Over the past week, we’ve been driving around the Central Division looking briefly at the offseason movement for each of the Chicago Blackhawks’ division rivals. Some teams have seen significant departures, while others have made attempts to strengthen their chances of making/going deep in the playoffs. Today, we put a bow on the division in the Mile High City.
Thus far, we’ve previewed:
Arizona Coyotes
St. Louis Blues
Nashville Predators
Winnipeg Jets
Minnesota Wild
Dallas Stars
Now, let’s head to Deion Sanders’ new locale. The Colorado Avalanche might not play in Boulder, but the sports world is buzzing (sometimes literally) in Denver with the recent run of championships on ice and the hardwood and CU’s new-found success.
Head Coach: Jared Bednar
2022-23 Record: 51-24-7 (109 points — 1st in the Central)
2023 Playoffs: Lost 4-3 to Seattle in the first round
2022-23 Offensive Leaders
Goals: Mikko Rantanen (55)
Assists: Nathan MacKinnon (69)
Points: MacKinnon (111)
Current Cap Hit: $89,975,000 (-$6,475,000 available cap space)
Roster Additions: Miles Wood, Jonathan Drouin
Roster Losses: JT Compher, Evan Rodrigues, Matt Nieto, Jonꦜas Johansson, Lars Eller, Erik Jo⛦hnsson
Prospect Pool Rank (The Athletic):
Key Rookies/Prospects: Oskar Olausson, Jean-Luc Foudy﷽, Calum Ritchie, Mikhail Gulya⭕yev
Outlook
The Avs were disappointed to see their championship defense end in the first round. Their captain, Gabriel Landeskog, is going to miss the entire season again this year, and Erik Johnson is no longer patrolling their blue line. Some of these losses were inevitable because of the salary cap and th🙈e much-deserved raises received by Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, two of the best young players in the entire league.
Colorado needs Bowen Byram to continue growing — and stay healthy. They gave Miles Wood a six-year deal this summer to be an impact player as well. We’ll see how their goaltending holds up and how well they stay healthy, because their prospect pool is not loaded with NHL-ready contributors.
