The Colorado Avalanche have the trust and belief from Avs Faithful. They are a strong team that can still go a long way into the postseason. While last season’s playoff run ended prematurely, they’ll do what the other teams in the league will do: Erase last year from their mind and move forward.
The same will be done by Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon led the team in goals (53) and assists (74) for 127 points. By no means has he been underwhelming over the past four seasons. He has been quite the opposite.
But he can be even better.
The biggest problem the Avalanche faced in last year’s regular season was their power play. They finished in 27th place at just a 17.1% conversion rate despite their semi-pickup late in the year. It was just atrocious for the majority of the season no matter what they tried.
MacKinnon finished the year with 11 power play goals, which did lead the team. Brock Nelson was second with 10 and Martin Necas finished with nine. The next closest was Cale Makar with four. Four.
As the best player on the team, MacKinnon is going to have to step up in a big way on the power play. If they finish the season with about the same power play production as they did last year, results are just going to repeat themselves. He can cement his importance on the power play by leading the way again. Though it would be amazing to see him repeat as the power play goal leader for the Avs, he also needs to step up on the practice ice and film room to walk through the different X’s and O’s that they want to put out during games.
The Avalanche cannot afford to let power play struggles define their Stanley Cup Playoff outcome again.
Nathan MacKinnon can help the Avalanche become a top-10 power play unit
The Edmonton Oilers finished the year on top of the power play statistic at a 30.6% conversion rate. The Avalanche don’t have to go from 27th to 1st. They just need to maybe get into the top-half of the league. That would be around the 20% mark. Ideally, it would be higher, but given how weak they were in this department last season, we might not want to ask for too much.
But once they figure out this unit, they are going to become and remain the top threat in the entire league again. MacKinnon is going to be the power play king again, and not only with the puck on his stick.
MacKinnon is obviously the best player in the league right now. He could realistically set the floor at 127 points in a season. Having a lot of those points be from the power play would be huge because it means their biggest weakness has become a strength.
I want to see a lot of movement and consistency on the power play in 2026-27. The Avs have to disguise their unit up to try and throw opposing penalty kill units off their game. It all starts with MacKinnon and his experience.
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