack Ahcan and Danil Gushchin from Loveland prior to leaving Denver. It is currently unclear as to whether either player will see action this weekend.

Boston Bruins​

After the 4-1 loss to Colorado last Saturday, Boston has continued to struggle. Consecutive losses against Utah, Florida, and Anaheim have extended their current losing streak to six straight games. Their offensive game has been sound, as they’ve scored at least two goals in the past three games since facing Colorado. David Pastrnak recorded six points in the previous three games (3G/3A/6PTS) and remains the team’s leader in goals (5), assists (7), and points (12). Pavel Zacha is second in team scoring with two goals and seven assists for a total of nine points. Former Avalanche center Casey Mittelstadt is tied with Elias Lindholm for third place in goals scored (3).

Boston’s goaltending tandem has also struggled this week. Joonas Korpisalo has started two of the previous three games for Boston: a 3-2 decision against Utah this past Sunday, and a 7-5 decision against in Anaheim this past Thursday. Jeremy Swayman saw action in a 4-3 defeat this past Tuesday at the hands of former captain Brad Marchand and the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers. He was in goal in the loss to Colorado last week, and will likely return to the crease today.

Today’s game wraps up a three game homestand at TD Garden. Boston will head to Ottawa to face the Senators on Monday before returning home for a match-up against the New York Islanders the following night. Currently in seventh place in the Atlantic Division, a win today would keep them ahead of last place Tampa Bay, who are action tonight against Anaheim.

Projected Lineup​

Forwards:
Morgan Geekie – Elias Lindholm – David Pastrnak
Pavel Zacha – Casey Mittelstadt – Viktor Arvidsson
Tanner Jeannot – Fraser Minten – Michael Eyssimont
Jeffrey Truchon-Viel – Sean Kuraly – Mark Kastelic

Defense:
Mason Lohrei – Charlie McAvoy
Nikita Zadorov – Henri Jokiharju
Jordan Harris – Andrew Peeke

Between the Pipes:
Jeremy Swayman
Joonas Korpisalo

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colo...-afternoon-to-do-is-a-bruin-redux-for-the-avs

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Preview: Colorado looks to bounce back against New Jersey

Coming off of their first regulation loss of the season against the Boston Bruins yesterday, Colorado gets a chance to bounce back quickly, as they take on the New Jersey Devils today on the second leg of a back-to-back. This will be the first of two regular season matchups between these two teams.

Colorado Avalanche (5-1-3)​

As previously mentioned, Colorado was finally handed their first regulation loss yesterday by the Boston Bruins. It was ultimately a game that saw the Avs just make one too many mistakes, and those mistakes wond up in the back of their net, while Jeremy Swayman stopped everything that they threw at him on the other end of the ice.

The powerplay continued to be highlighted yesterday, the worst way possible, as they failed to convert on any of their man-advantage opportunities once again. Hopefully, the powerplay will get fixed as time goes on, as it’s a bit ridiculous that a powerplay with MacKinnon and Makar on it is this bad right now, but it’s just not happening right now. The powerplay not converting is going to make competing with this Devils team just that more difficult here today.

Projected Lineup​

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog – Brock nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton – Jack Drury – Victor Olofsson
Parker Kelly – Zakhar Bardakov – Gavin Brindley

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Ilya Solovyov – Sam Malinski

Trent Miner
Scott Wedgewood

New Jersey Devils (7-1-0)​

The Devils come into this game off of a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Friday. While it’s still very early in the season, this New Jersey team is already looking like the team that everyone expected them to be last year, given the lineup and talent that they have. They currently sit atop the Metropolitan Division, in part thanks to their superstar forward, Jack Hughes, putting up 10 points in eight games so far. Again, it’s still very early in the season at this point, and the Devils will likely go through some struggles of their own, but they look really good right now, and trying to keep pace with them offensively, especially with Colorado’s continued powerplay woes, will be easier said than done.

Projected Lineup​

Ondrej Palat – Jack Hughes – Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Arseny Gritsyuk
Paul Cotter – Dawson Mercer – Connor Brown
Stefan Noesen – Luke Glendening – Brian Halonen

Luke Hughes – Brett Pesce
Jonas Siegenthaler – Dougie Hamilton
Brenden Dillon – Simon Nemec

Jake Allen
Nico Daws

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colo...orado-looks-to-bounce-back-against-new-jersey

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Recap: Avs rally, lose fourth straight in overtime loss

Same story. Different state.

