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Colorado Avalanche Is Still Far Away From Winning The Stanley Cup

By Janik Beichler

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The Colorado Avalanche won the Central Division — arguably the toughest division to win in the NHL — in the 2013-14 season. They left behind the Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators and everyone else. So that obviously raised expectations and made people believe that the team is closer to winning another Stanley Cup than it has been for a while.

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Today, the Colorado Avalanche is hardly closer to winning the Stanley Cup than they were last season, when they finished 21st in the league. Okay, maybe they are a couple of steps closer.

Let’s elaborate. Most people agree that last season’s main problem was the defense. The club added Nikita Zadorov from Buffalo and Francois Beauchemin in free agency. Problem solved? Yes.

Ryan O’Reilly was not willing to sign a reasonable contract with Colorado. So, as hard as it was for many fans to see him go, he was traded to Buffalo, along with Jamie McGinn, for Nikita Zadorov, prospects and a draft pick. Problem solved? Yes.

Semyon Varlamov is still one of the better goaltenders in the league. Reto Berra has shown some NHL ability and if he doesn’t deliver next season, Calvin Pickard is ready to rock ‘n roll. Problem? No.

Beauchemin is a nice addition and will definitely make the defense better for now. But he most certainly won’t improve anymore.

How is the team not closer to winning the Stanley Cup? First off, we have to agree on something: the Colorado Avalanche will likely need at least another three years to be a contender. Agreed? Great. So where do we start?

Let’s get back to the defense. Beauchemin is a nice addition and will definitely make the defense better for now. But while he may still be an upgrade over Jan Hejda on the first D-pairing, he is also 35 years old. He may not decline too heavily over his three-year contract, but he most certainly won’t improve anymore either.

On offense, we will start with the top-six. What we are looking at right now is three legit, young top-six forwards (Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon), two aging forwards (Jarome Iginla, Alex Tanguay) — call them legends if you will — and a career third-line forward that will make his first appearance as a full-time member of an NHL top-six (Carl Soderberg).

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Behind that, after trading away McGinn, we are basically looking at John Mitchell, Blake Comeau and a lot of question marks. Mikko Rantanen, Joey Hishon, Freddie Hamilton are all guys that want to make it but it is unclear if and if yes when they will make the NHL for good. That list goes on and on.

Paul Stastny left a year ago and he is still gone and missed. Now O’Reilly left and — even though I am absolutely a fan of having him of the roster — he will be missed as well. So what can we expect now?

No. 1 center Duchene is still only 24 years old, captain Landeskog is only 22 and Nathan MacKinnon won’t turn 20 until September. So by the time these guys who are big leaders of the team get into their primes, new D-hopeful Beauchemin will be long gone. Unless a replacement is signed or Soderberg turns into the next O’Reilly, Stastny and O’Reilly will still be greatly missed. Therefore, this free agency period is not what brings the club closer to the Cup.

Three years down the road, you are looking at a much more solid team — if everything works out perfectly.

What does, however, is the job the Colorado Avalanche have been doing at the draft lately. Said leaders Duchene, Landeskog and MacKinnon will likely and hopefully not be alone anymore three years down the road.

Rantanen will hopefully be a good top-six forward by then, with Chris Bigras, Duncan Siemens and Nikita Zadorov taking up bigger roles than they have before. Add to that then-veterans Johnson and Varlamov and one of D-prospects Andrei Mironov, Mason Geertsen and Kyle Wood and you are looking at a much more solid team — if everything works out perfectly.

More free agent acquisitions and draft picks will have to fill important roles by then, but one thing is clear. There will be no Beauchemin, no Iginla and no Tanguay on the team that will have a chance to win the cup in three to five years. The free agent acquisitions and O’Reilly trade did help, but they were no total game changers.

Three years from now is a whole new story, as a lot can change. But as of today, the Colorado Avalanche is hardly closer to winning a Stanley Cup than they were last season.

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