One of the few remaining questions regarding the Colorado Avalanche is who they will face in the first round of the 2025-26 Stanley Cup playoffs. It seems like it changes often, with other teams going in and out of the spot in which the Avs will go up against: The second wildcard spot.
As of Sunday afternoon, MoneyPuck has percentages for the likelihood of the playoff teams’ opponents for Round 1. Sorting it by the Wildcard 2 column, you have the Boston Bruins, LA Kings, Ottawa Senators, and Nashville Predators taking up the first four spots. Then, you have a couple of teams who have a chance of making the playoffs, but those odds are quite low, so nobody is paying much mind to them.
Regarding the Avalanche’s potential opponent, however, the Kings and Predators are the candidates. According to MoneyPuck’s odds, the Kings have a 55.1% chance of falling into the second wildcard spot, while the Predators have a 23.4% chance.
Just 10 days ago, I wrote a piece on the Avalanche having a chance to squash Anze Kopitar’s dream of finishing his career on top of the world. Hilariously, that has a chance of happening as of right now. The Avalanche are near perfect health, which is extremely important during the playoffs. Questions remain regarding Cale Makar, though I have a feeling that he is being held out to keep him fresh for the postseason.
Nazem Kadri has a broken finger, so that’s why he isn’t playing. He probably should be good to go for the postseason, but we’ll see.
Colorado Avalanche appear likely to face LA Kings in first round of 2025-26 Stanley Cup playoffs
The LA Kings are back in the postseason for the fifth-straight year. They’re looking to give Anze Kopitar one final shot at a Stanley Cup. He’s already got two, but going out on top is his goal, as he announced that he is retiring at the end of the season.
An interesting things I noticed is that the Western Conference is very much top-heavy. The top are the Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, Dallas Stars… And then everybody else.
It’s really not even close. The Kings could finish in the second wildcard spot with very poor rankings in terms of statistics. They are 29th in goals-for with 211, 29th in goals for per game (2.67), 29th in power play percentage (17.0%), and 30th in penalty kill percentage (74.9%).
Those rankings bode extremely well for the Avalanche. In the end, it doesn’t really appear that Colorado will have much trouble with any opponent they may face in the first round. I know that’s counting chickens before they’re hatched, but it just seems like it would be quite a surprise if the Avalanche lose in the first round.
It’s never easy to say goodbye to a legend of a sport, but for the Avalanche, knocking Kopitar’s Kings out of the playoffs would be gold. If they face each other in the first round, I fully expect that to happen.
The postseason is expected to begin two days after the regular season concludes on April 16.