Colorado Avalanche 2017-18 Season Preview

Challenges and Attributes

With such a young and new roster, there are both challenges and attributes. Challenge-wise, the Colorado Avalanche have taken a step back in NHL experience. Many players are going to be confronted with NHL situations for the first time on a nightly basis.

For example, the NHL is known as being the fastest league in the world. All the newbies have good footspeed, but they’re still going to face situations in which a veteran player makes them look foolish with his wiley ways.

Concerning the new faces on the roster, that definitely presents a challenge. Most of the line combinations and defensive pairing have changed, so players have to get used to each other. Hopefully there will be some consistency throughout the season, and the players will be able to develop a familiarity.

However, a good thing about the newness of the roster is that many of the players weren’t around last season, so they won’t have that bad memory giving them mental stress.

What’s more, the youngsters have a lot to prove — essentially, that they can make it in the NHL. Nail Yakupov has the same incentive. Matt Duchene will want to prove he’s not an 18-goal, 41-point player. Nathan MacKinnon should want to prove he actually is the best player on the team.

The biggest attribute of the Colorado Avalanche, though, is that the team has talent. What’s more, this team has been built to complement its individual components.

Next: Goals for Core Players in the 2017-18 Season

I already wrote a post with my predictions for the upcoming season, but I will say that I fully expect the team to have a better record than last year.