The Colorado Avalanche have had some pretty good teams. They’ve won three Stanley Cups in three different decades and put together several memorable runs – particularly in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, the organization might be in the middle of the greatest run in franchise history, and this core group of players, headlined by Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen, and Gabriel Landeskog, could add more impressive statistics to its resume.
The Avs have earned 100 points in the standings 10 times, three in the last three campaigns – the only time the team has ever done it in three straight seasons. Colorado has posted 157 wins over those three campaigns – the most of any three-year stretch in franchise history. They’ve won a Stanley Cup and a Presidents’ Trophy in the last four seasons, as well. Here’s a look at how Colorado put together its greatest team ever and what they have to do to keep things rolling:
Avalanche Have Sustained Excellence
While the Avalanche have been pegged as one of the league’s top teams for the past few years, it actually goes back a little farther than that. It can be argued that this recent string of 50-win seasons should go back at least one more season, maybe two. The only thing that has kept the Avs from sitting at five straight 50-win seasons was the pandemic. Colorado was sitting at 42 wins through 70 games when the season was halted in the 2019-20 season, and they went a blistering 39-13-4 through just 56 games in 2020-21. In an 82-game 2020-21 campaign, they were likely a lock to hit 50 wins, and there was an outside chance for them to hit it in a full 2019-20 season, as well.
The Avalanche won the Presidents’ Trophy in 2021-22 and culminated their success with a dominant Stanley Cup victory in 2022, losing just four playoff games along the way. The team has made the playoffs seven seasons in a row, but that came after a pretty dark time when the team advanced out of the first round just once in the eight seasons from 2008 to 2017.
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The players have played a large role in the team’s success, with MacKinnon and Makar front and center. MacKinnon just took home the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, joining only Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg as the third Avalanche to win the award. Makar became the first Avalanche to win the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman in 2022.
Add in back-to-back 100-point seasons by both MacKinnon and Rantanen – as well as MacKinnon’s team record 140-point campaign last season – and it’s easy to see why the wins have piled up. Sakic has also had his fingerprints all over this recent success. He’s now the president of hockey operations but was an architect of the team as general manager for nine seasons. His draft success will be detailed later, but one of the most important decisions he made was hiring coach Jared Bednar.
Bednar’s Impact Cannot Be Ignored
Bednar is the winningest coach in Avalanche history, piling up a 291-192-53 record over seven seasons. It didn’t look like it was going to turn out this way when they hired him. He was a last-second decision after Patrick Roy left the team in limbo just before the 2016-17 season. Roy resigned on Aug. 11, 2016, and Bednar was hired two weeks later – just 52 days before the season opener. His first season was terrible, easily finishing with the league’s worst record of 22-56-4, but that was the last time Bednar missed the playoffs.
The players bought in the following year, piling up a solid 43-30-9 record en route to only their fourth playoff appearance since Sakic retired a dozen years before. That 22-win campaign in 2016 is in the rearview mirror, as Bednar has proven to be as much of a player’s coach as he is about strategy. His high-flying game stresses speed and execution. He doesn’t like a lot of freelancing from his players since predictability allows for a faster pace for everyone on the ice.
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Most importantly, he’s the first person to praise some of the unsung heroes in any press conference, but he’s also not afraid to call out his team if their play is below his lofty standards. He’s critical of his players but does it positively, and the quick pace of play lends to the strengths of his superstars. He has high expectations but understands that not everybody can do what MacKinnon does night in and night out. By leaning on the superstars and setting high expectations for the others, all of the players want to play for him – and that makes it much easier to play for each other.
Sakic Leaves Impression in Front Office
Sakic is the greatest Avalanche player of all time. He holds every meaningful team record (except for points in a season that MacKinnon swiped in 2023-24), and he’s one of the NHL’s all-time greats. Even though he retired from playing more than a decade before Bednar became coach, his impression on the team’s success has lasted longer than probably even he could have imagined.
