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Tag: joe sakic

  • Avalanche Journal: Five thoughts on Colorado’s fast, drama-free start

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    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.

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    Corey Masisak

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  • Keeler: Avalanche roster hasn’t been this old since 2007. Will time, and Stanley Cup, finally be on GM Chris MacFarland’s side?

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    The Condor hung up his wings for good Monday. If Eric Johnson turning 37 makes you feel old, imagine how it makes him feel.

    “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.”

    RELATED: Meet the 2025-26 Colorado Avalanche: A breakdown of the complete team roster

    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.

    Brent Burns isn’t the only greybeard in the building. Colorado, per EliteProspects.com, opens the 2025-26 season on late Tuesday in Los Angeles with the fourth-oldest roster in the NHL at an average age of 29.17 years. It’s the third-oldest in the Western Conference behind Winnipeg (30.17 years) and the Kings, their first-night sparring partner (29.74).

    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.

    Push the guys in order to snatch home ice? Or ease things up with the marathon of 7-8 months in mind? When your captain’s still testing a new knee on the fly, there’s no easy answer.

    “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.

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Avalanche Journal: Has Cale Makar passed Patrick Roy for final spot on Colorado’s Mount Rushmore?

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    Sometimes, just the reactions to a question confirm it is a good one.

    “You’re throwing yourself into the fire with that one, so have fun with that.”

    “You are making me think way too hard too early in the morning.” (For context, this was said at 11 a.m.)

    “So anyway … good luck with that. It does seem like an impossible question.”

    Here is the question: A proverbial Mount Rushmore for the Colorado Avalanche includes Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Nathan MacKinnon and …?

    Here are the choices: One of the two greatest goaltenders in the history of the sport, who backstopped the Avs to a pair of Stanley Cup championships? Or the best defenseman on the planet right now, who might spend his entire career with the franchise and end up as one of the best to ever do it at his position as well?

    Patrick Roy? Or Cale Makar? This is intended to be a lighthearted, fun debate.

    But also, choose your fighter.

    “Anytime you’re trying to pick four guys from a historic franchise with some really historic teams, it’s going to be difficult,” Avs defenseman Devon Toews said. “Nobody’s going to be happy, no matter what you write. Cale is a name that should obviously be in consideration. By the end of his career, he is probably one of the first names on that list.

    “There’s great players that you’re able to put on, and 10 others that probably deserve to be.”

    Sakic and Forsberg are obvious as icons who came with the franchise from Quebec City, and two of the most popular players in league history. MacKinnon has already surpassed Forsberg — at least in the latter’s eyes — and cemented his place with league MVP honors in 2024.

    Makar, predictably, quickly deferred to Roy. MacKinnon, full transparency here, wasn’t even asked to chime in. Both of those guys are humble about their legacies and accomplishments, almost to a fault.

    “I don’t think I compare to (Roy) at all,” Makar said. “In terms of achievements and stuff, he’s on a completely different level. I appreciate your confidence in me, but I don’t know if I’m quite there yet.”

    Both MacKinnon and Makar often reject the idea of being compared to past Avs greats because of one number: Two. As in, those guys won two titles, and they only have one to this point.

    Makar may also be comparing his career to the totality of Roy’s, but that is where the case for the future Hall of Famer begins.

    Roy won the Stanley Cup four times. He is the only three-time Conn Smythe Trophy winner in league history. He won the Vezina Trophy three times. Those accomplishments do dwarf what Makar has done so far.

    But Roy entered the NHL in 1985. Nearly 54 percent of his regular-season games came with Montreal. All three of his Vezina wins and two of the three Conn Smythe honors came with the Canadiens, in 1986 and 1993.

    The trade, from Montreal to Colorado, is one of the most important moments in franchise history. His addition helped Sakic, Forsberg and Co. win the Stanley Cup in the first season in Denver. It made the Avs a Cup contender for all of his eight seasons with the club, until his retirement in 2003.

    Two championships, six trips to the conference finals, every career franchise record of note for goalies that exists, just an icon of the sport —it’s a good argument. Hard to knock it.

