ESPN released their off season report card with grades for every team in the National Hockey League earlier in the week and to no one's surprise, the Colorado Avalanche fell somewhere in the middle with a C. No plus, no minus, just a simple letter C.
While the grade isn't something to necessarily celebrate and it certainly isn't what Avs fans will still want to see come October, it also isn't a total failure on management's part and could indicate bigger moves to come. Colorado had little they could do with the lackluster state of the free agency market and after seeing the terms of the this year's biggest name on the market, Nikolaj Ehlers, the Avs and their cap space had no chance of landing the forward. Going forward they'll have to rely on nifty trades and team-friendly deals with their unsigned free agents to be ready for the regular season.
Colorado's big move this off season was the signing of veteran defenseman Brent Burns in a move that bolsters their back end and offers a perfect pairing for young blueliner Sam Malinski. Burns is heading into his 22nd season in the NHL with 135 playoff games under his belt, most recently with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Alongside Burns' addition, Colorado added to their available cap space by unloading Charlie Coyle, Jonathan Drouin, Ryan Lindgren, and Miles Wood. Wood and Coyle were moved in a trade to the Columbus Blue Jackets that freed up about 7.75 million in cap space and gave Colorado F Gavin Brindley and a conditional draft pick in the 2027 second-round. Drouin and Lindgren were lost to free agency when Colorado didn't offer contract extensions for the 2025-26 season.
Colorado currently has $4,123,333 left in cap space after signing defenseman Josh Manson to a 2 year extension worth $3,950,000 leaving them plenty room to keep making moves before the season starts and hopefully improve that C grading if they want to keep up this year.
The biggest worry in ESPN's grade for Colorado is where it lands them compared to their division rivals. In the central division, both the St. Louis Blues and Utah Mammoth walked away with A's while the Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, and Winnipeg Jets all hit above the Avs with B minuses. The Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars both received C's. On this basis, in order to compete with the majority of their division, Colorado needs to bump their grade up to at least a B minus. Of course there's still lots of time left for changes to be made and these grades could mean nothing come October let alone rememberable by playoff time, but it's something for Avs fans to watch moving forward. The western conference is always a tough battle all season long and judging by ESPN's analysis, the central division alone could be a tight race.
How Colorado Avalanche can still improve
At the start of the off season, Colorado was looking to fix their defensive pairings and build up their blue line in order to hopefully have a deep playoff run this upcoming season. They've so far addressed this with the addition of Brent Burns, the extension of Josh Manson, and the qualifying offer to Sam Malinski. Their projected d-pairings may be a little lopsided and jumbled at the moment but there's lot of time to left hash it out and give them the efficiency they need on the back end.
However, Colorado still has not explicitly addressed the issues they had last season with the power play, an issue that ultimately booted them out of the playoffs. There have been changes in staff with the hiring of assistant head coach Dave Hakstol, but it's unknown who will head the power play in the 2025-26 season.
On top of this, the Avs still have numerous free agents they could turn to including veteran defenseman Erik Johnson and more. Management has reported that they're in talks with their free agents but are waiting to see how the player market shifts throughout the rest of the off-season.