The Colorado Avalanche have now been to overtime four times this season—and they still haven’t come out on top. The New Jersey Devils were the latest to knock them out sudden death style in Sunday’s bout. After rallying from yet another deficit to tie the game with just over six minutes left in regulation, Colorado coughed up the puck and the game.

Jack Hughes scored the game-winner at Prudential Center, giving the Devils a 4‑3 win and handed the Avalanche their fourth straight loss.

Last year, Colorado went 8‑3‑1 in back-to-back games, but this year they’re off to a rough start, sitting 0‑1‑1 in such situations after a 3‑2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

For Colorado, Valeri Nichushkin, Nathan MacKinnon, and Brock Nelson all scored, and Trent Miner made 20 saves in his first start of the season (and second of his NHL career). On the Devils’ side, Hughes scored twice, while Arseny Gritsyuk and Connor Brown also found the net, giving New Jersey their eighth straight win since losing the season opener 6‑3 to the Carolina Hurricanes. Jake Allen stopped 21 shots.

First Period

The Devils jumped out early with two goals in just 37 seconds about 10 minutes in. Gritsyuk scored first after a sharp give-and-go, blasting the puck past Miner. Then Hughes skated through the neutral zone and beat Miner from nearly the same spot, glove side, to make it 2‑0.

Colorado tried to answer. Nelson fired an 81 mph wrist shot with under eight minutes left, but Allen stopped it. Nichushkin eventually got the Avs on the board, burying a rebound off a Makar shot that deflected off a Devils defender.

With under two minutes left, MacKinnon tapped in a rebound off the post for his seventh goal of the season. Lehkonen took the initial shot, Necas tried to wrap it around, and MacKinnon was there unprotected to help clean it up.

Second Period

Colorado’s penalty kill did its job after Nelson was called for tripping early in the period. The second line center has had issues staying out of the box early this year, but the Avalanche penalty kill in stark contrast to the power play, has been very strong. Later, Luke Hughes went off for tripping Necas, who crashed hard into the boards but stayed in the game.

Then, with just over seven minutes left, a messy line change left Colorado hanging. Connor Brown grabbed the loose puck and broke away, firing it past Miner to give New Jersey a 3‑2 lead. Despite outshooting the Devils 11‑3 that period, Colorado found themselves giving up the only goal of the frame.

Third Period

The third period was a more technical period with multiple ebbs and flows. Both teams exchanged turnovers at different points and no one quite stood out. Colorado uncharacteristically only managed to generate five shots in the period as they were running out of gas after a long weekend. However, the Avalanche finally broke through.

Nelson tied the game with 6:05 remaining, taking a sharp pass from Colton in the slot and firing it home to even the score. The question now was whether Colorado could finally break their overtime—or shootout—curse.

Aghhhhhhh.

Overtime

After MacKinnon gave up the puck deep in the offensive zone, the Devils raced the other way. Hughes’ first backhand missed, but Simon Nemec jumped on Necas’ clearing attempt and passed it to Hughes at the right circle. With a quick pump fake, Hughes ripped a clean wrist shot top shelf to seal the win.

Takeaways

When you’re always playing from behind, this is what happens—and it’s happened in nearly half of their games this year. The power play has been struggling, and turnovers like this won’t work against teams of this caliber. The Avalanche are lucky to be 5‑1‑4 instead of something like 3‑3‑2. There’s clearly a lot of work ahead, and they can’t keep playing like this for the next 60 games.

Upcoming

The Avalanche (5‑1‑4) head back to Ball Arena on Tuesday for a rematch with the Devils (8‑1). Puck drop is at 7 p.m. local time.

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colo...s-rally-lose-fourth-straight-in-overtime-loss

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Opinion: Mammoth & Avs have a high and mighty advantage in ‘25-26

I was writing tomorrow’s preview, and a thought smacked me right between the eyes. I realized that the addition of the Utah Mammoth had significant geographic implications and consequences for visiting teams like never before. Utah plays 4,327 feet above sea level, and of course, we know the Avs are a mile high! That, along with a combination of factors, should give both the Colorado Avalanche and the Utah Mammoth an advantage over visiting squads this season, especially those from sea-level franchises. Let me present my supporting evidence!

