The Colorado Avalanche head into Friday night’s tilt with the rival Winnipeg Jets looking for their league-leading 25th win of the season. The Avs continue to steamroll their competition, opening up a clear four-point lead over the second-place Dallas Stars.
The Avalanche, however, have two games in hand on Dallas. As such, that lead could be even bigger. The Avs are riding a three-game winning streak to go with the NHL's best +56 goal differential.
As the season heads into the Christmas break, division rivals will be looking to beef up. So, let’s take a look at what some Central Division clubs are doing in this edition of the Avalanche news.
Central Division rivals looking to add
At this point last week, the talk was all about the Minnesota Wild and Quinn Hughes. That talk has mostly quieted now. But the biggest takeaway from that deal, at least as far as the Avalanche are concerned, is that division rivals are looking to beef up. Other Central Division teams know they’ll have to do everything they can to compete with Colorado.
The St. Louis Blues made an interesting waiver claim this week. The Blues picked up former Detroit Red Wings forward Jonatan Berggren. Berggren scored his first goal as a Blue in Thursday night’s game against the New York Rangers.
But the most interesting rumor this week concerns the Winnipeg Jets. Last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winner is sixth in the Central, 22 points behind the Avalanche. It’s a funny turn of events, considering that last season, it was Colorado looking up at the Jets.
Anyhow, insider Elliotte Friedman discussed how the Jets are also looking to add. In the latest edition of his 32 Thoughts Podcast, Friedman declared that the Jets have their sights set on Seattle Kraken forward Mason Marchment.
That’s an interesting rumor considering that Gustav Nyquist and Jonathan Toews didn’t become world-beaters in Winnipeg. As for when the Marchment deal could take place, Friedman did not state that anything was imminent.
For the time being, Avalanche fans should keep an ear out for rumors surrounding division rivals. The Avs have a huge target on their backs. So, every team in the Central is looking to take a crack at them.
Avalanche top power rankings
In an unsurprising bit of news, the Colorado Avalanche topped this week’s power rankings published by The Athletic. The Avalanche topped the list yet again. Here’s the insight provided in the rankings:
“Every fanbase has anxiety. Every team has flaws. Every roster has a scapegoat. That’s a common feeling across all teams across all sports. The Avalanche might be one of the few exceptions to that rule. Even when they’re down, they’re not out with a plus-30 goal differential in third periods this season. Even their flaws — a wretched power play — aren’t that frustrating given their current record and personnel. And their roster? Tough to hate anyone right now. In Colorado, everything is sunshine and rainbows. In Christmas parlance: All is calm, all is bright.”
Power play notwithstanding, everything seems fine for the Avalanche. Of course, the power play is something fans would like to see improve. But could you imagine just how much more dangerous the Avalanche would be with a top-five power play?
The potential is there. The Avalanche could go ga-ga at some point and unleash the fury that is Nathan MacKinnon, Gabe Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen, Martin Necas, and Cale Makar with the man advantage.
The absence of the power play is not a major consideration now, but it could be at some point down the line.
In the meantime, the Avalanche will play the Jets on Friday night and then face the Minnesota Wild on Sunday evening at the Xcel Energy Center. It will be an interesting showdown between Makar and Quinn Hughes in the latter’s new digs.