The preseason has ended, and NHL rosters have been submitted. It’s clear that the Colorado Avalanche will face challenges until both Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin are back. We can anticipate Nathan MacKinnon, the reigning Hart Trophy winner, and star defenseman Cale Makar logging significant minutes in October.
Could the Avalanche weather the storm early in the season? Yes, but for how long? This roster and the question marks surrounding some key players will make the Avalanche one of the most fascinating teams to watch in the 2024-25 season. Here are my predictions for what the opening night lineup will look like.
Forwards
| Jonathan Drouin | Nathan MacKinnon | Mikko Rantanen |
| Nikolai Kovalenko | Casey Mittelstadt | Calum Ritchie |
| Miles Wood | Ross Colton | Logan O’Connor |
| Ivan Ivan | Parker Kelly | Joel Kiviranta |
Injured/Suspended: Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen
This is pretty straightforward. We’ve seen head coach Jared Bednar try a few things over the past few days during training camp and preseason action. Whether it’s Colton on the wing, Ritchie at center, Kelly in the top nine, Wood on the fourth line, or any other changes, it’ll only happen after this lineup plays their first game.
The Wood, Colton, O’Connor line has been a familiar one, even though they performed poorly during camp. As a result, Bednar will have the chance to test Ritchie and Kovalenko in more prominent roles. With Pierre-Edouard Bellemare no longer on the team, it looks pretty likely that Ivan will be in the lineup for opening night. When Lehkonen is back from injury, either he or Kiviranta will probably be benched first.
Regarding the 13th forward position, it seems likely that the Avalanche could see who is on the waiver wire to fill that spot. A few days ago, it seemed like Bellemare would likely be signed and complete the forward group for the start of the season. However, without him, the team has many other options. Tynan and Wagner were also placed on waivers, and they were expected to clear and be sent down to the Colorado Eagles in the American Hockey League (AHL). Additionally, Pavel has been injured for most of camp and is not available as an option.
Jason Polin, Jean-Luc Foudy, and Oskar Olausson did not earn a spot. Unless the team plans to carry 12 healthy forwards to start the season, it makes sense that someone will get claimed by Wednesday’s season opener in Vegas.
Defense
| Devon Toews | Cale Makar |
| Samuel Girard | Josh Manson |
| Calvin De Haan | Sam Malinski |
The waiver claim for John Ludvig on Saturday came as a surprise. The Avalanche always seemed ready to open the season with eight defensemen, but that might be different now. He is a physical presence that the team lacks on the blue line, outside of Manson, and could replace de Haan in the lineup at some point. However, I’d be willing to bet that de Haan starts on Wednesday, given his weeks of familiarity with Bednar compared to Ludvig.
Related: Colorado Avalanche’s 2024-25 Season Predictions
Erik Brannstrom was someone I and many were excited about this upcoming season. Still, general manager Chris McFarland saw differently, and with the help from Sam Malinski and his strong preseason, he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks will retain 20% of Tucker Poolman’s contract as part of the trade, which means they will still be responsible for $500,000 this year, the final year of the deal. Poolman signed a four-year contract worth $2.5 million annually during the 2021 offseason. This helps the Avalanche move a player they weren’t high on initially and able to gain some draft capital and use the long-term injured reserve (LTIR) money in their favor for future moves.
| Alexandar Georgiev |
| Justus Annunen |
There isn’t much to say about the Avalanche’s goaltending tandem this season. Barring a potential call-up of Kevin Mandolese or Trent Miner, or either of the goaltenders going down with some sort of injury, we will see Georgiev and Annunen this season. Hopefully, we will see a stronger performance from the two in 2024-25. If Georgiev can continue his performance from last season’s playoffs and Annunen can take another step to be a reliable backup, this tandem should be strong enough to hold its own.
Annuen received a contract extension this past offseason. Still, Georgiev is entering the season as a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA), and this could be a crucial season to see how he plays. He will finish the season at the age of 29; he finished with a career-high 63 games played, 62 games started, a 38-18-5 record, a .897 save percentage (SV%), and a 3.02 goals-against average (GAA).
The Avalanche have had quite an offseason. Signings, trades, and more highlight a team that is looking to win another Stanley Cup while some of their players are playing at the highest level one could imagine they can. There are a lot of question marks around this roster, and with some players being held out of the lineup due to injuries and suspensions, questions will be answered; it’s just a matter of time before they will. These are guesses of what lineups and pairs could look like, but we will find out officially when the Avalanche open their season against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday, Oct. 8.