Disruptive effects on days 2 and 3​

The first factor I’ll bring up is likely the most impactful: sports scientists and other experts have agreed that the most disruptive effects of playing at altitude occur 2-3 days into a trip. These effects are especially impairing for hockey players who rely heavily on their body’s ability to circulate oxygen through the bloodstream and into the muscles.

Macklin Celebrini taking the infamous VO2 Max Bike test at the NHL Draft Combine. #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/ajzBCO747q

— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) June 8, 2024

Not to get all Dr. Ado on you, but a lower VO2 max can be reduced by 5-15% due to arterial hypoxemia, which will reduce one’s ability to do sprint-like activities. You know, like skating in the NHL. The typical nomenclature for this in hockey is heavy legs, and that’s indeed what it feels like.

We’ve all seen the Avalanche pounce on teams that don’t have their legs at altitude, and the numbers back that with the Avs sporting a roughly 60% home win rate (historically), which could be due to opponents scoring 10-15% less when playing in Colorado.

Utah creates an extended and elevated road trip​

How does this change with Utah in the league? Well, for starters, teams that typically just spent one or two nights in Colorado for a game at elevation no longer get relief the following game, as it’s typical for the visitors to play both the Avalanche and Mammoth in the same 3-4 days to maintain efficiency during travel for NHL squads.

That means most visitors to either squad will have to be at altitude for 2-3 days. They thus will experience the most debilitating effects of altitude at some point during a hockey game in either Utah or Colorado. That said, it will be the team that plays the visitor in the second game of the trip that should truly cash in on the advantage. Something that really never happened before the Mammoth rolled in.

Fight for air​

Both squads are set to reap the benefits of this reality, and I’ve pinpointed two particular timeframes for each team to key on. Funny enough, we are already seeing the returns on the first time frame, which for Utah is Oct 15 through October 26th against the Jets. The Mammoth are leading the Central Division with wins in their last seven contests and coincidentally all four home games.

For the Avalanche, I’m keying on that eight-game stretch in November, starting with the Sabres and ending with the Canadiens. The first game on November 13 will be on a back-to-back for Buffalo, who will have played in Utah the night before. If I were a betting man, I’d risk the farm on the Avs winning that game.

Game two in that time frame will be against the Islanders, who will have played in Utah two days earlier before coming to Ball Arena.

Then it will be the Rangers, but this time the Mammoth will get the second game a couple of days after New York visits the Avs.

Finally, the last home game of that stretch will come against the Habs, who will have played Utah in Utah just three nights before, with a game against Vegas thrown in the night before they visit the Avalanche. They’d better bring some oxygen.

What this means to me​

Here’s where I see this going. The Mammoth are going to be a perennial playoff team very soon, and both they and the Avalanche will be racing for the top spot in the Central for years to come. I am going to predict right now that the Avalanche and Mammoth play multiple times in the playoffs in the next three seasons and become bona fide rivals in that time frame as well.

In this case, Avalanche and Mammoth share this benefit only during the regular season, not when facing each other. That level playing field (no pun intended) should make for exciting, high-paced hockey, and if it does, in fact, happen in the playoffs, boy, are both fan bases lucky.

The Central Division leading Utah Mammoth, folks.

8-2-0 with today's win in Winnipeg, now ahead of the #NHLJets and the Avalanche, too.

Jets drop to 6-3-0.

— Murat Ates (@WPGMurat) October 27, 2025

I also assume this trend will become more apparent as the season progresses and wear and tear on visitors builds up. Overall, let’s keep an eye on this throughout the year and see if my idea has merit.

Let us know what you think in the comments!

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colo...avs-have-a-high-and-mighty-advantage-in-25-26

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Weekly Cupcakes – Heritage Jersey Appreciation

• The Nordiques vs Whalers led to a beautiful jersey match up… but does the NHL have a jersey problem? [Defector]

• In case you missed it, the Avalanche history is rich with Quebec roots. [ NHL]

• The weekly power rankings had the Avs fairly high as of mid-last week, but they have experienced their first regulation loss since then. [ Daily Face Off]

• The NHL has suspended Mitch Love for the remainder of the season over domestic violence allegations. Meanwhile, the Caps have let him go. [Sportsnet]

• Alec Nasreddine knows he has a tough road ahead if he makes it to the NHL, just like his dad. [CBC]

• Kadri is expected to remain with the Flames for “at least” six more games. [The Hockey News]

• Could Laine’s injury mean the end to his journey in a Habs jersey? [Heavy.]