Sakic’s silky smooth skating and snapping stunner of a wrist shot were the calling cards of his playing career, but he’s sniped more than a few great shots as a general manager, too. In nine years as the team’s GM, he showed his savvy decision-making off the ice. His first draft pick was MacKinnon (first overall in 2013), which was a no-brainer. However, he also selected Rantanen 10th overall in 2015, Makar fourth overall in 2017, and Bowen Byram and Alex Newhook in 2019. He turned those last two into more assets with some deft dealings.
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His trades have also been notable. Sakic dealt Byram for Casey Mittelstadt and got draft picks for Newhook – one of which is highly-touted prospect Mikhail Gulyayev, who was taken in the 2023 NHL Draft. He made a draft-day deal to get Nazem Kadri in 2019, got Artturi Lehkonen at the 2022 trade deadline for almost nothing, and got Devon Toews for a couple of draft picks in 2020. Kadri, Lehkonen and Toews were critical to the team’s 2022 Stanley Cup run.
Most notably, he dealt Matt Duchene in a three-team deal in 2017 that arguably set up this run for success. The Avs got a haul in return, which gave MacKinnon the freedom to become the NHL MVP we know today. Sakic may not have skated one shift with the team the past few seasons, but they don’t celebrate anything without him pulling the strings.
Other Great Avalanche Squads
Comparing the current group with Avs teams of the past has to start with the teams Sakic captained. He was the top gun in Colorado from his arrival in 1988-89 until his retirement in 2008-09. During those years, Colorado enjoyed two Stanley Cups (1996, 2001), and made the playoffs 12 times – including 11 straight appearances over Sakic’s final 11 seasons. They did it by getting the right combination of players and coaches – their two championships came under two different coaches, Marc Crawford (1996) and Bob Hartley (2001).
If there was a time that was more successful than now, it had to be the thrilling stretch in the four seasons from 1998 to 2002. The Avalanche not only won a Stanley Cup but also made the conference final three times. Those teams won 183 games over that period, including a sparkling 52-16-10-4 record in the Cup-winning 2001. They were oh-so-close to winning even more.
Before reaching that Cup, the Avs lost in seven games in the Western Conference Final in back-to-back seasons – both to the Dallas Stars. That group also lost a heartbreaking seven-game series in the Western Conference Final in 2002, falling to their bitter rival, the Detroit Red Wings. Colorado held a 3-2 lead in the series but was shut out in Games 6 and 7. The Red Wings went on to win the Stanley Cup in five games.
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Looking back at the Quebec Nordiques (1979-1995) years, the club also had some very impressive teams. They never advanced to a Stanley Cup Final, but they had great players like Peter Stastny and Michel Goulet, who combined to pile up a whopping 11 seasons with 100 points or more from 1980-1988. They did it in the same season three times (1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-86). However, they only reached the conference final once, losing in six games to the Philadelphia Flyers in 1985.
How Colorado Can Keep the Momentum Going
This momentum started with Sakic and Bednar, and it doesn’t look like the players are going to slow down anytime soon. MacKinnon, Makar and Rantanen are all hitting their primes, and the sky seems to be the limit. Keep in mind that Landeskog hasn’t played one shift for the past two seasons and is looking to make his return this season. The jury is still out on what kind of contribution he’ll be able to make, but he could give the team another viable offensive weapon if he returns to any kind of his previous form.
The last two postseasons have been less than ideal after being bounced in the first and second rounds. Those performances might be the only thing holding this team back from being the greatest in franchise history. More playoff success might be necessary for some to believe that this team is better than Sakic’s club from the early 2000s, but the regular-season success is there. The Avalanche tasted the ultimate prize in 2022, so they know what it takes to get there. However, a lot of stars have to align for a team to get back to the mountaintop. Take a look at the team’s struggles in the four playoffs between their first two Stanley Cup wins.
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There’s plenty of work to do, and Colorado has been deft at maneuvering through some tight salary cap struggles to keep the roster intact. Rantanen’s contract extension is a big cloud that’s looming, but if they can get him signed long-term, look out. They still have him this season (at the very least), and the overall depth and talent has the Avs in line to chase down another 50-win campaign. If Colorado can get back over 50 wins, they’ll be in a good place to get home ice in the 2025 Playoffs. Once there, they’ve proven they can be competitive – if healthy – and this is a group that could very well hoist another Cup soon to add to their already impressive resume.
