Colorado Avalanche 30 Under 30: Gone Players
Chris Stewart
Position: Right Wing
Age: 28 (age 21-24 with Colorado)
Avalanche Acquisition: Draft, 18th overall in 2006
Left Avalanche: Trade to St. Louis, 2011
Years as an Avalanche: 3
Under-30 Colorado Stats: 166 games played, 52 goals, 61 assists
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As popular as John Michael Liles was and still is, that’s how unpopular Chris Stewart is. On the face of it, he’s the perfect Colorado Avalanche forward — big, mean, speedy and inconsistent. However, for some reason that inconsistency seems to rankle Avs fans more with Stewart than with a lot of other players.
Stewart was a first-round draft pick. Maybe his 19 points (8 goals, 11 assists) didn’t put him in danger of winning the Calder Trophy that first season, but he had the exact opposite of a sophomore slump the next season, 2009-10. In 77 games he scored 28 goals and 36 assists for 64 points. He finished second only to Paul Stastny in scoring that season.
While with the Avalanche, Stewart earned two hat tricks and two Gordie Howe hat tricks (a goal, assist and fight in the same game). Like I said, he really seemed a Colorado kind of player.
Chris Stewart was on his way to matching his sophomore numbers with the Avalanche. By February he’d earned 13 goals and 17 assists. Nonetheless, he became part of the blockbuster trade that brought current cornerstone defenseman, Erik Johnson, to the team.
Speaking of that trade, this post’s Honorable Mention was a huge chunk of that trade.
Next: Shattenkirk