• Jack and Luke Hughs are working to put books in kids hands. [The Hockey News]

• Lightning star Kucherov gets 1,000th career point Saturday vs. Ducks. [TSN]

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/daily-cupcakes-sandie/59003/weekly-cupcakes

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Preview: Avs host Devils in quick rematch

The Avalanche had a busy weekend on the East Coast, but unfortunately, it wasn’t a very fruitful trip. We thought Colorado got off to a tremendous start until we saw how things have started for the Devils, who have amassed 16/18 possible points out of the gate. The Avalanche did all they could to scratch and claw back into Sunday’s contest with the Devils, and that seems to be the theme of the last week for Jared Bednar and the boys. Can they get back into the win column, or will they fall victim to a red-hot Devils squad twice in three days?

Colorado Avalanche: 5-1-4​

The Opponent: New Jersey Devils 8-1-0

Time: 7:00 p.m. MT

Watch: Altitude, Altitude+, ESPN+

Listen: Altitude Sports Radio, 92.5 FM

Colorado Avalanche​

The Avalanche have secured 14/20 points on the regular season themselves, but it’s been a bit rough as of late, as they’ve lost four straight, with three of the losses coming in overtime or shootout variety. A frustrating reality for fans who have seen one particular element go completely silent.

The Colorado Avalanche power play is in shambles, and we are hearing all about it. The Avs can only blame themselves for the development of this narrative as they scapegoated the power play and Ray Bennett in the off-season.

32 teams. 16 games. 1 NHL #FrozenFrenzy

Go behind-the-scenes with the ESPN crew making Tuesday’s hockey night marathon happen

Read more: https://t.co/DimWixCwbA pic.twitter.com/zUaGhTel8y

— ESPN Front Row (@ESPNFrontRow) October 27, 2025

Turns out it might not be the approach but the personnel, and, understandably, that’s not all that easy to understand. Colorado’s top group on paper should be excellent on the power play, but in reality, they are more productive at even strength. Something has to give for this squad, which is currently 4/39 (10.26%) on the man advantage, ranking 30th in the league. The Avalanche have scored one power play goal in the seven games since Nathan MacKinnon said, “I guess they just don’t know what a good power play looks like,” in reference to the fans booing the power play against Dallas. Not a good look.

Projected Lineup:​

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Viktor Olofsson — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin
Gabe Landeskog — Jack Drury — Ross Colton
Parker Kelly — Zakhar Bardakov — Gavin Brindley

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Josh Manson — Brent Burns
Ilya Solovyov — Sam Malinski

Scott Wedgewood
Trent Miner

New Jersey Devils​

The Devils are off and running, and it’s primarily due to the availability of Jack Hughes, who clearly elevates this team into a playoff contender with the potential to make a real run at it. New Jersey has scored first in all eight of their victories, so it’s safe to say they know how to get out on the right foot.

It’s always interesting to see how a home-and-home series affects players, with the second game coming at altitude in Colorado. Most experts say the effects of altitude don’t hit you until the second or third day, so it may be a non-factor for the Devils, but it’s always something to keep an eye on.

They have the mountains. We have the momentum.

: @Avalanche
: 9 PM
: MSGSN2
: https://t.co/GDJDPJMFi8 pic.twitter.com/WUNhmF4Kjp

— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) October 28, 2025

Another thing to keep an eye on is the physicality in this contest. It should come as no surprise that teams playing each other multiple times in a short time frame creates some animosity, and in this home-and-home situation, the potential for things bubbling to the surface is at an all-time high.

Projected Lineup:​

Ondrej Palat — Jack Hughes — Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier — Nico Hischier — Arseny Gritsyuk
Paul Cotter — Dawson Mercer — Connor Brown
Stefan Noesen — Luke Glendening — Brian Halonen

Luke Hughes — Brett Pesce
Jonas Siegenthaler — Dougie Hamilton
Brenden Dillon — Simon Nemec

Jake Allen
Jacob Marsktrom

Avalanche revenge game!

