Colorado Avalanche Goals for Core Players in the 2017-18 Season

The Colorado Avalanche players need to set and achieve goals for themselves in order to have a better 2017-18 season.

The Colorado Avalanche need goals, lots of goals this season. That’s how you win hockey games.

However, the Avalanche players themselves also need the other kind of goals — the kind that will help them improve their game. And that will eventually lead to scoring good hockey goals.

As a team, the Avs have their own set of goals. They need to be a more cohesive unit. Last season center Nathan MacKinnon complained that the players seemed to lack chemistry. Well, as an alternate captain, he’s partially responsible for creating that sense with the team. Likewise, hopefully the coaching staff creates some consistency how they run the lines so teammates can get used to each other.

This summer, center Matt Duchene caused controversy when he admitted that he was burned out by January — a lot of the players were. Some people observed that he and other players were phoning it in rather than giving their all.

Well, that can also fall under the purview of the team leaders, both those who wear the letter and those who don’t. Likewise, the coaches have to hold players responsible. If a player is phoning it in, he needs to ride the pine — no matter how big his name is. Maybe players who are clearly giving their all can sit out on practice bag skates — or on practices themselves.

I’d also prefer it if the front offices didn’t declare the season a wash in January like they did last year. That has to be demoralizing.

In any case, those are overarching goals for the team as a whole. Let’s look now at some individual achievements I’d like to see the core players reach.