The 2025-26 NHL season has already begun ahead of the Colorado Avalanche vs Los Angeles Kings game. We have finally made it, Avs Faithful! All of the anticipation for the season led to Tuesday night, where we hope that our team finds a way to win the first game of the year.
The Kings aren’t a slouch. They finished in second place in the Pacific Division with 48 wins and 105 points. They also made it to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup playoffs last year against Edmonton before their season came to an end. Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala led the team in goals with 35–Kempe with five game-winners and Fiala with six.
Additionally, the Kings now have former goaltender Darcy Kuemper in net.
For the Avalanche, Mackenzie Blackwood is a no-go against the Kings, as he’s been dealing with an injury. Scott Wedgewood and Trent Miner will be the team’s goaltenders for the game, with Wedgewood getting the start.
Colorado Avalanche players to watch vs Kings in 2025-26 season opener
3. Gabriel Landeskog
Gabriel Landeskog is definitely a player that every single fan will have their eyes on—even Kings fans. We got to see Landeskog during two games with the Colorado Eagles last year, and also some postseason action—his first set of games since his knee injury that knocked him out for over 1,000 days.
Landeskog showed a lot of strength and effort in his games since returning, even with the Eagles. When he was in Loveland, the team’s captain showed how much faster and physical he was against the AHLers.
Landeskog has everyone rooting for him because of the situation he was involved in regarding his devastating injury. It’s clear that the whole league, and even people more involved in other sports, is rooting for him and can’t wait to see him kickoff a season for the first time in years.
I don’t think Landeskog will have many minutes cut short due to load management—we saw that he was good to go early on and the expectation appears to be that he’s well past his issues with his knee.
In the end, we all hope that Landeskog’s return sparks a great season for the Avalanche.
2. Parker Kelly
Fans were surprised on Tuesday when it was revealed that Zakhar Bardakov was going to be scratched for the season opener. There was so much hype over him recently and how he showed the Avs that he deserved a spot on the roster. While he technically is on the roster, he’ll be a scratch against the Kings.
Parker Kelly comes with familiarity of the system the Avalanche run, so perhaps that has something to do with the decision to scratch Bardakov.
Kelly has eight goals for the Avalanche last season, as well as 11 assists, in 80 games. The game management for Kelly was extreme for someone entering their first year with the team—though he did play 80 games the year before with the Ottawa Senators.
It will be interesting to see what he can do while centering a line with Joel Kiviranta and Gavin Brindley on the outsides. Oftentimes, we see shifts in the fourth line, and this could be a scenario that might happen in.
1. Scott Wedgewood
I’ve made it clear that I’m a big Wedgewood fan. He did quite well for the Avalanche last season when Mackenzie Blackwood got the night off. Unfortunately, Wedgewood’s start Tuesday comes with the news of Blackwood’s injury. Hopefully we find out some positive news about their starter soon.
Wedgewood went 13-4-0-1 for the Avalanche in his first year with the team last year. He probably will see more action this year depending on the status of Blackwood, but he boasts a very solid record for Colorado early in his tenure with the team.
Wedgewood has a .917 save percentage in that amount of time with Colorado, allowing a 1.99 GAA, which is pretty solid.
In the end, Blackwood’s injury is going to hurt, but Colorado has got to feel quite confident in their backup. If it ends up that he doesn’t start out the year on a high note, there shouldn’t be much concern, as the season is 82 games long. They’ll just hope that Blackwood returns sooner rather than later.
Or, they call up the KHL to get Ilya Nabokov to Colorado.