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colo...9014/preview-avs-host-devils-in-quick-rematch

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Avalanche sign minor league forward Tristen Nielsen

As the Colorado Avalanche enjoyed a day off, they still announced the signing this week of minor league forward Tristen Nielsen to a two-year NHL contract beginning this season. Per PuckPedia, the cap hit is $775 on a two-way deal with guarantees of $150K in year one and $225K in year two.

Details https://t.co/kFM9eHtays

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 27, 2025

The 25-year-old left shot forward spent the last four years in the Vancouver Canucks organization, winning the Calder Cup with Abbotsford last season. The B.C. native played in the WHL for the Calgary Hitmen and Vancouver Giants, where he was teammates of both Avalanche goaltender Trent Miner and former defenseman Bowen Byram. Nielsen signed a two-year Entry Level Contract with Vancouver in 2023 but never suited up for the Canucks.

Nielsen had been on AHL contract with the Colorado Eagles since signing in August but clearly impressed the coaching staff in training camp. He followed up that good showing with a strong start in the AHL contributing three goals and four assists in seven games with the Eagles. This move is very similar to when follow Eagles forward Tye Felhaber had his contract upgraded to an NHL pact last fall. Time will tell if Nielsen would get the same reward of getting into a NHL game, which would be his debut. The signing does make for a crowded group of forwards in the AHL vying for a call up.

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colorado-avalanche-transactions/59039/avalanche-sign-triesten-nielsen

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Recap: Olofsson hat trick fuels Avs over Devils in rematch

To conclude this busy stretch of the early season schedule, the Colorado Avalanche engaged in an immediate rematch with the New Jersey Devils hoping to avenge their 4-3 loss in overtime from Sunday afternoon. On the back of a Victor Olofsson hat trick the Avalanche did just that in a wild 8-4 finish on Frozen Frenzy night.

The Game

It didn’t take long for the fireworks to commence. Returning from injury, Devils netminder Jacob Markstrom threw the puck over the glass and gave Colorado an early power play. The squad came out with some urgency and actually put up an early power play goal from Martin Nečas just over a minute into the game.

Just a few minutes later the fourth line crafted their own strike as Parker Kelly sprung Zakhar Bardakov on a breakaway and he subsequently buried the puck for his first NHL goal. It was sweet revenge for the 23-year-old Russian as he was drafted by the Devils in the seventh round in 2021. The rest of the first period was uneventful as the teams traded fruitless power plays. Colorado held the 2-0 advantage on the scoreboard despite New Jersey edging in shots 16-12.

What an electric first NHL goal for Bardakov pic.twitter.com/Vv3u7s38c3

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 29, 2025

Early in the second period it started to become abundantly clear that Markstrom should have stayed on injured reserve as he got beat on a breakaway again. This time Victor Olofsson netted his first goal as an Av to put Colorado up 3-0.

The home team was just getting warmed up as the Avalanche earned a lengthy 5-on-3 in which Nathan MacKinnon converted on. Just before the halfway mark of the game Parker Kelly scored on another breakaway to put Colorado up 5-0 and this game was essentially over.

Or was it?

In the span of five minutes New Jersey pulled themselves back in the game with four unanswered goals. The first from Stefan Noesen on a Brent Burns turnover. Six-foot-six Dougie Hamilton knocked in his own rebound after his shot bounced off Scott Wedgewood’s glove. Some more lax coverage found Dawson Mercer the beneficiary at the net front for their third goal. And New Jersey capped off their rally a few seconds later with Jack Hughes converting on a sharp angle shot at the side of the net. A Nathan MacKinnon power play goal restored order and put the Avalanche back up 6-4 by the conclusion of the second period.

Now the game truly was over as there was nothing more to do than for Victor Olofsson to complete his hat trick in the third period with one on the power play and the other with just a few minutes left in the game. Markstrom was left in net for the entire bloodbath and the Avalanche sealed their 8-4 victory.

Takeaways

The Rematch Prophecy™ strikes again. The principle states that in a quick rematch between two teams the opposite result is expected. That came true in both losses to Utah and Boston last week but also meant the Avalanche should have expected good fortune after their loss in New Jersey for the second part of the home-and-home, and that they did.

