The Colorado Avalanche were hotter than any team for the first couple of months of the 2025-26 season. They finished the first three months of the season 30-2-7, which was best in the league.
Their worst loss was a game against the New York Islanders on December 4, when they lost 6-3. Since the beginning of January, they’ve lost nine games, by a combined score of 18-40. The team gave up seven goals three times in that span. That is a major concern.
At the beginning of the Olympic break, I did some digging into some of the slumps Avalanche players are on. The results are concerning.
Valeri Nichushkin has gone four-straight games without a goal. Cale Makar, Martin Necas, and Victor Olofsson have gone six-traight games without a goal. Nathan MacKinnon, five goals in his last 15 games. Captain Gabriel Landeskog has two goals from December 11 to January 2, when he was injured after falling into a goal post. Joel Kiviranta has two goals in his last 28 games. Ross Colton, two goals in his last 29 games.
Some of these players—MacKinnon, Makar, Necas, Kiviranta and Landeskog—each got some time to get their groove back at the Olympics in Italy over the last couple of weeks. That’s huge for them as they get closer to a return to the Avs (February 25 against the Utah Mammoth).
MacKinnon has three power play goals during the Olympics (five games).
It is hilarious yet frustrating to see that the Olympic Avs have been so successful on the power play but yet the team back in Colorado has had a lot of trouble getting the power play going. When they return to practice and games, I would hope that the Olympians will have a lot of intel and knowledge to give Dave Hakstol and the power play units for the remainder of the season. Something’s gotta give.
If they don’t figure the power play out, they’ll find themselves eliminated in the first round of the 2025-26 postseason. Hakstol will need to take a long, hard look in the mirror if the power play continues to struggle.
Their lead in the Central Division has been reduced to five points, though they have three games in hand (played less games) over the Minnesota Wild (Avs have 83 points to Wild’s 78). Leads can swap many times in the NHL, so the Avalanche need to be ready to make sure that does not happen often. They’ve got 27 games remaining in the regular season. It’s not time to panic—the Avs just need a reset.
We just hope that the Olympic experience the five Avs players went through will help them return to mid-season form.