The Colorado Avalanche rebuild could include a single big trade — a core player for a stud defenseman.
The Colorado Avalanche’s overtime win Friday night felt so good. I was at the game. When it became clear that the game could go into OT, there were whole shifts near the end when I didn’t breathe for fear an exhale would make the puck go in our net.
As for the overtime itself, once the first big rush started, the entire crowd surged to our feet. And we stayed that way for the entire OT. My heart was beating so fast. I know mine wasn’t the only one.
And when Nathan MacKinnon‘s shot went in! The wave of emotion we all felt was ubelievable. Personally, I screamed myself hoarse.
Let’s relive that moment:
I hadn’t felt that much energy and elation from a game since Game 1 of the playoffs in 2014. And that fact tells you a lot about the Avalanche right now.
Because Friday night’s game was not a playoff game. It wasn’t even a game to get into the playoffs. Hell, it didn’t even change Colorado’s position of dead last in the NHL.
However, it had been so long since we’d seen any win from this team (five games), especially at home (since November 15), that we were all that ecstatic.
While it’s true that Nathan MacKinnon acknowledged in his post-game presser that he was grateful — and a little surprised — that fans were even still coming to the games, the Pepsi Center was far from full. Losing teams don’t draw a crowd.
The Colorado Avalanche have to change. So far I’ve explored two polemic options — either they’ll blow up the core or keep the core completely intact and find ways to augment it:
While there are numerous other options besides those two, the other popular scenario is that the Colorado Avalanche make a single blockbuster trade, for a defenseman.