Getting to face a rusty goalie was helpful to get both the power play and some secondary scoring some momentum, hopefully it can carry forward to this weekend’s back-to-back. The defense didn’t get to eat much in this contest, they are next to get back on track.

Upcoming

A couple days off and then another potentially spooky weekend back-to-back starting with the Vegas Golden Knights at 2 p.m. MT on Friday, October 31st aka Halloween.

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colo...on-hat-trick-fuels-avs-over-devils-in-rematch

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Colorado Eagles three stars from October

Welcome back to our monthly feature highlighting a trio of the best performances from the Colorado Eagles for the month — with as always a Colorado Avalanche slant.

The month of October saw the Eagles begin their regular season schedule with a pair of wins at home. As the rest of the month unfolded the Eagles saw a healthy amount of success finishing first in their division accumulating 14 points and earning a 7-2-0 record of which included three shutouts.

First Star – Danil Gushchin – 7 GP: 6G, 1A, 7P

At one point Danil Gushchin was leading the AHL in goal scoring with six tallies in five games. That surge caught the attention of the Avalanche and they called him up for their two-game east coast road trip. Unfortunately the 23-year-old Russian did not suit up for the Avs and missed out on a weekend of AHL action. Upon return, Gushchin’s momentum was halted and he finished the month with those seven points but still earns our first star for hit hot start and Avalanche recall.

Watch out, Gushchin is HOT pic.twitter.com/eGWv7lz9mC

— Colorado Eagles (@ColoradoEagles) October 19, 2025

Second Star – Tristen Nielsen – 9GP: 4G, 4A, 8P

Crafting a month which earned you a NHL contact certainly must be star worthy. Therefore, Tristen Nielsen deserves accolades for turning an impressive training camp with the big club into a strong start in the AHL and subsequently a contract upgrade. Playing on the Eagles’ top line has clearly paid dividends with nearly a point-per-game clip. The organization hopes Nielsen’s Calder Cup championship pedigree pays dividends as well.

Oops watch your five hole. pic.twitter.com/LCiYRy1y9r

— Colorado Eagles (@ColoradoEagles) October 25, 2025

Third Star – Isak Posch – 6GP: 5-1-0, 2.00 GAA, .905 SV%

With the injury to Mackenzie Blackwood at the NHL level the trickle down effect made the rookie pro Isak Posch the Eagles’ starting goaltender for the bulk of the month. He, too, enjoyed a hot start and delivered in that role with two shutouts and posted and five wins to his credit. This past week put a bit of a damper on Posch’s statistics as he gave up seven goals on 45 shots in two starts. Still, the young netminder’s performance has put him on the radar within the organization.

Isak Posch spoke with @megangley from @guerillasports_ about his successful weekend in net pic.twitter.com/94NHFeUSUO

— Colorado Eagles (@ColoradoEagles) October 12, 2025

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/ahl-...8654/colorado-eagles-three-stars-from-october

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Martin Nečas signs $92 million extension in Colorado

The writing was on the wall with where the new salary cap market was heading and the Colorado Avalanche decided to finally lock up their top line star Martin Nečas to an eight-year extension.

Details https://t.co/ItOGZya87O

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 30, 2025

The contract doesn’t come cheap after an offseason of the bar continually getting raised with new contract extensions on the projected $104 million NHL salary cap for the 2026-27 season. Nečas cashes in for a total of $92 million over the next eight years for an Average Annual Value of $11.5 million starting next season. There’s also reports of the front-loaded contract containing $60 million in signing bonuses.

The Colorado Avalanche and Martin Necas completed an 8-year, $11.5M contract extension. Another UFA off the board…front-loaded, $60M in signing bonuses, full NMC the first 7 years of the new deal.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 30, 2025

Nečas enjoying a hot start to the season with 13 points and seven goals in 11 games no doubt played a part in the urgency of the situation. Plus rumors that Adrian Kempe of the LA Kings was looking to sign an $11M AAV or more extension, which would have pushed up the Nečas comparables.

After the Mikko Rantanen saga the Avalanche had to make a decision to commit to top tier talent especially knowing where the market is heading. Perhaps this could have been done cheaper had they tackled it over the summer but this is a market value deal and Colorado recognized what it would take to retain a top line player. Now that it’s done the front office can focus their full attention on the looming Cale Makar extension next summer.

