3 Colorado Avalanche to get excited about in 2024-25

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.

2. Jonathan Drouin, (LW/C)

The Colorado Avalanche signed Jonathan Drouin on July 1, 2023, to reunite him with Nathan MacKinnon. The two played together in Halifax, and went 1 and 3 overall in the 2013 NHL Draft. Drouin went to the Tampa Bay Lightning, while MacKinnon obviously went to the Avs.

While Drouin had two previous seasons of over 50 points, his first season with the Avs was his best year yet, recording 56 points. He had 19 goals and 37 assists in 79 games.

The start of his first season in Colorado did not start off very well, as he lacked the stat production. Many assumed that he would click right in with MacKinnon but head coach Jared Bednar tried him on different lines throughout the season. He eventually found a home on the top line, earning his way there throughout the year.

It really does help that MacKinnon is on his side, but Bednar did not just hand Drouin that top-line spot. That just goes to show how hard Drouin worked to get to the point he ended up in at the end of the season.

Drouin is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent when free agency begins, and I think that he has earned a little more money in his pocket. Personally, I don’t think that he will be out of the team’s price range, especially with the uncertainty of Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin.