This Colorado Avalanche team with a multi-goal lead remains the safest bet in sports, but this one didn’t come easy.
The Avs coughed up a two-goal advantage early in the third period, but still defeated the San Jose Sharks, 4-2, Wednesday night at Ball Arena. Colorado reaches the NHL’s break for the 2026 Winter Olympics atop the league standings with 83 points. The 37-9-9 record includes a 32-0-0 mark when leading a game by two or more goals at any point.
Josh Manson’s blast from the top of the offensive zone gave the Avs the lead with 7:16 remaining. Valeri Nichushkin set him up with his third assist of the night.
Nathan MacKinnon collected his second assist, which were career Nos. 700 and 701. MacKinnon wasn’t credited with a third assist, but his battle with Macklin Celebrini in the neutral zone helped create an empty-net goal for Brock Nelson with 1:17 remaining.
San Jose struck twice in the opening four minutes to erase a two-goal deficit.
Alexander Wennberg carried the puck into the Colorado zone on the right wing and all the way below the goal line. He turned and set up defenseman Timothy Liljegren trailing the play for a one-timer from the right point. The puck went off Parker Kelly’s stick and deflected past Mackenzie Blackwood just 43 seconds into the third.
Philipp Kurashev evened the score at 3:34. Samuel Girard turned the puck over at the offensive blue line, which led to an odd-man rush for San Jose. Kurashev kept it himself and fooled Blackwood with his shot.
Lehkonen opened the scoring 65 seconds into the second period. It was a wild scramble in the Sharks crease, and Lehkonen was credited with the goal. Yaroslav Askarov had lunged forward trying to make a save, and by the time the puck crossed the goal line two San Jose players were laying in the blue paint and all three Colorado top-line forwards were digging for it.
The Finnish forward made it a 2-0 lead at 15:47 of the second. Nichushkin tried to get the puck to MacKinnon during an odd-man rush. His first attempt didn’t get there, and the second was too late for MacKinnon to shoot. He collected it, curled around to the right of the goalie and found Lehkonen in the right circle for a one-timer.
It was Lehkonen’s second of the night and 19th goal of the season. His career high is 27, set last season in 69 games. Lehkonen is now on pace for 28 after this effort.
MacKinnon two points give him 93 on the season. He began the day four back of Connor McDavid for the NHL scoring lead.
The Avalanche controlled play in the first period, but Askarov made a couple of huge saves, including one on a one-timer from MacKinnon. Avs coach Jared Bednar said after the morning skate that he wanted his team to improve the effort on the forecheck and get off to a better start, particularly after yielding a goal in the first shift Monday night en route to a 2-0 loss.
Message received — the Avs were all over the Sharks from the first whistle, racking up four shots on goal and nine attempts before the game was three minutes old.
No one has described this Colorado Avalanche season better than Jon Cooper.
The Tampa Bay Lightning coach was speaking to the media ahead of a Jan. 6 game against the Avalanche, and he said the phrase “three regulation losses.” It wasn’t what he said though, it was how he said it.
There was a little chuckle. It felt inadvertent and instinctual. Like the coach who has won the Stanley Cup twice and a Four Nations gold medal couldn’t help but offer a “this doesn’t even seem possible” reaction.
If Cooper caught one of the clips from Jared Bednar’s postgame press conference Saturday night, it probably brought a wry smile to his face … but also some long-term concern.
Cooper has coached a team like this Avalanche bunch, one that made a historical march through the regular season. Dominant, magical, record-setting, the whole deal — except there was no storybook ending.
The 2018-19 edition of the Lightning was a war machine. Feeding off a devastating Game 7 loss in the Eastern Conference Finals the year before (sound familar), Tampa Bay roared through the season en route to a then-league record tying 62 wins. The Lightning finished with 128 points, 21 more than anyone else.
Tampa Bay had the No. 1 offense, the No.1 power play and was tied for the best penalty kill. The Lightning were “only” tied for seventh in goals allowed per game. Nikita Kucherov paced the league with 128 points, while he, Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point all finished with 40-plus goals.
“Well, we’re going to bring back some memories here,” Cooper said when asked about his 2018-19 team and how he handled the second half of the regular season. “We didn’t run into a whole slew of adversity. To be honest, we would not play well and still win. Everything we touched turned to gold.
“It was just one of those seasons. When you win 62 of 82, that’s kind of what has to happen.”
And then … it all came crashing down. The Lightning took a 3-0 lead after one period of Game 1 in its opening playoff series against the Columbus Blue Jackets and then what came next was one of the most stunning collapses in sports history.
Columbus rallied back to take Game 1, 4-3. Then it just got more progressively shocking. The Blue Jackets rolled in Game 2, winning 5-1 in front of a stunned Tampa Bay crowd.
The series shifted to Ohio, and the Blue Jackets just kept rolling. They won Game 3, 3-1, to push the juggernaut to the brink. Then, the final blow — Tampa Bay rallied in Game 4 to even the score at 3-3 in the second period before Columbus regained the lead a minute later and eventually completed the sweep with a 7-3 victory.
Tampa Bay was outscored 19-8 in the series and 19-5 after the first period of Game 1.
“The problem was, when adversity hit in the playoffs, we didn’t handle it very well,” Cooper said. “I think that adversity carried on to the next couple of years for us that we got to learn from some things that happened in our past.”
The 2025-26 edition of the Avalanche has found a little bit of adversity. Colorado has lost four of the past six games, and doubled the amount of regulation losses since Cooper’s dumbfounded laugh. His team gave the Avs one later that night.
That Tampa Bay team lost back-to-back games just twice in the regular season, and one set included defeats in overtime and a shootout. This Colorado squad did lose four games in a row early in this season, but 0-1-3 with three points collected doesn’t really hit the same.
This past stretch — losses to Florida and Tampa Bay, then two decisive wins, an overtime loss to Toronto and a stinker against Nashville — led to Bednar’s first truly negative assessment of his team this season.
Colorado’s coach said he hated everything about the 7-3 loss to the Predators, save for a decent stretch in the second period, maybe a brief burst in the third. He made it clear he wasn’t happy with the team, and it wasn’t just an off night. He’s seen some trends slipping in the wrong direction, particularly the defensive commitment that has been a hallmark of this club’s historical success in the first half.
“I’m not going to dissect everyone as an individual,” Bednar said. “I mean, I appreciate the question, but we were no good. There were a lot of guys that were no good. So I’m not going to just pick apart a couple guys. We’ve got to be better than that. That was not even close to the standard of hockey that we want to play.”
It’s not hard to see that one of the issues is the players who are missing. The Avs were able to navigate missing Valeri Nichushkin for a handful of games earlier this season — something that has troubled them in the past. But losing Devon Toews and Gabe Landeskog in back-to-back games has hurt.
Having both goaltenders working through minor issues led to a great story with Trent Miner getting his first win and shutout, but it also led to Mackenzie Blackwood having a so-so night in his first game in more than two weeks.
There are still nine games before the Olympic break, and it’s unclear when Toews or Landeskog or Joel Kiviranta will be back. When the Avs stormed to an absurd 31-2-7 record, one thought was, well, individual results in the second half of the season aren’t going to matter all that much as long as Colorado keeps its place at the top of the Central Division and has home-ice advantage locked up.
That might still be true, but this next stretch of games carries far more significance than anyone could have expected just a few weeks ago.
This Colorado Avalanche juggernaut has found some adversity. Now, it is time to sort it out and bank some memories that could be immensely valuable during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“I’ve been in this league 13 years now and (magical seasons) don’t happen very often,” Cooper said. “I’m very thankful I was able to be part of one of them. It is unique. It is special.
“But, you never really want adversity, but in the end, you kind of hope it does happen at some point. You don’t want it to be too easy, because the playoffs are really, really hard.”
When Trent Miner sat at his locker room stall after the best afternoon of his professional life, he really tried to keep his emotions in check.
He answered a bunch of questions from a horde of media members on Saturday afternoon, several more than once. He was polite and concise.
When he left Ball Arena after collecting the first NHL win and shutout in a 4-0 win for the Colorado Avalanche, he definitely had a chance to savor the moment.
“It was exciting,” Miner said. “Talking with my family and my friends and everyone reaching out. It was pretty special to hear from everyone. I’ve been here for quite a while, so to get to do this with this group … I was very fortunate to be a part of winning that game.”
Miner’s first NHL win, a 29-save shutout against the Columbus Blue Jackets came 26 days before his 25th birthday. It was also 2,395 days after the Avalanche selected him with the 202nd pick in the 2019 NHL draft.
Players who go 100 picks earlier than that in NHL drafts are more likely to never play in the NHL than to have their dream come true. The 202nd guy in any draft class is a significant long shot.
Scott Wedgewood went 84th in his draft, and it took him until his sixth post-draft season to reach the big leagues. Miner made it last year, but it took almost 14 months from his NHL debut before he got to celebrate backstopping his club to a win.
“It was unbelievable,” Wedgewood said. “Super happy for him and everything that comes with it. When you’re a kid, you’re hoping for just one game in the NHL. You want to say I played one game. I made it. When you get the opportunity to play a couple and you don’t win, it can hurt you mentally.
“He’s had to come in in relief. He’s played a couple back-to-backs. You start behind the eight ball with those opportunities. To see him get a clean start against a good team and he goes out there and wins us a hockey game does it in that fashion, it’s super cool. You just couldn’t be happier for him.”
Wedgewood spent a large chunk of one season in the ECHL, but Miner has spent parts of three years in the league two rungs below the mountaintop. In his first three full seasons a pro, Miner played five, one and 18 games for the Colorado Eagles in the AHL.
He wasn’t waiting his turn in Loveland. He was desperate to prove he could play there, let alone 50 miles south in Denver.
That happened last year. Miner became the undisputed No. 1 goalie for the Eagles, leading them into the Calder Cup Playoffs. He made his NHL debut in relief and got his first NHL start, but the Avs lost 3-1 in Chicago.
Earlier this year, Miner was great in relief and helped Colorado rally from a 4-1 deficit to get a point, but lost in a shootout. His first start was solid, but not what he wanted.
Even this time up with the club, he’s had to wait. Wedgewood played four straight games, including three in four nights, after Mackenzie Blackwood was injured.
“He’s a relentless worker and he is a battler,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Goalies may be a little different, but there’s a handful of players that come out of the ECHL and it takes them a while but then they’re grinding in the American League. When they make their to the NHL, you can pretty much guarantee the guys that do that, they’re battlers and they’re going to give it everything they’ve got.
“He’s tried to make the most of his opportunities. When you see a player develop and you know he’s putting in all that work, it’s a great feeling as an organization. We are certainly really happy for his development and what he was able to accomplish (Saturday).”
Miner still didn’t have an “oh-my-god-what-just-happened?” moment Saturday night after the game. He’s spent a lot of time waiting for this, but this wasn’t the end of the journey for him.
The battle continues. Blackwood will be back soon. Ilya Nabokov’s arrival is imminent. Miner has fought and clawed his way up to No. 3 on Colorado’s depth chart, and there’s another bareknuckle brawl in his near future for that spot.
Still, the kid from Brandon, Manitoba, who wanted to play one game in the NHL has not only done that, but proven he can do play at this level. He’s happy, but not satisfied.
“For sure,” Miner said. “When you get drafted by an organization and sign with them, and you’ve been with them for a couple of years, you just want to do it with that team. Everyone here has been so amazing to me that … I’m just so lucky to be with this group and win with them (Saturday).”
It was Next Generation day at Ball Arena, which involves kids taking over key roles during the in-game fan experience.
It turned into a day where the Colorado Avalanche stars took a back seat to some of the “other guys” as well.
Brent Burns scored twice, Trent Miner collected his first NHL victory and shutout with 29 saves and the bottom-six forwards were all over the scoresheet in a 4-0 win Saturday afternoon against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“We got contributions from a bunch of different guys tonight,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s how you win. If you want to win a lot, you’re going to win in different ways and different guys are going to be chipping in. That’s what our team has been doing a lot this year.”
The Avs have now won the first two contests of this season-long seven-game homestand. Colorado is halfway through its home slate this season, and is 19-0-2 at Ball Arena. The Avs have also won 17 straight here, which is one one shy of the franchise record set during the 2021-22 campaign.
Burns gave Colorado the lead at 13:58 of the opening period. Gavin Brindley took the puck off the wall after a nice pass from Valeri Nichushkin and to the net on a rush. During the ensuing scramble, the rebound of a sharp-angle Ross Colton shot kicked out to the inside edge of the right circle and Burns snapped one through all the traffic in front for his seventh goal of the season.
His second goal of the game and eighth of the year came with Colorado’s fourth line on the ice. Brindley and Zakhar Bardakov collected assists as Burns’ perimeter shot went off the goaltender, off a Blue Jackets’ defenseman and trickled across the goal line.
Burns is one of the great offensive defensemen on the 21st century, but his eight goals this year are already two more than his last season with the Carolina Hurricanes. He’s well-positioned to hit double digits for the 14th time in his career, and 15 for the ninth time isn’t out of the question.
His two-goal game came two days after his defense partner, Josh Manson, scored twice.
“I don’t think either shot was going at the net,” Burns said. “I wasn’t thinking about it. (Manson) even talked about it today, about how this game has a funny way of humbling you … we just talked about having a good game. It was lucky bounces, but it’s (also) forwards being in good spots.”
Colorado’s recently formed third line produced the next two goals after Burns’ opener. Parker Kelly, up from the fourth line because of an injury to captain Gabe Landeskog, won a battle along the boards to the right of Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins. He got the puck to Jack Drury, who made a crafty little pass to Victor Olofsson for a backhanded shot and his eight goal of the season at 17:28 of the opening period.
Olofsson, a shoot-first offensive player in his career, had gone 11 games without a goal, though Avs coach Jared Bednar has repeatedly praised his defense and all-around play in his first season with the club.
Ilya Solovyov scored his first career NHL goal to give Colorado a 3-0 advantage midway through the second period. Olofsson led the offensive rush out of his own end, before leaving the puck for Kelly. His cross-ice pass found Solovyov, the trailing defenseman, and he buried a wrist shot from the left circle at 10:30 of the middle frame.
It was the third straight game with a point for Solovyov. He had no goals and four assists in his first 25 career NHL games, but has a goal and two assists in his past three.
Solovyov played in nine of Colorado’s first 13 games this season while filling in for an injured Samuel Girard. Then the Avs’ defense corps got healthy, and Solovyov didn’t play for 63 days — a span of 28 games.
“It was unbelievable,” Solovyov said. “I was just happy for myself, proud of the work that I’ve done for the two months that I was not playing.”
Brindley, whom the Avs acquired from these Blue Jackets in an offseason trade, and Kelly both had two assists. Olofsson had a goal and an assist, while fellow depth forwards Drury and Bardakov added an assist each.
This was the fifth career NHL game and third start for Miner. He has been up from the Colorado Eagles for the past four games since Mackenzie Blackwood went on the injured list Jan. 2, but this was his first NHL start since a 4-3 overtime loss Oct. 26 in New Jersey.
“For sure, it’s exciting to get my first win, but I think for us to get another win at home is just as exciting,” Miner said. “I think it went really good. I mean, there were a lot of shots blocked tonight that didn’t get through, and I can’t thank them enough for that. There were a lot of point one-timers, point shots that guys were eating pucks all night for me. I was pretty fortunate to be behind that group.”
Nelson was named to the United States hockey team Friday morning for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. He will be a third-generation Olympian in his family. Nelson’s uncle, Dave Christian, won gold in 1980 with the “Miracle on Ice” team at Lake Placid.
His grandfather and great-uncle, Bill and Roger Christian, were members of the 1960 U.S. team that won gold in Squaw Valley, Calif. One of their brothers, Gord, won a silver medal with the 1956 U.S. team in Italy.
Nelson was a marquee acquisition for the Colorado Avalanche just before the trade deadline last season, then he signed a three-year contract with the club in early June. He has been Colorado’s No. 2 center since the day he arrived from Long Island after a long, productive tenure with the New York Islanders.
“The center ice position is such an important position,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “You have to be a four-line team in order to win and your top six has to to be really good. If you’re missing that piece, it almost doesn’t matter how good your wingers are. We’ve got elite wingers on our second line.
“But if you’re missing that middle piece — take (Nathan) McKinnon off the first line, put a different center there — it’s not the same. If you take Nelson off the second line, put a different center there, it’s not the same. You need the production out of those guys. You need them to be able to play against anybody, and you need them to be able to defend against anybody. Brock does that, and then he touches every aspect of our game — power play, penalty kill — on top of that.”
Nelson’s all-around play is a huge reason why he will play for the Americans in Northern Italy. He was on Team USA for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off this past February, which lost to Canada in overtime in the final.
His play in that short tournament, and his age — Nelson will turn 35 years old in April — led plenty of prognosticators to leave him off projected Olympic rosters for much of the past 11 months.
Nelson also got off to a slow start, production-wise, in his first full season with the Avalanche. But he’s been on a tear at just the right time.
The rangy center has 16 goals and 30 points in 39 games for the Avs this season. He has 13 goals and 25 points in his past 23 contests, in which Colorado has gone 20-1-2.
At 6-foot-4 with great skating ability, Nelson has arguably been even better on the defensive side of the puck for the Avs. Colorado has produced 61.1% of the expected goals with Nelson on the ice at 5-on-5, despite Bednar often leaning on his line to match up against the other team’s top players.
That’s second on the team among the forwards, behind only Valeri Nichushkin, and fourth in the NHL among forwards with 300-plus minutes played at 5-on-5.
Nelson is also third among the Avs’ forwards in time on ice on the penalty kill, which is ranked No. 1 in the NHL at 85.7%.
“He’s huge,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said. “He’s been so solid for us at both ends of the rink. He’s been getting rewarded here with some goals.
“You can tell he’s playing with a lot of confidence. It’s fun to see. He’s just as important to this team as anybody else.”
The tournament begins Feb. 11. Nelson and the Americans will face Latvia on Feb. 12, Denmark on Feb. 14 and Germany on Feb. 15 in the preliminary round.
Canada, which will feature a trio of Avs — Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Devon Toews — will be looking to defend its 4 Nations crown but also win gold at the Olympics for the third straight time when NHL players participate.
LAS VEGAS — The Colorado Avalanche could look across the ice Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena and see … themselves, from the past couple of seasons.
Colorado faces the Vegas Golden Knights in a matchup of two division leaders Saturday. It could be the preview of a looming Western Conference postseason showdown.
What it won’t be is two sides going to battle with all of its top weaponry available. The Golden Knights are trying to survive right now, with franchise center Jack Eichel, No. 1 defenseman Shea Theodore and No. 1 goalie Adin Hill all out with injuries.
Toss in Alex Pietrangelo, who is taking the entire year off because of injury a la Gabe Landeskog, and the parallels between the 2025-26 Golden Knights and the past three additions of the Avs, which all dealt with significant availability issues, are even more similar.
Still, the Golden Knights have been able to grind out enough points to lead the Pacific Division. Vegas, Anaheim and Edmonton all reached the holiday break level on 44 points, but the Knights have played the fewest games.
“Teams go through adversity at different times,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “These guys are through it a little bit right now. The parody in the league is as good as it’s ever been … I do think there are some teams that usually have a big role to play that are going to finish right where you kind of expect them to.”
To Bednar’s point, several NHL clubs considered top Stanley Cup contenders in the preseason have scuffled through the first half of the campaign. Vegas and Edmonton both have had struggles, while Florida and Tampa Bay have dealt with significant injury concerns of their own in the East.
Colorado and Dallas have been much healthier, and those two clubs have soared above the rest in the NHL standings. But as the league gears up for the second segment of this season as a lead up to the 2026 Olympic break, the Oilers and Panthers have surged back into a playoff position, while the Lightning and Golden Knights have continued to struggle.
“I think leadership, coaching, culture but also just having really good players and depth is big,” Avs center Jack Drury said. “Those are all well-coached teams. I think that helps a lot.”
Vegas has teetered a bit without Eichel, though. He’s missed the past four games, which includes losses to New Jersey, Calgary and Edmonton. Mitch Marner, the marquee offseason addition for any NHL team, has spent some time at center with both Eichel and William Karlsson out of the lineup.
Marner left Toronto and signed with Vegas for the same contract Mikko Rantanen inked in Dallas — eight years, $96 million. Marner has nine goals and 38 points in 35 games for Vegas.
“I think he just adds a different dynamic,” Avs center Brock Nelson, who lined up against Marner for years in the Eastern Conference, said. “He makes guys around him better. He’s so dangerous with the puck. It’s his vision. He creates turnovers, one of the better sticks in the league. He impacts the game pretty well in every way.”
Enough with green and red. Navy blue is the newest festive color this holiday season in Colorado.
It might’ve even helped the Avalanche preserve its home winning streak.
If goaltender Scott Wedgewood wasn’t dressed in dark pads to match his glove, the direction of his shutout bid Tuesday could’ve feasibly changed course. Instead, a dramatic and precarious second-period save held up to replay review, and the Avs went into their holiday break with a 1-0 win over the Utah Mammoth and a five-point cushion in the President’s Trophy race.
“There’s only one thing you can win in the regular season, and it’s not your main goal,” Wedgewood said, “but with how hard this league is and how hard it is to win, if you can get yourself in the top seed, home ice, every advantage counts.”
Wedgewood notched his second shutout of the year and his first with 30 or more saves (32). He faced several high-danger scoring chances from the short-handed Mammoth, none more nail-biting than a glove save with 4:45 remaining in the second period in which he was fighting against Clayton Keller’s breakaway and his own backward momentum.
The Avs had the lead by then, courtesy of a Sam Girard backhander. Wedgewood was sliding into his net as he corralled Keller’s rebound attempt. “Where I caught it, I knew I was close and felt the post,” he said, “and it was just kind of my body weight sliding back. And I had to push my hand forward. It was a little unorthodox.”
Ruled no goal on the ice, the play went to review — a mechanism still hindered by the NHL’s lack of puck-tracking technology that might discern more definitively whether one crossed the line. In this case, the burden of proof favored Colorado. The most decisive camera angle of the play was from above. Therein lied the problem: Looking down on it, everything blended in. The puck, the trapper, the goalie pads.
If the glove is blue, you mustn’t disprove.
“That color helps for sure. Because there’s a good chance that pick was in,” Avs coach Jared Bednar admitted. “But the thing is, you’ve gotta be able to see it in, right? And you need the overhead cam to do that. And it’s pretty hard to see it in if it’s in his glove, unless his whole glove crosses (the goal line) and goes in. So I was pretty confident that it wasn’t gonna count, just because you have to have definitive proof that it crossed the line, and I just think it’s very hard to get that — especially with the dark glove, dark puck.”
Consider it a stroke of serendipity for a team — and a goalie — that has probably earned it. For the Avalanche (27-2-7), that was the theme of the NHL’s last night of action before the break. Dallas and Minnesota lost in overtime, allowing the Avs to distance themselves from both by another point in the loaded central division.
They’re the only team to have reached 61 points before Christmas since the league instituted a holiday break in 1972-73. They’re the second-fastest team ever to 60, behind the 1929-30 Bruins. Their goal differential is 27 better than any other team. They’ve won six consecutive games and 13 straight at home. A three-day break is merited.
“We’ve been able to stay healthy here, first half of the year,” team captain Gabe Landeskog said. “We’ve had some great individual performances, but it also feels like there are different guys stepping up every single night, and that’s what we need.”
Wedgewood has been one to step up with remarkable consistency. If Christmas marks the unofficial halfway point of the season, then he culminated his first half with a fitting gem of a game, carrying his skaters on a rare night when the Avalanche offense didn’t look so high-powered. Utah kept the game tight in the neutral zone.
This was only the second time through 36 games that Colorado didn’t score multiple goals. Both have been 1-0 wins — Wedgewood’s only two shutouts so far.
“He was the best player on the ice for either team, no question,” Bednar said.
He entered the break with league-leading numbers across the board: save percentage (.924), goals allowed average (2.01), wins (16).
He even made the smartest equipment choice in the league in a game with a narrower margin for error than usual. Across the country on Tuesday, a similar play happened with Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin
That one was ruled a goal. He wore white pads.
“Maybe,” Wedgewood said, “the dark gear helped me a little bit.”
This edition of the Colorado Avalanche has been so consistently good that Jared Bednar, often a tinkerer when he’s looking for a spark, hasn’t needed to turn the line blender on very often.
After starting 31 consecutive games with the same top line, the Avs’ top trio had a new look Saturday night in a 4-2 win against the Nashville Predators. Well, new to start a game, anyway.
Bednar moved rookie Gavin Brindley to the top line in the middle of the previous game, a 6-2 thumping of the Florida Panthers. Brindley started a game there for the first time, bumping Martin Necas down to the third line.
“Awesome,” Brindley said. “Playing with the best, if not one of the best players in the world. Pretty damn cool. I never thought that would come to fruition. Yeah, really cool.”
Bednar’s rationale was pretty simple: He liked how Brindley played with Nathan MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen the game before, and wanted to see it again. Part of the reason for the switch Thursday against the Panthers was Necas has been playing through an illness, and didn’t love how he was playing.
It says something about how this season is going for the Avs that Necas still set up a goal and scored one, albeit one that was taken off the board because of an offsides challenge, against Florida.
There are still 50 games left in this season, but the Avs have steamrolled their way to the top of the NHL standings. They have 53 points in 32 games, which is tied for the third-most in league history at this point.
Bednar’s philosophy on building lines has a couple of core ideas. If he finds a line he really likes, he will stick with it for long stretches, and will likely to go back to at some point in the future. But, he also likes to tinker, and often says he wants every player to play with everyone over the course of a regular season.
“It’s definitely a bonus,” MacKinnon said of the flexibility. “We might need different combos eventually. I think it’s good to switch things up sometimes. I thought all four lines played pretty good (Saturday night).”
The past couple of Avalanche teams have given him good reason to shake up his lineup, either with slow starts to the season or in-season funks. The closet thing this group has had to an adverse stretch was a four-game losing streak that still involved collecting three points (0-1-3).
So, after 30 overwhelmingly successful games, Bednar did a little tinkering. Brindley’s return to the lineup against Florida led to a few new looks. Ross Colton moved to the middle for the first time all season, centering the third line. Brindley slotted in next to him, playing with the third line for the first time.
Jack Drury moved down to the fourth line, with Parker Kelly and Joel Kiviranta. A trio of Drury, Kelly and Logan O’Connor became of Bednar’s favorite lines last season, and they had an excellent playoff series against the Dallas Stars.
Roster construction and O’Connor’s injuries has kept that line apart this year, but Bednar has said they will play together again at some point. And Kiviranta is a pretty similar player to O’Connor.
Drury took the demotion in stride against Florida, and then scored Colorado’s second goal against Nashville.
“It’s easy. It’s part of being a pro,” Drury said before the Nashville game. “I’ve said this before, but there are so many good players (here), it doesn’t really matter who you are going out with. Any forward you go out with is going to be able to make plays and be smart. It’s easy.”
MacKinnon, Necas and Lehkonen will be back together at some point. That’s clearly a line that Bednar trusts and knows can will be consistently productive and dominate games.
He liked a second line of Brock Nelson, Valeri Nichushkin and Gabe Landeskog early in the season, even when it wasn’t producing, and now that they’ve been put back together those guys have started to turn more chances into goals.
Brindley playing on the top line may prove to be a short-term experiment, but Bednar was able to do some tinkering, collect some data and the Avs just kept rolling.
“He’s solid,” MacKinnon said of the 21-year-old rookie. “He’s a good forechecker. He’s definitely a water bug out there.”
Nearly two years ago, Jared Bednar offered four words that summarized Nathan MacKinnon’s rise to the top of the NHL en route to his first Hart Trophy: We get in late.
Bednar’s team altered its travel itinerary to accommodate MacKinnon’s postgame recovery routine, which several of his Colorado Avalanche teammates also partake in. It’s just part of the near mythological tale of MacKinnon’s off-ice commitment to on-ice excellence.
Brent Burns has cultivated a similar reputation across more than two decades in the NHL. His passion for off-ice training and taking care of his body is a big part of why he has played more than 1,500 NHL games and will have a plaque inside the Great Hall at the Hockey Hall of Fame three years after he’s done playing.
This is his first season with the Avalanche, and he’s offered an addendum to the lore of MacKinnon and his teammates’ zeal for the work they put in during the season: They get in early.
Burns has mentioned this a few times. He’s always prided himself on being one of the first guys at the rink every morning, going back to his days with Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks. Then he signed with the Avs, and he started seeing a bunch of cars when he pulled into the Family Sports Center parking lot.
“That’s been a huge blessing for me coming here,” Burns said. “There’s so many guys here that are so dedicated to it.”
There were plenty of reasons to believe Burns and the Avalanche could be a good fit when he signed a one-year, incentive-laden deal on July 1. One of the most obvious: Burns is a workout warrior, a guy who has always been a leader in that aspect for every team he’s played for.
The idea of MacKinnon and Burns being on the same team conjured up images of the scene from Step Brothers, when Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) asks Dale Doback (John C. Reilly), “Did we just become best friends?”
While MacKinnon and Burns haven’t done any karate together in the garage, Burns has enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes look at what helps make MacKinnon one of the best players of his generation.
“Nate is very well known for a lot of his things and (expletive), I’ve already learned a lot from him,” Burns said. “We talk quite a bit about it. I love picking his brain.
“This stuff changes all the time, and Nate is obviously at the tip of the spear for all of it. It’s been awesome. I love that he loves to share and lets other guys know. That’s a really great thing. A lot of us can learn a lot from a guy like that.”
There have been plenty of stories about both players and their passion for taking care of their bodies, often told by teammates or ex-teammates on podcasts or just passed along by word of mouth. Both players are particular about nutrition and what they put into their bodies, though in different ways.
Burns has a ranch in Texas where he has imported various types of animals to hunt, allowing him to eat meat that never sees preservatives, a delivery truck or a grocery freezer. He makes his own coffee, both at home and on the road.
MacKinnon is one of three athletes, including Andrew Wiggins of the Miami Heat and Cole Caufield of the Montreal Canadians, who recently began endorsing HappiEats sport pasta. They also promote Cwench, a sports hydration drink. MacKinnon has been a big proponent of chickpea pasta in the past, and isn’t afraid to offer dietary tips to his teammates.