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colo...-necas-signs-92-million-extension-in-colorado

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Recap: Colorado upends Vegas in 4-2 Halloween treat

After an eventful eight-goal explosion earlier in the week against New Jersey, the Colorado Avalanche traveled west for another weekend back-to-back beginning with the always challenging Vegas Golden Knights. The game was highly competitive from the start but Martin Nečas set the tone with a goal almost immediately on the way to a three-point outing to help Colorado secure the 4-2 victory.

The Game

It only took 41 seconds for the $92 million man Martin Nečas to celebrate his new contract extension as he corralled a cross-ice pass from Cale Makar and one-timed the puck into the net for the games opening score in this match between top Western Conference teams. Other than that early strike the rest of the first period was fairly even with no other goals put on the board. Colorado held the edge in shots 10-9 but also were credited with seven blocked shots.

Period two saw Vegas earn three power plays to Colorado’s one but it was the visitors who put a goal on the board and extended their lead to 2-0. Just after the penalty to Gabe Landeskog expired, Brock Nelson got a breakaway and buried the puck. Colorado extended their shot advantage 20-16 as well.

Colorado continued their parade to the penalty box and Vegas had a lengthy 5-on-3 early in the third period but erased their advantage almost immediately with their own infraction. Still, Vegas managed to convert on the 4-on-3 on a score from Tomas Hertl to cut Colorado’s lead in half. While the score stayed interesting for half the period, the two-goal lead was restored when Brent Burns netted his first goal as an Avalanche on a feed from Nečas as he was cutting into the slot.

The Avalanche were about to lock it down for a fairly drama-free win but with just under eight minutes to play Mitch Marner was the beneficiary of some good fortune as his sharp angle shot was tipped by Burns at the net front. Scott Wedgewood had made some incredible save to that point but couldn’t stop the redirect. The goal couldn’t spark a Vegas comeback, however, as Cale Makar sealed the 4-2 Avalanche win with an empty net goal.

Takeaways

While some could describe the game as slow it was just highly contested with the shot totals remaining in check (26-24 in f or of Colorado) due to a large number of blocked shots (23-10 Colorado as well). It was two teams playing at their peak in what could be an interesting matchup down the road should the two teams ever meet in the playoffs again.

The milestones keep coming for Brent Burns. With his goal in the third period Burns passed Bobby Orr for the 11th most points for a defenseman in NHL history with 915. What will be next?

Upcoming

Back at it again quickly against the San Jose Sharks at 2 p.m. MT tomorrow. Makenzie Blackwood is expected to make his first start of the season against his former team.

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colo...-colorado-upends-vegas-in-4-1-halloween-treat

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Open Thread: Colorado Avalanche vs. Vegas Golden Knights (2:00 p.m. MT)

Colorado finally got back into the win column on Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils, winning by a final score of 8-4. Today, they look to keep that momentum rolling against the Vegas Golden Knights, as they faceoff against them in a Halloween matinee matchup. This will be the first of three regular-season matchups between these two teams.

Colorado Avalanche (6-1-4)​

After losing four games in a row, the Avs finally got back in the win column against the New Jersey Devils. Outside of the five minute stretch in the second period where Colorado allowed the Devils to score four unanswered goals to pull within one, everything seemed to go right for the Avs in that game.

The perhaps one of the biggest positives to come out of that game, the powerplay finally started to actually convert, and did so at a very high rate during that game. Colorado ended up going 4/6 on the man-advantage, and while you’re certainly not going to get that conversion rate every single night, it felt like Colorado desperately needed a game like that, after how bad the powerplay had been at converting before that game.

Projected Lineup​

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Valeri Nichushkin – Brock Nelson – Ross Colton
Gabriel Landeskog – Jack Drury – Victor Olofsson
Parker Kelly – Zakhar Bardakov – Gavin Brindley

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Ilya Solovyov – Sam Malinski

Scott Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood

Vegas Golden Knights (6-1-3)​

The Golden Knights have been sort of quietly rolling along to start this season, and have found themselves holding the first place spot in the Pacific Division. They will be looking to get-right in this game, as they are coming off of a 3-0 loss against the Florida Panthers, which saw the Golden Knights get shutout. It would be unreasonable to expect that to happen again, especially with all the talent that this Golden Knights team has on this roster. This is not a team that is likely to roll over and make it easy on the Avs.

