On the eve of the Colorado Avalanche’s season opener against the Los Angeles Kings, we’ve got a hilarious one for you that doesn’t necessarily have to do with the game, but it could have some sort of good or bad luck, if you believe that sort of thing. Early this afternoon, Avalanche journalist Colleen Flynn posted a picture of a player’s locker.
That player was Sam Malinski. The thing, however, is that whoever made Malinski’s nameplate accidentally misspelled his name.
Who doesn’t know how to spell? #GoAvsGo 🤣 pic.twitter.com/3t9kTf0JzY
— Colleen Flynn (@FerPucksSake) September 29, 2026
Malinski really came onto the scene last season. After two mediocre seasons in which he recorded 10 and 15 points respectively, Malinski showed up last season and contributed with 40 points. They came in the form of eight goals and 32 assists.
I don’t really think that Malinski will turn that nameplate typo into motivation, but you don’t ever see someone such as Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon or Sidney Crosby have their names misspelled.
My hope for Malinski this season is that he matches his totals from last season. I think that with him on the second pairing, he could have a fair chance at accomplishing that. He’s currently paired with Brett Kulak, who the team acquired last season in the trade that gave Pittsburgh Sam Girard.
The typo on his nameplate is actually pretty hilarious given that, since he showed up with a very strong 2025-26 season, people have been referring to him as “Sam MalHIMski”. It’s a form of appreciation and acknowledgement for what he has done for the organization after going undrafted and then playing 23 games for the Avalanche during the 2023-24 season.
His brilliant 2025-26 season saw him record a plus/minus of +43, by far the best total of his career.
It will be cool to see if Jared Bednar decides to pair Malinski up with several other partners throughout the season. Knowhim the head coach, that is bound to happen at some point. Maybe they’ll find an unexpected pairing that will be tremendous for the long run.
Maybe he’ll have the type of season where whoevercooked up that nameplate will then start to laugh at themselves. Either way, it’s a fun story because everyone makes mistakes.
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