Their workout routines are undoubtedly different, but there are some similarities. Riding a stationary bike after games is a staple for MacKinnon, and many of his teammates have adopted it. Burns also likes to get on a bicycle, though his is the more traditional variety — he has incorporated cycling into his offseason plan for years.
“I do a lot of different things. He’s got his stuff, and I do a lot of things differently,” MacKinnon said. “He’s got all these different machines. I don’t know what those machines are, but they’re working for him.
Nathan MacKinnon (29) of the Colorado Avalanche and Ryan Poehling (25) of the Anaheim Ducks prepare to face off during the third period at Ball Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
“He’s a great guy, awesome teammate. He’s got a lot of stuff that he does, but he’s super excited every day about doing new things with (strength and conditioning coach Alexi Pianosi), who is also awesome. He’s a curious guy at 40, and I think that’s why he’s played so long. He’s stayed curious, doesn’t think he knows everything and he’s always open to new ideas. I think that’s kind of a key to life, to be honest, is to just stay open.”
MacKinnon might drive the proverbial bus for much of the off-ice work, but there are plenty of eager passengers in the Avs locker room. Brock Nelson has been friends with Devon Toews for years, dating back to their time together with the New York Islanders.
Nelson knew about the culture in the Avs locker room, both through Toews and because of his experience working with Andy O’Brien, one of the NHL’s most famous personal trainers. Nelson began working with O’Brien about a decade ago through John Tavares, but MacKinnon has worked with him for even longer.
That culture played a role in Nelson wanting to stay after arriving at the trade deadline last season. He signed a three-year contract in early June, weeks before he could have gone to the open market as the best center available.
“I feel like the whole performance aspect, from strength and condition to everything else here, is as good as it gets,” Nelson said. “Obviously, that is driven by (MacKinnon). He’s on a completely different level. His fitness, how dialed in he is, is as good as it gets.
“Guys see that, and there’s a method to the madness. He’s one of one. You can’t replicate what he’s doing and then after be like, ‘OK, I’m going to feel like him.’ ”
Nelson is one of the older players on the team, but he’s also someone, like MacKinnon, who has found a new level of performance and production later in his career. That’s not how aging curves have worked for much of the NHL’s history, but the work players do when they’re not on the ice is drastically different now.
Nelson has also enjoyed watching Burns assimilate with the Avalanche, and the physical fitness think tank that the team culture has fostered.
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Brent Burns (84) takes the puck up ice against Josh Dunne in the second period at Ball Arena in Denver on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
“(Burns) has bags upon bags of tools and gadgets,” Nelson said. ” He’s always saying how he’s stiff and sore, but you see that he’s 40 and he still moves extremely well. He’s stacking all these habits, the gadgets. He’s always foam rolling. He’s always got something going on, something that is working for him in terms of performance and feeling good.
“It’s contagious. It drives guys to be better and try new things. If you can get 1%, 2% out of something that makes you a little bit better, it’s definitely worth it
“You have to go into like, I’m not going to feel like Superman. It’s not going to be revolutionary, but if you feel better by a little bit, then it’s something that mentally you can have belief in and conviction that this is one of those things that is helping me.”
MacKinnon is famously private about the specifics of his secrets, at least to the outside world. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman spoke about MacKinnon’s postgame stationary bike routine on an episode of the “32 Thoughts” podcast. A couple of days later, the Avs superstar countered a question about it with mild displeasure and a desire to know where Friedman was getting his information.
MacKinnon is one of the most insightful players in the NHL when it comes to the overall philosophies of taking care of the body. Just don’t ask him about specifics in his routine, unless you are one of his teammates.
“There’s a reason why he’s at the top of the world,” Burns said. “There’s obviously some God-given talent, but there’s obviously a lot of work and a lot of dedication and time. That he is willing to share with everybody else and make everybody around him better is really, well, it’s special.”
Maybe Burns would be willing to offer up a secret or two? Something that even he made him go, ‘Wow?’
“There have been lots,” Burns said. “He might share it with us, but I ain’t sharing it with anyone else.”
For the better part of a dozen years, Brock Nelson would cue up video of the New York Islanders and watch himself move around the ice.
That’s the weirdest part for him now. When he tunes in to check out his old pals or catches Islanders highlights, that’s not him when No. 29 makes something happen.
It’s going to be an interesting weekend for Nelson and a different kind of Sunday night at Ball Arena. The guy who used to wear No. 29 for the Islanders will play against them for the first time since being traded to the Avalanche. The guy who used to play here, Jonathan Drouin, is now the guy wearing No. 29 for his old club.
“Yeah, (Drouin) texted me just to see if it was OK,” Nelson said. “It is funny — there’s a couple times where I watch their games and that just looks funny. Anytime I watched video for 12 years, I was just so programmed to be like, ‘OK, there I am.’ It’s weird to see somebody else out there.
“He’s a great guy, great player and it’s just a number. I told him I’d never tell him not to wear the number. I’m not there. Go ahead. But I appreciate him even thinking that he had to reach out.”
It’s been a pretty seamless fit with the Avalanche. He was already friends with Devon Toews from their days together on Long Island. He had an off-ice workout connection with Nathan MacKinnon.
Now Nelson will get the first of two reminders of his previous life in rapid succession. The Avs play Sunday at home against the Islanders and then travel to Long Island for the return match in less than three weeks.
“It will be fun to see those guys,” Nelson said. “There’s a lot of them I haven’t seen since the trade. I’ve talked to a lot of them. It will be weird. It will be different. Hopefully, I’ll see a few of them the day before and catch up a little bit. But I’m glad it’s here first and I get to see them before going there.”
The last time Nelson played at UBS Arena, he was named the No. 1 star of the game. His on-the-bench postgame interview was an emotional one — for him and Islanders fans. Everyone involved knew a trade was imminent.
“I’ve never really gone through anything like that,” Nelson said. “You see guys going back after long stints, and it can be emotional. So, yeah, I think it would be tough if we were going back first. It will be nice to get through this one, just to kind of see them.
“I’m sure there will be a couple of laughs, a couple funny chirps going back and forth. Just some good banter.”
Toews wasn’t with the Islanders for as long, but it was the organization that drafted him. He went through a similar situation — getting traded to Colorado, trying to find his place on a team with high expectations and settling into a completely new NHL environment for the first time.
Through Toews’ eyes, Nelson’s transition is going well.
“He’s playing great,” Toews said. “He’s not a guy that’s ever going to dwell on stats and things like that. He’s been a positive contributor to our team. That’s what he needs to be. Points will come when they come. He’s been a great addition to our penalty kill. He’s a great faceoff guy, which I knew from my time with him in New York. He’s finding ways to contribute in different ways.
“When you bring in guys like that, it raises your standard for your structure and your detail in your game. That’s sometimes lacking with younger guys, guys that are still learning and finding their way. Those (veteran) guys help with those details and then help the young guys as well, making sure they’re doing the right things and are in the right places instead of just being hyper focused on producing offense.”
Nelson has been the No. 2 center since the day he arrived. There was no question about the role he would play, which helps. Having guys like Toews and MacKinnon in his corner from day one also helped.
The offensive numbers have not matched his days on Long Island to this point. He had a mid-career renaissance from 2021-24, scoring at least 34 goals and 59 points in each of those three seasons.
In 37 games with the Avs, he has 10 goals and 20 points. This year, it’s four goals and seven points in 18 games.
The one part of his role that is different is the offensive expectations. The Avs don’t need Nelson to score 30-plus goals and drive the offense on a consistent basis to be successful.
New York needed him to raise the team’s ceiling. In Denver, he has helped raise the Avs’ floor.
“If you look at his analytics and underlying numbers, they’re all good,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “He’s a really smart, really well-rounded 200-foot player. From my tally, he’s fourth on the team in scoring chances. He hasn’t scored easily so far, but he’s right there tied with Val and his defensive metrics have been good. It’s just about trying to give him more shooting opportunities.
“Part of it is just the steadiness of his game and doing the right thing all the time.”
Nelson was a fixture in the Islanders’ core for years, but life changes quickly in the NHL. Calum Ritchie, who was part of the Avs’ package to get Nelson, will be on the other side and could be a key part of the Isles’ future. Trading Nelson was part of a reset, which was turbo-boosted when the Islanders won the draft lottery and landed defensive wunderkind Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL draft.
Drouin is helping to replace some of the offense the club lost when it traded Nelson. Schaefer looks like a runaway Calder Trophy winner and has changed the long-term outlook for the franchise.
Nelson was part of the group that helped the Islanders reach back-to-back conference finals, the best stretch of success the franchise has had since the early 1980s when it ruled the NHL. He expects to have a chance to reminisce about those days Saturday night with his old friends, and then try and beat them Sunday night.
He’s also looking forward to the game back there in a couple of weeks. His wife and kids are going to make the trip. They’ve got a couple of old stomping grounds spots lined up and plenty of friends to catch up with.
“Sometimes I think back to my routine there and how programmed I was, how I knew everything about the surroundings,” Nelson said. “There are times where it feels like you’re still kind of feeling it out here, settling in. But there are also times where it feels like I’ve been here forever. Crazy to think it was 12 years there. It feels like it went by in a blink of an eye.
“But the more you think about it and you expand the picture, you think about the life things that happened — kids, family, all that stuff, just the friends we met there — and I feel fortunate for the time I had there.”
On Sunday in Vancouver, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar showed his faith in Gavin Brindley.
On Tuesday in Denver, the Colorado front office followed suit.
Two days after Bednar moved the fourth-line forward to the first line in the third period and then sent him back onto the ice for overtime, resulting in Brindley’s first career game-winning goal, the Avs announced they signed Brindley to a two-year extension.
That extension, which carries an average annual value of $875,000 and runs through the 2027-28 season, is evidence that Colorado believes the 21-year-old can emerge as a fixture in the offense over the next three years.
“I think he can be a (first- or second-line) forward in this league,” Bednar said. “He plays bigger than his size, the motor, the relentlessness, the skill level and the brain to go with it is all there. His (ceiling) is really high. He’s being used in that (fourth-line) role because there’s guys I trust higher in the lineup, and who have played those roles before.
