Colorado Avalanche Future: 3 Possible Scenarios

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Mar 3, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy talks to his players during a timeout out called in the third period against the Florida Panthers at the Pepsi Center. The Avalanche defeated the Panthers 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

The Colorado Avalanche may make a significant change over the summer to re-form the team for playoff contention. Discover what that change may be.

The Colorado Avalanche are not mathematically eliminated from the 2016 playoffs. They are, however, spiritually eliminated. The team’s final chance was shot down at 8:54 of the third period when the Minnesota Wild scored a goal during the Avalanche’s power play while Colorado’s net was empty.

The team went down 4-0, and head coach Patrick Roy didn’t bother pulling the goalie again.

To give more indication that the Colorado Avalanche have essentially given up on the season, last year’s first-round draft pick, Mikko Rantanen, has been sent back to the San Antonio Rampage. The team would burn a year off his contract if they still thought they had a chance at making the playoffs.

Furthermore, forward Andrew Agozzino and defenseman Nikita Zadorov have been recalled from the AHL. They are ostensibly filling in for the missing Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon, neither of whom made the two-game road trip. Agozzino is probably on tryout, and Zadorov is getting some experience. Duchene and MacKinnon might be done for the year — no point rushing them.

So, we have seven more games to enjoy Colorado Avalanche hockey this season. To add a little fillip to the situation, this may be the last chance we get to see this inception of the team. I don’t believe management is going to blow up the team. However, the very definition of crazy is to keep trying the same thing but expecting a different outcome.

You can call owner Josh Kroenke and GM Joe Sakic a lot of things, but crazy or even stupid aren’t among that list. They’ve made periphery personnel changes while maintaining what they call the essential core. This off-season, we might see them actually move one of the pieces of that core in an attempt to jump start the heart of this team.

Let’s look at three scenarios in order from least to most likely plus one move I’m willing to bet the farm won’t happen.

Note: These aren’t things I want to see happen — they’re things that I think management might be considering.

Next: Star on the Move

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