The season unfortunately has come to an end for the Colorado Avalanche as they fell to the Dallas Stars in double overtime in an elimination Game 6. It’s early in the process of grieving the series loss, but the show must go on and we can look at some of the exciting players we get to see next season.
Since the team’s Stanley Cup season in 2021-22, the Avalanche have been up and down. They have lacked consistency, but still have managed to find their way into the playoffs in each of the two seasons since. There are plenty of good things to look forward to going forward.
A bit of a spoiler… I wanted to include Calum Ritchie in this article, but per Evan Rawal of ColoradoHockeyNow.com, Ritchie is not eligible for the Colorado Eagles, so the only options are to have him on the NHL roster or keep him in the OHL. The latter seems to make the most sense right now, despite the hype surrounding the former first rounder.
So, without further ado, here are three Colorado Avalanche players to be excited about next season…
3. Justus Annunen, G
It’s Alexandar Georgiev’s starting job, but Justus Annunen will be the backup next season without a doubt, after signing an extension during this past season. I was really high on Annunen. I think that he did very well given the circumstances. There were times where the defense left him out to dry, but there were also some mistakes made by him, which is a given for any NHL goalie.
For the 2023-24 season, Annunen posted an 8-4 win-loss record, 414 saves, 34.5 saves per game, a 2.25 goals against average (GAA), a save percentage of .928, and two shutouts.
Ideally, we will see a much better Alexandar Georgiev going forward. Georgiev, while securing the most victories among all NHL goalies last season, had given up the most goals in the league (183, a GAA of 2.02).
With some proper help up front, I think that Annunen can succeed, and he might play more than 12 games next season, especially if Georgiev struggles.