“… (What he did in Vancouver), that’s repeatable from him. We’ll keep trying to move him up when he’s really going, or when other guys are struggling. If not, he just makes our team deeper and more dangerous offensively when he’s playing in the bottom six (forwards).”
Considering where Brindley’s stock was just five months ago when the Avs traded for him, Tuesday’s announcement speaks to the strong impression he’s made in his short time in Colorado.
The Avs sent forwards Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to the Blue Jackets on June 27 in a cap-clearing move, and got Brindley and two draft picks in return. Taken No. 34 overall by Columbus in 2023, Brindley was coming off a poor debut in his first full professional season for the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League. In 52 games, he tallied 17 points, including only six goals.
That made him expendable in a trade that Brindley says “definitely put a chip on my shoulder.”
“Coming off last year, not the best year for myself, I just got back to my game and got back to what I know works,” Brindley said. “I had a lot of different emotions after the trade. There’s positives and negatives to getting traded that young, but (in retrospect), it’s good to go through it early, experience that, experience the downs of last year, learn from it and get better and grow.”
Brindley said extension talks between his agent and the Avs heated up over the last few weeks and came to a head on Monday. In 14 games entering Tuesday night’s showdown with Anaheim, Brindley had five points (three goals, two assists) while becoming a lineup regular. That’s in stark contrast to the previous two years, when he barely got a cup of coffee with Columbus (one game in 2023-24) in the NHL.
Parker Kelly, who plays on the fourth line with Brindley, noted that Brindley “has done a great job of coming in and picking up what we’ve built here.”
“Gavin’s been making plays and obviously we saw him get onto the top line (in Vancouver) and then he buries the game-winner in overtime,” Kelly said. “He was probably our best player throughout the majority of that game.
“But where I’ve really seen his growth (on the fourth line) is his understanding of the game. … Sometimes he just needs to make the safe play, and he’s been doing a really good job of picking his spots, making plays when he can and being smart with the puck when he doesn’t have plays to make.”
Brindley has also earned roles on both the penalty kill and the power play — he’s now on the second unit for the latter. That’s another indication of Bednar’s growing trust in the young forward, who would’ve entered restricted free agency this summer without an extension.
“He’s a well-rounded player who is willing to learn and add to his toolbox to be able to get more minutes,” Bednar said.
Brindley has been on the ice for an average of 8 minutes, 58 seconds this season, but all indications are his arrow is pointing up.
Projecting down the line, he could eventually be a replacement for Artturi Lehkonen on the first line if he continues to develop. Lehkonen is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in 2027-28.
The Avs are currently the betting favorite to win the Stanley Cup this season, with +550 odds, according to BetMGM. Center Nathan MacKinnon led the league with 29 points and 14 goals heading into Tuesday’s game, while Cale Makar has been the NHL’s most productive defenseman as the reigning Norris Memorial Trophy winner has 22 points.
“The possibility to win (is what’s most exciting),” Brindley said. “Every year, we have a great chance to make a deep run. … It’s awesome to be locked into that possibility through 2027-28.”
Two things have always been true for Casey Mittelstadt in his hockey career: He can be too hard on himself, but he always digs his way out of a slump through hard work.
Then he encountered a rough patch unlike anything he’d ever experienced last year with the Colorado Avalanche. It cost him a chance to settle at a place he thought might become home.
It also gave him time to reflect on a whirlwind two years that saw him uprooted twice — and helped him realize that when times get tough, he needs to work on putting down the shovel.
“Sometimes you almost care too much, and it’s better to go out and play carefree and not worry about the consequences as much,” Mittelstadt said. “It’s something I’ve struggled with, I would say, my whole career, not just even pro hockey. Something I’m definitely working on and going to continue to work on.
“I think all of us are so competitive, and to some degree, we’re all perfectionists. Sometimes you get a little hard on yourself and get in that hole.”
Mittelstadt returned to Ball Arena with the Boston Bruins on Saturday, back to the site of the worst hole he’s ever encountered. He arrived in Denver in a shocking trade that saw the Avs send their best young player, defenseman Bo Byram, to Buffalo for Mittelstadt, who was expected to be part of the core of the next great Sabres team.
It was the type of one-for-one challenge trade of young players with immense potential that rarely happens in the NHL. Mittelstadt was the next in line to fill the No. 2 center position behind Nathan MacKinnon.
The trade looked like a home run for the Avs. Mittelstadt fit in with the team immediately. He and MacKinnon quickly became practice buddies, as he tried to soak up everything he could from one of the best centers in the world. They’re both hockey nerds at heart, and it looked like a good match.
Mittelstadt was productive at the end of the 2023-24 season and had a strong showing in his first Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Avs signed him to a three-year contract at $5.75 million per season. Then, he got off to a hot start last year when the depleted club needed him.
Then … it just went sideways for him.
“I don’t know,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said when asked what went wrong. “… It’s different for every player and how he feels in the environment. Some guys thrive in it, some guys don’t. You can hit a streak. You lose confidence, and things don’t go well. There’s high expectations and moves are made. Other guys gain confidence and play well. Every team’s not going to be a fit for every player.”
From the day after the trade until mid-November of last season, Mittelstadt had 37 points in 48 games, including nine in 11 playoff contests. That’s a 63-point pace over a full season — exactly what the Avs have been looking for in that role.
Then he had four goals and 16 points in his next 44 games. The next game after that came with the Bruins, when he was traded, along with prospect William Zellers and a second-round pick, for Charlie Coyle. That the Avs had to include two assets to acquire a less-productive center suggests that Mittelstadt’s stock had plummeted.
“I think especially in the season when you’re playing every other day and things are crazy, it almost feels like it’s something different every game when it’s not going well,” Mittelstadt said. “Sadly, I think I probably fell into that rabbit hole a little bit too much.
“It’s part of it, though. It’s part of growing up and maturing and learning from your mistakes. I think as long as you do that, you look back on every experience as a positive one.”
Mittelstadt is already on his second coach with the Bruins, something he has experience with after spending the first six seasons of his career in Buffalo. He’s centering the second line for a franchise in transition. The spine of a potentially great team is still there with David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman, but the rest of the roster is a bit of an odd collection of players.
He’ll have a local kid, Littleton’s Michael Eyssimont, on his wing Saturday night in Denver. Mittelstadt has two goals and no assists in five games this season, and six goals but just two assists in 23 games overall for the Bruins.
“It’s been fun. Obviously, a crazy couple of years,” Mittelstadt said. “Trying to get settled in and get comfortable. It’s a great group of guys, so I’ve been having a good time. I think we’ve played overall pretty well and some things to improve on. I think we have a good team.”
Mittelstadt was a phenom growing up in Minnesota. He struggled at first with the Sabres but eventually matured into one of their best players and a productive NHL player.
He and the Avs looked like a great fit until it suddenly wasn’t. In a whirlwind year for the organization, his slump was one of the more perplexing developments. Other players have not worked out in Denver, but he was a unique case. He fit with the culture of the team, but it just went awry on the ice.
Now he’s trying to find the magic he had near the end of his time in Buffalo, while sorting out life in a new city.
“I think it’s a work in progress a little bit, trying to regain some of the confidence, and some of the things maybe I’d lost in the past couple of years,” Mittelstadt said. “At the same time, I think there’s a lot of positives and a lot of things going in the right direction.
“I learned so much in Colorado. I’m very grateful for my time there, and I feel like the staff taught me a ton, along with a lot of the players. I feel blessed to have that opportunity, but also happy to be here.”
Jared Bednar, an avid angler, likes to compare his hockey team over a long season to a boat.
He sees it like this: The team builds its identity and what it wants to be over the first part of the season, and then there are aspects that just break during the grind of 82 games — kind of like a well-used fishing vessel. How quickly the club fixes the issues and regains its optimal performance is a big part of a successful campaign.
The Colorado Avalanche left the dock with a major leak last season. Fixing the boat on the fly was an all-hands-on-deck situation, from the coaching staff to the front office.
The start of the 2025-26 season has been a complete 180. The Avs were 4-0-1 heading into a Saturday night contest at Ball Arena with the Boston Bruins, and the one blemish might have been the best overall performance considering the foe.
Colorado’s NHL team is relatively healthy, stable and off to a strong start. The Avs allowed eight goals in the season opener last year. They’ve allowed eight total in the first five contests.
“Overall, a pretty good start, being able to win hockey games without really having played our best as a team,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said. “If you can figure out your game as a team while winning, and kind of go through some of those growing pains at the start of the season while racking up some points, I think that’s a positive thing.
“And I think we are only scratching the surface.”
Here are some observations from the first five-game segment of this Stanley Cup-or-bust season in Denver.
1. Nathan MacKinnon is already in Hart Trophy finalist form
Natural Stat Trick had MacKinnon on the ice for 17 scoring chances in Buffalo. He took 17 shifts in the game. The 2024 league MVP has been on the ice for 49 scoring chances at 5-on-5, which is tied for third among forwards. The two players ahead of him and the one who is even are all on the two-time defending champs, the Florida Panthers, who have also played an extra game.
The Avs have outscored the opposition 7-0 at even strength with MacKinnon on the ice, 10-0 overall. Those are just some numbers in a small sample size.
He and Martin Necas are flying at the start of this season. They’ve combined for seven goals and 17 points, and both could easily have a few more.
MacKinnon has already seen a steady diet of Zach Werenski, Drew Doughty, Mikhail Sergachev, Rasmus Dahlin or Owen Power and Miro Heiskanen or Esa Lindell.
He’s got a chance to have four straight 100-point seasons for the Avs. MacKinnon can also finish this year with six of the top 15 season point totals since the club moved to Denver if he gets to 97 or more points. Joe Sakic would be next … with three.
2. Gabe Landeskog feels good, and there are flashes of his vintage work
The captain has one point in five games, an empty-net assist. He’s played six minutes per game less than he did in 2021-22.
He’s not concerned.
“In terms of my game, it’s kind of the same thing — just scratching the surface,” Landeskog said. “I’m trying to find my game again, establish my game again. There’s been some good shifts here and there, but overall I’ve got pretty high expectations for myself. … I just have to remind myself that it’s a marathon here.”
