Colorado Avalanche: 30 Percent of Goals Scored By New Team Members

What a contribution the five new players, added to the Colorado Avalanche by Joe Sakic have had this season. They’ve scored 30% of the goals!

Watching the replay of the Colorado Avalanche game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday I noted what one of the Vegas commentators said as I hadn’t heard it from our own Altitude team

“During the regular season, a total of 30% of the Avalanches goals came from Kadri, Donskoi and Nichushkin. And three during the Round Robin so far”

Wow! Had these three new guys had such a big impact on the team? Apparently, they did. At least that’s what the statistics say.

And that’s a tongue in cheek comment from me as I’ve seen them game after game have a big impact. Haven’t you?

His number was a little bit off. The three have contributed 20% of the total. Still not a bad feat for three new guys on the team.

Nazem Kadri

Number 91 came to us from the Maple Leaf’s in that Tyson Barrie trade. It’s okay to cry when you think about losing Tyson.

Looking at his stats is interesting because they don’t show that he’s done anything hugely different to what he did in Toronto, except his Face-Off %. It’s 56.76%, the highest he’s ever had. The impact of that for the Avalanche, of course, is huge.

It’s one area that the team was struggling in for consistency in the past few years. So, to have Kadri step into this space and win those face-offs means more puck in the hands of the Avalanche players.

This season he played a total of 51 games with the Avalanche and had 19 goals and 17 assists. That means that he scored a goal in over a third of the games he played in. That consistency has been a huge bonus for the Avalanche too.

And having him in the space of running that second line from the centre has had it scoring on more times this season than in a number of years.

Everyone always talked about the Avalanches top line. The second line used to be non-existent before Kadri arrived.

Joonas Donskoi

Donskoi was one of the new guys that I wasn’t so sure about when he first arrived. He seemed lost for a while after he arrived. Understandable I guess given he’d moved to a new club with a different way of operating.

To me, he’s the quiet achiever. I think the other teams often underestimate his speed and ability to make the play. He’s loved getting into the side of net position and popping those rebounds.

He played 65 games and had 16 goals and 17 assists. He too has added power to the Face-Off wins. His Face Off percentage at 42.86% is a huge bonus to the Avalanche.

And I know it’s crazy to mention that when this post is predominantly about scored goals, but that face-off starts the play that delivers the goals, so to me it’s important.

Between Donskoi and Kadri alone there are 35 goals scored across 65 games.

Valerie Nichushkin

What an impact Nichushkin has had in this team this season. This guy has really shown himself to be an NHL player.

Chuch had posted 13 goals and 14 assists in the 65 games he played, in the regular season. With one Power Play goal, one Short-handed goal and three game-winning goals. For that score, he put up 113 shots. This guy isn’t afraid to shoot that puck at the net.

And isn’t that something the Avalanche needed more of. I can hear myself now, both at the games and watching on TV frustratedly shouting to the team “Put the damn puck on net.” It used to feel as though the team forgot that was the goal… pucks on net.

Nichushkin has shown himself to be a strong winger who drives through the opposition. And with not being afraid to put that puck on net, it’s shown in his ability to help the team by putting these goals on the board.

What’s the Tally?

More from Mile High Sticking

I’ve only gone with the regular season, because the postseason isn’t over yet and I believe these three will be big contributors in the Avalanches journey to the Stanley Cup, but here’s the tally…

Of the 235 goals scored by the Colorado Avalanche in the regular season 48 of them were scored by the combination of Kadri, Donskoi and Nichushkin.

Those 48 goals contributed, a lot of the time, to game wins for the team, something that has helped us get to where we are right now; Stanley Cup Play-Offs.

Wait, There’s More

I think the Commentator forgot to mention that in that 30% that he quoted we had the other new dynamo’s Andre Burakovsky and Pierre-Edouard Bellamere.

Burky played 58 games had 20 goals and 25 assists. He has been the biggest contributor of the new guys that joined the Avalanche this season.

And Bellamere contributed another 9 goals and 13 assists in the 69 games he played.

Now let’s recheck those stats

Total goals scored by the Colorado Avalanche in regular season 235

Total goals scored by the new additions to the team 77

And the percentage total is…. 32.7%

So nearly a full third of the total goals scored during this 2019-2020 season came from the new additions to the team, added by Joe Sakic. Pretty good pick up’s I’d say.

Let’s hope the five of them continue to be big contributors for this team over the coming weeks.