Unless you live under a rock, you’re well aware the Colorado Avalanche are now looking forward to a summer of golf instead of hockey, as they were unceremoniously eliminated in the first round in frustrating fashion by the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.
Avalanche nation had higher expectations than a first round exit, and there’s plenty of blame to go around to the entire organization. The crux of the blame needs to go to the players, obviously, who failed to produce when needed most, but some needs to be on Chris MacFarland as well.
The regular season is a precursor to the playoffs, and high-paid players are expected to be at their bests when the stakes are the highest. The Avalanche players, sans Nathan MacKinnon and a few others, were not.
The Avalanche had some players play well during this series, like Logan O’Connor, with six points this series, and Captain Gabriel Landeskog, with four points in five games after a three-year layoff come to mind. Reigning league MVP Nathan MacKinnon had 11 points this series.
Unfortunately that’s where the praise ends.
Wunderkind Cale Makar, recently nominated for the Norris Trophy and coming off a 30-goal regular season, had five points in seven games, with only one goal. As Makar is a lynchpin of the offense, his non-production was a key factor in the series loss.
The lauded trade acquisitions that general manager Chris MacFarland made to set up a Stanley Cup run fell on their faces as well. Brock Nelson had 26 regular season goals, but zero goals and four points over seven games this series. Martin Necas, owner of 83 points across 79 regular season games, had only one goal and four assists this series.
Jack Drury and Charlie Coyle had 2 goals and 1 assist combined this series. Those two weren’t brought in for top-end scoring help, but contributions from the bottom six are necessary for success in the playoffs, and those two didn’t offer it.
Mackenzie Blackwood, thought to be the addition that tidied up shoddy Avalanche goaltending, was anything but, with a save percentage of only .892 this series, saving his worst for last with a .833 save percentage in Game 7. He allowed three third-period goals on 18 total shots in the game. Blackwood had three “really bad starts,” in the series, which is a stat that measures starts with a save percentage below 85% for the game. His goals saved above average was -1.4. The Avalanche lost two games this series by one goal.
The Avalanche had the lead after two periods in three separate games this series. They could not hold those leads. They lost the series in seven games. If they had kept just one of those leads, this series would obviously have vastly different results.
The Stars didn’t have their top defenseman this series. They also did not have their top forward this series. The Avalanche still couldn’t find a way to win the series. The problem lies within. Anything is on the table at this point, as it’s clear the Avalanche need some kind of jolt moving forward.