Landeskog doesn’t look slow or a step behind the play. He’s not making costly mistakes. He’s been solid, with a sprinkling of impactful plays. The ability to win puck battles in dirty areas and make skillful plays in tight spaces is still there.
It hasn’t been the “Holy (expletive), how is he doing this?” version from the playoffs last year, but even he wasn’t expecting that at the start of this season. He’s not playing as much in part because Landeskog is on the second power-play unit and isn’t killing penalties.
The Avs haven’t needed him to, but having him available for every game and just being a solid player is obviously a huge boost compared to the past three years.
3. The penalty kill has benefited greatly from roster stability
Colorado has a new coach in charge of the power play and might still be looking for its optimal configurations with the man advantage. It’s a work in progress, with generally positive early returns.
The penalty kill looks like it’s ready for Game 1 of the playoffs right now. It is 12 for 14 to start the season, which is great in a small sample.
But it also just looks good. The two goals against were a 5-on-3 and one three seconds after a faceoff on a puck that fooled Scott Wedgewood.
“I really like the way it looks right now,” Bednar said. “Special teams are a big focus this time of year, building chemistry and dialing in those details that you need.”
Of the six forwards killing penalties, Parker Kelly and Jack Drury were new last year and figuring it out on the fly, while Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen weren’t available at the start of the year. Adding Brent Burns has allowed Cale Makar to play a little less on the PK.
4. Scott Wedgewood is going to be tough to unseat
Wedgewood would like a word about those 2026-27 roster projections.
Yes, the Avs are expecting to welcome Ilya Nabokov to North America at the end of his KHL season. Yes, it could be a natural fit for him to slide into the backup role next season behind MacKenzie Blackwood, given that Wedgewood is in the last year of his contract.
But Wedgewood is balling out to start the season. He’s second in save percentage, goals against average and total saves among goalies with at least three starts. He’s tied for third in goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck.
“He just grinds,” Avs center Brock Nelson said. “He’s a competitor. He’s a gamer, but he’s also just good all the time. He’s frustrating to shoot on in practice. I feel like he’s got a great read on shooters, the puck, the play. He’s just a solid, sound goalie.”
Wedgewood’s play will determine whether the Avs want to try to keep him beyond this season, but he’s obviously become a key figure and well-liked teammate in the locker room as well.
5. This team, with some good health luck, can finish first in the Central
In part because of the injuries, trades and availability issues over the past couple of seasons, the Avalanche as a team hasn’t focused that intently on the regular-season standings. The best teams in the NHL typically don’t, partially because of the parity and because home-ice advantage in the playoffs is fleeting.
Do enough to get in, get things right at the right time and make a run. That said, finishing first in the Central Division does have one specific perk: You don’t have to beat Dallas and Winnipeg to reach the second half of the tournament.
Minnesota, St. Louis and Utah are all good teams, but it’s going to take something weird for the top three in the Central to not be Colorado, Dallas and Winnipeg in some order. And for the first time in a few years, the Avs look like they’re equipped for a run at the division title.
Everything at the top of the league standings is dependent on health, and usually a decent dose of good fortune when it comes to scoring goals or preventing them. This Colorado roster, 1-20, is one of the best in the league and looks locked in at the start of the season. Finishing first in the division, the conference or even the league could be in play.
BUFFALO — Brock Nelson will celebrate his 34th birthday on Wednesday, which means he’s experienced a lot in his life as a hockey player.
Nelson encountered a first Monday afternoon at KeyBank Center when he was cut on the left wrist by a wayward skate. It’s one of the scariest things that can happen in the sport. Luckily for Nelson, it went about as well as one of those situations can.
“When I felt it, it kind of felt like a stinger-type feeling in my hand. I knew I got hit by something, then I looked and I saw it was cut,” Nelson said after the Avalanche defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1. “I knew I was cut, so I just went off (the ice). I’ve never really had a cut like that before. When I saw the cut, I was almost waiting for more blood to come out. I think it was just clean and more superficial. Just a couple zips.”
Nelson went to defend ex-Avs defenseman Bo Byram along the boards near the Colorado bench early in the third period. Byram got the puck past him, but also fell awkwardly to the ice. His right leg elevated as the rest of his body tumbled, and caught Nelson just under his glove.
For all of the protection hockey players wear, there are a few places on the body that can get exposed in those types of situations. Nelson flung off his glove, looked at his hand/wrist, and immediately went to the Avs bench, down the tunnel and in search of a doctor.
“We dodged a bullet there,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “He got a laceration on his wrist, got some stitches, but as of now, everything looks intact. It was just the flesh, which is super lucky.”
Nelson said they tested his fingers, and everything checked out. He ended up missing less than eight minutes of game action, and returned to play three shifts in the second half of the third period.
Both Nelson and Bednar said they think he’s fine moving forward. The Avs have been relatively healthy to start this season, but losing Nelson for any amount of time would be a significant blow.
This is his first full season with the club, and Bednar clearly enjoys having him available to center the second line. Nelson, even with missing a few shifts against the Sabres, has played 82:30 in the first four games.
He’s been a fixture on the first power-play unit, is second to Parker Kelly among forwards in ice time on the penalty kill and has the most even-strength ice time among the guys up front who don’t play on the top line.
His line, along with Valeri Nichushkin and Gabe Landeskog, is off to a bit of a slow start offensively, with only two assists between the trio combined. But that trio has the potential to be one of the best second lines in the NHL.
“Second-line center, it is an important position,” Bednar said. “You need offense out of him. You need to be responsible defensively to check other teams’ top lines. They’ve been doing that a lot to try and free up Nate’s line a little bit. I think he’s the perfect 2C. You’ve got to have one. We’ve got through it for years, trying to find the right guy.
“We’re super happy with what he’s been able to do with us, and what I think he can continue to do with us.”
Troy Renck: The exit brought an insult. As Broncos fans left the overground train at White Heart Lane, an NFL usher offered, without prompting, this assessment. “You all need a new chant. Go Broncos! is lazy work.” Hate to think of what he thought of the offense. The Broncos were a mess against the Jets. They collected 246 yards on 57 plays, a total that would have spelled doom if not for a Denver defense delivering of the most dominating performances in franchise history. The Broncos have yet to take the step forward that was expected. So is it because of the play-caller or the players?
Sean Keeler: It takes a village to build that much ugliness. But I’ll give the edge to Sunshine Sean here. Let me ask you this, my friend. Was it Adam Prentice’s fault that his coach calls a fullback draw on third-and-10 with 1:56 left in the third quarter while trailing by one in a foreign country? Was it Jaleel McLaughlin’s fault that he had a screen dialed up for him on third-and-4 in the third quarter while Denver was nursing a 1-point lead? And should we mention that this was McLaughlin’s first action of the young season? The same five words kept banging in my head Sunday afternoon, and I hope they’re banging in Payton’s: What are we doing here?
Renck: The Broncos’ lack talent at skill players. In four of the first six games, the opponents have boasted better receivers, tight ends and running backs. Enough with the experiments, coach. This problem traces back to Payton. It’s time for the best players to get the lion’s share of reps. That means more cJ.K. Dobbins and Evan Engram and less everyone else. The Broncos lack consistency offensively because they lack consistency with the personnel. At one point in the second quarter, Payton used Dobbins on first down, R.J. Harvey on second and Jaleel McLaughlin in three downs. Uncle. Time to taper off the line changes that would make Jared Bednar blush. The Broncos need to establish an identity. But, It is hard to know who you are when you don’t know who is in the game.
Keeler: Payton’s worst enemy? Sean Payton. Sean Payton, Offensive Genius. Sean Payton, Riverboat Gambler. Sean Payton, Super Bowl Champ. The shadow of a mad scientist is always creeping over his shoulder, tapping on it, reminded him to be clever. To experiment. Reminding him of the pressure, the expectation, to prove that he’s the smartest guy in the room. The problem with being the NFL’s Baron Frankenstein is that the creature that rises from the slab is inevitably a patchwork job — but it’s rarely a monster.
Renck: Payton is not solely to blame. It was new left guard Matt Peart that was flagged for three penalties, including a holding penalty erased a red zone trip, not him. Receiver Pat Bryant had a false start that stalled momentum. There must be consequences to these mistakes, perhaps benching Peart. But Payton can help by streamlining the offense. He is a brilliant offensive mind, but there are times he is seeing the game through his play sheet instead of his eyes. The Broncos need to take their cue from rescues on “Restaurant: Impossible.” Simplify the menu, pare down the items, determine what you do well and do it the most.
Keeler: Bo Nix and this offense have more juice when the run sets up the pass, not the other way ’round. On Denver’s initial 21 first-down plays, the Broncos ran it 12 times for 3.1 yards per carry, which is, let’s just say, sub-optimal. But the alternative wasn’t much better — they threw it at least nine times on first down but completed only four of those. Throw in a run for no gain, and the Broncos faced a second-and-10-or-longer at least six times in London. No amount of genius can cute your way out of that.
Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas were electric together Saturday night, and the scary part is they think it will get better.
MacKinnon and Necas each had a goal and three points in a 5-4 shootout loss to the rival Dallas Stars at Ball Arena. It was only Game No. 3 on the schedule, but this will be one of the great contests of the Avs’ 2025-26 regular season, regardless of the end result.
“That line was really good,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “That was their best game. Game 1, reliable but not super dangerous. Game 2, we all had a rough night. Tonight, they were super dangerous from the get-go.”
While the Avs have done their best to say and show they have moved on from the Mikko Rantanen saga, this was his first time back in Denver since ending their season in May in cinematic fashion.
Necas doesn’t want to be Rantanen. The Avs want him to be the best version of himself, not a clone of their former star.
MacKinnon and his new running mate certainly put on a show Saturday night. The 2024 NHL MVP found Necas for Colorado’s first goal early in the second period with a perfect cross-ice pass.
Necas collected it at the base of the right faceoff circle and snapped a shot below the crossbar from a tight angle for his third goal of the season. It’s not hard to envision the MacKinnon-to-Rantanen version of that play.
Rantanen, as a lefthanded shooter, would have had his body turned the opposite direction and may have gone down to one knee while one-timing the puck. Necas, as a righty playing right wing, can’t make that play.
But, he found his own way to create a highlight-level goal.