    “I am always partial to … like, who is on Mount Rushmore right now?” NHL Network analyst Brian Boyle said. “They’re all dead. All former Presidents. We did this at NHL Network for the whole league, and for me, it’s Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. This is Founding Fathers type of stuff.

    “So to me, it’s Joe Sakic. It’s Peter Forsberg, who was my favorite player to watch. It’s Patty Roy. He was that guy. And Nate, well, he’s a different animal. Cale is right there, too. I think it’s close. I think they might be carving out some stone soon, but I think it’s Patty Roy right now.”

    Boyle makes a strong point about the essence of what a Mount Rushmore could or should be. Maybe every team’s “Mount Rushmore” should be older players who established the franchise’s footing.

    But … that’s not really how people look at this sometimes silly, always engaging idea. And further to Boyle’s thoughts, this isn’t really a debate about Roy vs. Makar.

    It’s really a debate about time. It’s about when, not if. Has Makar accomplished enough in his career to nudge Roy from this fictional mountain?

    “I’m very biased, but I’m spoiled to watch Cale and his entire career,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said. “Every shift, every practice, every game, therefore I’m picking Cale because of the way he can impact both sides of the puck.

    “It’s a pretty good problem to have, to be picking between the two of those guys.”

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    Corey Masisak

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  • Nathan MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin set new career highs as Avalanche blasts Blue Jackets

    Nathan MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin set new career highs as Avalanche blasts Blue Jackets

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    The only drama left in the final period Friday night at Ball Arena was whether Nathan MacKinnon could continue his pursuit of NHL history and extend his home scoring streak to 33 games.

    MacKinnon took care of it with 13:59 to spare, then added another on a surgical power-play goal barely more than a minute later to help the Colorado Avalanche crush the Columbus Blue Jackets, 6-1. It was Colorado’s eighth straight victory, and moved the Avalanche to the top of the Central Division with 95 points.

    “The streak is a result of all the hard work and dedication that he brings to the game on a nightly basis,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “There’s not a guy on that bench that didn’t know he hadn’t had a point yet, and when he got it everyone was pretty happy. You can see he wants it. He was a little ornery on the bench when he hadn’t got a point yet. That’s the pressure he puts on himself.”

    Cale Makar casually broke up a 2-on-2 rush for the Blue Jackets and set MacKinnon loose on a breakaway. MacKinnon had seven shots on goal before this, but didn’t miss with No. 8 and set a new career high with 43 goals in a season. Toss in the primary assist on Mikko Rantanen’s second goal of the night 73 seconds later, and MacKinnon has 119 points, one shy of Joe Sakic’s Denver-based record.

    The overall franchise record, 139 for Peter Stastny in 1981-82, remains very much in play. MacKinnon’s home scoring streak is now tied with one Wayne Gretzky run for the second-longest in league history. He’s chasing Gretzky’s 1988-89 season, when he had a point in all 40 home games.

    Makar had Colorado’s first goal after a nifty rush sequence. Jonathan Drouin gained the offensive zone and left a drop pass for Artturi Lehkonen. He immediately found Makar in some open space near the right circle for his 18th goal of the season. That ties Nashville’s Roman Josi for the league lead among defensemen and left him three points shy of Quinn Hughes for tops in that category.

    Jared Bednar reunited Ross Colton and Miles Wood on the team’s third line along with Zach Parise, and that trio created the second goal. Parise pulled up along the right wing, saw his linemates both loitering near the net and sent the puck in that direction. Both guys were there hunting for the rebound, and Colton shoveled it across the line for his 15th of the season.

    “I feel like they should be playing together,” Bednar said. “They get along off the ice. We’ve seen them play some great stretches of games. … I know that they have it in them. They just had to work through some issues. Great conscious on the defensive side tonight, physical, went to the net hard, drew penalties, banged in a rebound goal. I liked that line a lot tonight.”

    Bednar did some in-game tinkering as well, flipping MacKinnon and Casey Mittelstadt’s on the top two lines. Rantanen scored on Mittelstadt’s first shift with him and Valeri Nichushkin, deflecting a point shot from Josh Manson past Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins.

    Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (8) handles the puck against Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Bean (22) in the first period at Ball Arena in Denver on Friday, March 22, 2024. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

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    Corey Masisak

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