Projected Lineup​

Alexander Holtz – Jack Eichel – Ivan Barbashev
Pavel Dorofeyev – Tomas Hertl – Mitch Marner
Reilly Smith – William Karlsson – Brandon Saad
Cole Reinhardt – Brett Howden – Keegan Kolesar

Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Ben Hutton – Zach Whitecloud
Jeremy Lauzon – Kaedan Korczak

Akira Schmid
Carl Lindbom

Follow along in the comments below!

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/open...-avalanche-vs-vegas-golden-knights-200-p-m-mt

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Recap: Avs lose to Sharks in overtime yet again

The fifth time was not the charm.

The Colorado Avalanche dropped their fifth game in overtime in just their 13th game of the season, falling 3–2 to the San Jose Sharks, which saw two goals from Phillip Kurashev, including the game-winner.

It was a familiar theme for the Avalanche: dominate play, yet somehow still come out the loser. To their credit, Colorado was skating in the second half of a back-to-back after dispatching Vegas on Sunday, and San Jose’s youth and fresher legs became increasingly evident as the afternoon wore on. The Sharks seized their opportunity against a fatigued Avs group, while Colorado, despite the fatigue, battled to secure a point.

Necas Strikes Early

Just two days removed from signing his new eight-year, $92 million contract extension, Martin Necas put the Avalanche on the board just 30 seconds into the game when he wristed a shot off a feed from Cale Makar. Colorado received a fortunate bounce as the puck deflected off a defender’s skate but it counted just the same to put Colorado up 1-0 in the first period.

Sharks Strike Back

Macklin Celebrini tied the game up for the Sharks when he beat Mackenzie Blackwood, who made his season debut for the Avalanche, with a blistering shot from the slot that hit top shelf. The first period ended in a 1-1 tie.

In the second period Kurashev scored his first of two goals to give the Sharks a one-goal lead. The 26-year-old basically skated through the zone with no resistance after Devon Toews was very clearly held by Alexander Wennberg near the blue line. However, no penalty was called and Kurashev came in and beat Blackwood with a wrister.

MacKinnon Awarded One

Before the end of the second frame Nathan MacKinnon appeared to have his 10th goal of the season, but it wasn’t awarded immediately. Breaking in alone, he was stopped on the initial chance before sliding the rebound across the line—only for officials to wave it off after determining the net had been dislodged by Sharks forward Jeff Skinner. Following review, the NHL reinstated the goal, ruling that Skinner had deliberately crashed into the net with the intent of knocking it off its moorings. The 2-2 tie was reinstated and held that way through regulation.

Overtime

Yet again 60 minutes weren’t enough to settle it, sending the Avalanche back into overtime. A quick turnover handed the Sharks an early look, but Blackwood turned it aside. MacKinnon recovered the puck deep in his own end and attempted to spring Nečas, only for the pass to sail off target. Moments later, officials compounded the chaos by missing a clear icing, and San Jose capitalized. Kurashev struck from the very same spot—and with the very same shot—that had beaten Blackwood earlier, sealing a 3–2 Sharks victory.

Takeaways

The Avs were clearly caught napping during the blown icing call, but the Sharks were ready for the moment and made the most of it. Bad call or not, you still have to make the save, and unfortunately, Blackwood, who finished with 20 saves, was unable to do so. That was a theme for the Avalanche who weren’t quite as mentally engaged as they were yesterday in Vegas.

San Jose (4-6-2) had plenty of opportunities to give the game away themselves, but Yaroslav Askarov did a solid job in net, turning away 36 shots en route to the win. The young Sharks squad played hard and really prevented Colorado from creating many dangerous chances while capitalizing on their own chances.

Upcoming

The Avalanche (7-1-5) are back at home on Tuesday to square off against the Tampa Bay Lightning (5-4-2) in a rematch of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. Coverage kicks off at 7:30 p.m. local time from Ball Arena.

Source: https://www.milehighhockey.com/colo...ecap-avs-lose-to-sharks-in-overtime-yet-again