“He’s a dynamic player,” MacKinnon said. “We both play with some pace. I think we’re just trying to figure out how to complement each other more. I think we play a similar style of game. We have the perfect guy with us. (Artturi Lehkonen) is always in the paint, always retrieving pucks. Yeah, it’s been pretty good.
“He’s looking awesome. Looks strong, seeing the ice well, shooting it well.”
MacKinnon set up Lehkonen for a tap-in at the edge of the crease on the first shift of the third period. The Avs controlled the puck and the majority of the scoring chances all night. But in a script Colorado fans have seen acted out too many times, Dallas kept finding ways to capitalize against the run of play.
With the Avs trailing in the third but gifted a four-minute power play, the dynamic duo found a way to make it 4-4. Brent Burns put a shot on net, and the rebound came right to Necas in the slot. He stopped it, flipped to his forehand and sent a pass to MacKinnon in the left circle for a one-timer with 9:14 remaining.
That was the 11th shot of the night on the power play, and the breakthrough the Avs needed.
“I thought (the power play) was really good tonight. A lot of great chances,” MacKinnon said. “I know we were getting booed. I guess they don’t know what a good power play looks like. We had a ton of chances, just nothing was going in. Then we finally got one.
“I guess they’ve got to boo us more.”
MacKinnon and Necas combined for six points and seven shots on goal. Lehkonen added a goal and four more shots.
Necas had two Grade-A chances late, including the only shot on goal in the overtime, but Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger robbed him on both.
“It was a fun game,” MacKinnon said. “The crowd was really into it. We played really well. It was just one of those nights.
“Hats off to Oettinger. They hung around, did what they had to do to win. It wasn’t a great game last game. I guess that’s the hockey gods, maybe. Maybe we didn’t deserve (to win) last game.”
MacKinnon and Necas have six points each through three games. How this partnership works will continue to be under the microscope all season, in part because it’s critical to the Avs’ success but also because Necas needs a new contract.
They’re still learning to play with each other, which should be worrying for opposing teams. Because they just dominated the game against one of the best clubs in the league, even if Rantanen got the last laugh in the shootout.
“I think over time they’ll learn,” Bednar said. “When (Necas) first got here, they seemed like they were bumping into each other all over the ice, because they want the same ice. So it’s awareness, recognition and being flexible about where you want to go.
“I think Marty will learn that. I think Nate’s learning that, showing up in different areas of the ice. I think it’s a natural progression. It’s not going to happen overnight, but they’re figuring it out.”
“You snap your fingers and your career is over, and it’s so short in the big picture of your life,” Johnson, who patrolled the Avalanche’s blue line from 2011-2023 and then again for a smidge earlier this year, mused at Family Sports Center. “And it’s so short in the big picture of your life, that I just figured that, ‘Why not come to the rink every day like it’s the best day ever?’ I hope that rubbed off on people over time.”
Sure did. But seeing the affable EJ call time on a stellar run was also a reminder, and not a sunny one, that the Avs’ current core is creeping closer to the end of the movie than the beginning.
The Avs’ roster as of Monday morning featured nine players 30 or older. It’s the first time a Colorado roster sported an average age over 29, according to the Elite Prospects database, since 2006-07. Joe Sakic was 38 then. That group totaled 95 points but missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the franchise relocated from Quebec City.
Coach Jared Bednar is juggling a few katanas while the Sword of Damocles dangles over his head this season. But load management is among the trickiest, given the annual grind of the Western Conference and the usual stratospheric stakes.
“I think Bedsy and the staff … are going to be smart, particularly with (Gabe) Landeskog, right?” Avs general manager Chris MacFarland replied Monday when I asked about the load. “We’re going to glean information on how (Gabe) does in back-to-backs, or three (games in four days), or four (in six days) and his practice schedule … He’s a really important player. So I think we’ll just we’ll glean that information … and we’ll read and react off that.”
For years, C-Mac’s Avs were young, to paraphrase noted philosopher Bob Seger, and they were strong, running against the wind. Only those winds blow even harder now, and they’re not so young anymore. Big Val Nichushkin turns 31 in March. Landeskog turns 33 in November. Brock Nelson turns 34 next month. Among the defense, Josh Manson turns 34 on Tuesday. Devon Toews turns 32 in February. Burns turns 41 in March.
Time is no longer on Bednar’s side. At one point Monday, MacFarland even sounded reflective, if slightly defensive, about the expiration date on what should’ve been an NHL dynasty.
“COVID hurt us,” MacFarland said. “There’s no ifs or buts about it. And then the uncertainty of Gabe’s situation and the unfortunate stuff with Val. But that stuff’s in the past.
“I think our guys, what Bedsy and our players have done is, that they have a chance. I think the organization’s job is to try and give them as good a chance as possible, and their play dictates that. I think over the last seven, eight years, their play (has) consistently dictated that. Hopefully, it will continue to do so this year as well.”
To his credit, MacFarland has been as dedicated to tweaking and shuffling the fringes of his roster as former Nuggets GM Calvin Booth was to sitting on his hands. Better to try and fail than to shrug, as Booth did, while Father Time coldly ripped the pages from Nikola Jokic’s desk calendar.
But Avs 1.1 (2023) and 1.2 (2024) never got as close as version 1.0 (2022 Stanley Cup champs) did in terms of bottling that combo of strong health, strong depth, strong special teams, strong goaltending, strong intangibles and strong matchups.
Although 1.3 (2025), on paper, flew awfully close. Wise puckheads looked at Stars-Avs last spring and declared that the winner was easily bound for, at worst, a Western Conference final — and that we were getting a main event far, far too early. They were right, in hindsight. Not that it should make anyone in burgundy and blue feel any better.
A long Cup run is a marathon, a two-month, uphill march of sweat, blood, guts, focus and willpower. It’s a battle of attrition and desperation; a story that inevitably demands a dozen hands and five or six heroes.
Lord Stanley is one of the hardest trophies in sports to win and even harder to keep. And yet the fact that the Florida Panthers have made it look even easier than the Lightning did does not reflect as kindly on MacFarland and Bednar, who have been good at their jobs at the same time some peers have been great.
It’s not unfair to assume the pair’s window might have already come and gone. If you’re curious, the last 14 teams with an average age of 29 or more from 2020-21 through 2024-25 averaged 95.2 points during the regular season. Eight of the 14 “old” squads reached the playoffs. And four of those eight got bounced out of the bracket in the first round.
Feast or famine. Which pretty well sums up the Avs’ postseason narrative since 2019, now that you mention it.
A few months ago, I asked Nathan MacKinnon about turning 30, about a core getting old.
“Cale’s 26,” MacKinnon cracked, nodding at Cale Makar’s locker across the way. “So I’ll probably be retired before we’re bad. Yeah, we’ll be fine. Cale will be all right.”
With that, he smiled. Time flies when you’re having fun. Just not always with a tailwind.
“Every day, you see (MacKinnon) do 10-12 things that are like, ‘Holy (expletive),’” Burns, a veteran defenseman who came over from Carolina, cackled. “And usually I’m at the wrong end of it. So it’s not good.”
Practice had just ended. MacKinnon’s skates were inside his locker. The rest of him was gone. Grinding.
“Working out,” an Avs staffer told me.
Twenty minutes became 25.
“He’s riding the bike now,” another staffer said. “Will be a bit of time.”
Twenty-five minutes became 30.
Then 35. Then 40. Then 45.
My phone buzzed.
“He’s on the way,” a voice said.
Think this man is easing up at age 30? Think he’s satisfied with one Stanley Cup?
You must be joking.
“I enjoy the day-to-day grind of it,” the Avs’ iconic center explained. “I enjoy working out. I enjoy skating with guys back home — just relaxing and working hard and trying to get better. So that kind of keeps me in the moment. ”
The rocket never rests. MacKinnon stands 6-foot in socks. But if carrying the Avs on his back, if dragging them kicking and screaming, gets Colorado another Stanley Cup in 2026, he’s good with that, too. Hop on.
“Just trying to get my mind and body ready for a long season,” MacKinnon continued. “Each day I come here, I’m just trying to get a little better. Just try to win every day I have. And hopefully that takes me and the team to a good spot.”
He’s in a better place than last May. That’s when old friend Mikko Rantanen, in what we hope doesn’t become a recurring theme, tore into MacKinnon’s chest and ripped his heart out. Rantanen, a stalwart of the Avs’ 2022 Cup champs, scored a hat trick to lead his new team, the Dallas Stars, to a maddening, series-clinching Game 7 win over his old one.
“It’s like getting over a breakup,” MacKinnon said of last season’s ignominious end. “It just takes a long time. Time heals everything.”
Including the Avs. Last spring’s wounds are this fall’s scars. Last October’s concerns are this year’s colonnades.
“I think when you all lose together, you’re in a painful experience together, I think you can come out of it stronger,” MacKinnon said of the Avs’ first-round elimination by a depleted Stars roster. “No one (in this locker room) was blaming each other; it was all on each other. I think it was a tough loss. We lost to a really good team. But I think we’ll be better because of it.”
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) takes the puck down ice against Dallas Stars center Mikael Granlund (64) and Esa Lindell (23) in the first period of game four of the first round of the NHL playoffs at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
One Cup? For Nate, it’s not enough. It was never enough.
Mighty MacK’s good pal Sidney Crosby went seven years between championships. Colorado’s Burgundy Bolide turned 30 on Sept. 1. Father Time is the only dude MacKinnon can’t beat to the goal line.
“This is our fourth year (since 2022), so you just never know when it’s going to come,” the Avs center mused. “It’s just … sometimes, you win a couple in a row. Sometimes, it took (the Penguins) seven. And (then) they won two in a row. Hopefully, that happens for us one day. But I like where we’re at.”
Enter Burns. Enter Olofsson. Enter new assistant coach Dave Hakstol to help put some pep back into Colorado’s special teams. The Avs’ power play buzzsaw of the ’22 postseason was positively toothless in ’25 against the Stars.
“It’s not a ton of turnover, like last season (when) we had like nine new guys,” MacKinnon said. “Most of those guys are back. So I think it’s going to be a positive year — positive that we have so many returning guys.”
The negative? Landy turns 33 in November. Val turns 31 in March. Nelson’s 34th birthday falls on Oct. 15. Burns is lurching toward 41.
There’s a lot of mileage in that locker room. And an awful lot of tread worn off an awful lot of tires.
“I won’t look at Nate any differently if he wins one (Cup) or if he wins three,” Eddie Olczyk, the Warner Bros. Discovery and TNT analyst, told me by phone. “He’s won. He’s separated himself from many, many great players who have played this game.
“In terms of game-breakers and difference-makers, (the Avs) have two of the very best at different positions in (MacKinnon) and (defenseman) Cale Makar. But you need to stay healthy.”
Fortunately, the big 3-0 for Big Nate is no big deal. Like traffic on South Broadway and snow at Wolf Peak, MacKinnon’s wheels feel eternal.
Last spring, No. 29 became the first Avs player to post three consecutive seasons of 100 points or more, and the first in Colorado/Quebec annals since Peter Stastny pulled it off six times from 1980-86. MacKinnon is 33 goals away from 400 for his career.
During that ill-fated Stars series, MacKinnon took things as far as he could. His scoring clip of a goal per game was a new postseason high over nine different Cup runs. His 1.57 points per tilt were the most he’d produced in the playoffs since the 2020 COVID-19 bubble (1.67).
The problem? MacKinnon was a one-man wolf pack. No. 29 accounted for seven of Colorado’s 24 goals that series. The next-closest scorers were Artturi Lehkonen and Nichushkin, with three apiece. Coach Jared Bednar got juice from his top line and from his fourth — get well, Logan O’Connor — but the middle six vanished.
Dallas, meanwhile, eliminated the Avs minus the services of top defenseman Miro Heiskanen or forward Jason Robertson. Could you imagine Colorado knocking out a top-4 seed without Makar or MacKinnon?
“They (were) missing their best (defender) and maybe their best forward,” a crestfallen MacKinnon had said in Texas. “We still couldn’t beat them. I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
He knows now.
“Yeah, obviously, it was (emotional),” MacKinnon said. “Hopefully, we are better next spring. But we’ve got a lot of hockey before that.
“It was heartbreaking. It was definitely the most tough loss of my career. By a mile.”
The best revenge is living well, Lord Stanley cradled in your loving arms. Payback’s a stitch. And Hell hath no fury like a Nathan scorned.
Colorado Avalanche Nathan MacKinnon, right, and Gabriel Landeskog answer questions from reporters at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Keaton Middleton had the type of year last season that thousands of hockey players who have toiled away in the minors dream of.
He made it.
So, after five months with the Colorado Avalanche and what looks like a spot sewn up on the NHL roster before training camp even began, how did Middleton approach his first exhibition contest? He met with the biggest, meanest-looking dude on the other team at center ice during warmups and agreed to a fight.
“I don’t have an identity crisis. I know who I am,” Middleton said. “I’ve known who I am for years. That won’t be a problem for me. I know my game and I know what to do to help our team win.”
Aside from a quick stint with an injury-riddled Avalanche team in April 2021, Middleton spent the previous six seasons in the American Hockey League. He began year No. 7 of his professional career in the minors, too, but then the Avs gave him another chance.
Middleton played Nov. 30, 2024, for the Colorado Eagles, was called up to the big club two days later and hasn’t played in the AHL since. He appeared in 41 games for the Avalanche last year and settled into the NHL as a guy who played on the third pairing when needed.
“It was a learning experience,” Middleton said. “It was like a cup of coffee, maybe even half a pot, but I want another pot now. I spent a lot of time playing professional hockey at the AHL level, and now you get a taste of this, you want to do whatever you can to stick around.”
When last season ended, Middleton was Colorado’s No. 8 defenseman. Ryan Lindgren signed with Seattle, and Brent Burns arrived in early July. Erik Johnson was seventh on the depth chart and remains available as an unrestricted free agent, but there isn’t a spot in Denver for him because, with Burns, the Avs already have four right-handed shots at the position.
While the Avs added further depth at forward late in the summer, the NHL depth chart on the blue line hasn’t changed. That certainly looks like a vote of confidence from the organization.
“He’s a physical, hard, stay-at-home defender and he improved his puck play enough to the point where now he’s come up and played games for us and played well and been able to help us,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Just has to continue to do that. He has an element there of toughness that is nice to have in the lineup sometimes. He earned the right to come up last year and hopefully he earns the right to stay here again this year.”
When everyone is healthy, Middleton slots in as the No. 7 guy. Given that Samuel Girard is in a race against time to get healthy with a lower-body injury, Middleton might even get to play on opening night for the first time in his career.
So this camp feels a lot different for the 27-year-old Edmonton native, right?
“Yes, but also no, because I know I’m still fighting for a job,” Middleton said. “I’m always fighting for a job. That’s a position I’ll be in for my career. The only difference is now I know I’m an NHL defenseman, and I have the capability to be one. But there’s always new guys, young guys, guys having good camps.
“I have to fight for a spot. I’ll be like that ’till I’m 40. It’s just how it is, just the mindset that I have.”
Middleton spent a couple of seasons with the San Jose Sharks organization, so he knew Burns from training camps years ago. They might be partnered at times this season, if Bednar wants his two biggest defensemen on the ice together.
They also skated together this summer for a few weeks before camp began.
“The way he shoots and gets pucks to the net and gets it through lanes, I’ve been trying to watch,” Middleton said. “I had one shot that was similar to what he does in the preseason game (Saturday). So maybe I can add that. I’m not going to break an ankle on the blue line, but just getting more pucks through and finding different ways to do it.”
Trying to find little ways to improve his overall game has been a staple of Middleton’s career and part of the grind that eventually led to his NHL breakthrough. But he’s still a 6-foot-6, 240-pound guy who has to embrace the rugged aspects of hockey.
So, when Curtis Douglas, who is listed at 6-foot-9 and 242 pounds, was in the lineup for Utah at Magness Arena, Middleton offered a reminder of what isn’t going to change. He and Douglas spoke briefly during warmups and then dropped the gloves for a spirited fight 1:51 into the first period.
“I’ve been playing against (Douglas) for years and he’s just that big, tough presence,” Middleton said. “It’s just the physicality of the game. It’s part of my game. So that’s just how it is.”
For 54 minutes Wednesday night, the severely shorthanded Colorado Avalanche played about as well as expected, considering the circumstances.
That, however, came after the first six minutes went about as poorly as someone could imagine. The big guns on the Tampa Bay Lightning had a huge night, and the Avs’ pushback was met by one of the best goalies in the world in a 5-2 loss at Ball Arena.
Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel combined for three goals and seven points for the Lightning. After allowing three goals on the first five shots, new Colorado goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen did find his way and finished with 16 saves.
“Against teams like that with that high-end skill, you expect them to make those plays, but it’s still not easy to make the saves on those plays,” Kahkonen said. “Especially early like that. But it’s … what are you going to do? You just play. You try to stop the next puck and you try to get into a rhythm.”
The Avs have been without Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder), Valeri Nichushkin (suspension) and Gabe Landeskog (knee) all season and Jonathan Drouin (upper body) joined them after getting hurt in the opener against Vegas. The situation got worse for Colorado before this game.
Ross Colton is out 6-to-8 weeks with a broken foot after blocking a shot Monday night against Chicago, Avs coach Jared Bednar said Wednesday morning. Miles Wood is also out for 7-to-10 days with an upper-body injury that he’s been trying to play through.
“Our (missing) payroll is outrageous,” Nathan MacKinnon said. It’s not excuses. It’s just facts. I do like how we’re playing overall. When guys come back, I feel like if just keep with this, we’ll have better results, but that’s not the point right now.”
While there were some positives to build from for a team missing six of its top-10 forwards, the Avs were down 3-0 before the first TV timeout.
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper gets an assist on each of the first two Lightning goals. Both times, the play began with his third line against Colorado’s makeshift third line, which included defenseman Oliver Kylington.
The Lightning gained control of the puck and made an on-the-fly change to its top line, and then quickly scored in similar fashion. Point took the puck behind the Colorado net and found Kucherov wide open in the slot for a one-timer 61 seconds in.
Kucherov collected the puck behind his own net at the start of his next shift and went coast-to-coast. He went behind the net like Point did, but sent a reverse pass back to where he came from. Guentzel was waiting near the right post for an easy one at 3:36 for a 2-0 lead.
“It’s awareness mistakes,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Young players just not reading it quick enough and not getting in quite the right spots.
“Overall, I thought we were engaged in the game. We played pretty hard, played pretty well. Definitely had a better second than the first, and the third was pretty good again. It didn’t come easy for us on the offensive side of it, either.”
Sam Malinski fell near the offensive blue line and tried to swipe at the puck, but the end result was a 3-on-1 the other way and a highlight-reel goal for Tampa Bay. Conor Geekie started the passing play and then finished it at 5:32 of the first after all three forwards touched the puck in quick succession.
The Avs did settle into the game after the opening flurry. Ivan Ivan scored his second career goal to cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 3-1 at at 14:56 of the first.
Ivan tipped a point shot from Cale Makar past Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy from the high slot. He has been the replacement for Ross Colton in that spot, and both of his goals have come with PP1.
Colorado’s first six minutes of the second period went very well, except the Avs couldn’t beat Vasilevskiy. Then, with a jumbled Avs line on the ice after a Colorado power play ended, Tampa Bay’s big guns feasted again.
Point got by Josh Manson in the neutral zone, which led to a 2-on-1. The first shot from Point hit the left post, but caromed right to Guentzel for a tap-in and a 4-1 lead at 6:28 of the second.
Matt Stienburg drew a penalty with a big hit early in the second, but he drew an early end to his night later in the period. He launched himself into Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak and was assessed a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct.
While the Avs did threaten, including a Makar goal midway through the third period, Vasilevskiy also made sure there would be no miracle comeback.
“We had a big meeting today and (Bednar) wanted a good process,” MacKinnon said. “We did that, but it would be nice to have some shooting luck eventually. I think we were pretty cold (tonight).”
FOOTNOTES: Bednar said the Avs are shooting for Lehkonen to make his season debut Tuesday against Seattle. He also said Drouin has taken some controlled contact, but is still sore and remains day-to-day with an unclearl timeline for a return.
