3 Avalanche players who must bring their A-Game to regain their edge
The Colorado Avalanche have fallen behind the Dallas Stars lately, and there are a few players whose respective A-Games must shine starting now.
When you think of a couple of players who must put a team on their shoulders so they can soar to new heights, Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon are the first two who come to mind. And the duo is once again enjoying a dynamic season, with MacKinnon clocking in with 85 points and 32 goals while Makar is one of the highest-scoring blueliners in the league with 60 points and 13 goals.
But recently, we have seen that the heroics of MacKinnon and Makar are not enough, and that a few more players in different roles must step up and bring their A-Game as the playoff race grows intense. If the Avalanche can find themselves leading the pack in the Central Division by the end of February, it would also give them much-needed momentum in the final month-and-a-half of the season.
Mikko Rantanen’s power play odyssey must keep going strong
Last season, Mikko Rantanen was one of the best players in hockey, having scored 105 points and 55 goals. His efforts on the power play were impeccable, as 37 of those points occurred when the Avalanche found themselves on special teams.
Rantanen has again been a phenom on the man advantage this season, scoring 30 of his 67 points when the Avalanche are at 5-on-4, which could easily supersede what he accomplished last season. Special teams are a huge way to gain a competitive advantage over an opponent, and if Rantanen’s productivity stays steady or ideally increases on the power play, it will have positive repercussions for Colorado over the last two weeks of the month.
While Rantanen’s production at even-strength must also remain sky-high if the Avalanche plan on maximizing their chances to retake the lead in the Central Division, his special teams contributions continue to play a huge part in the Avalanche's overall success.
Time for Alexandar Georgiev to give the Avs Vezina-like run
Alexandar Georgiev was a Vezina contender last season, finishing seventh overall following an impeccable season that included a league-leading 40 wins, a 0.918 save percentage, and a GAA of 2.53. Coming into 2023-24, it was easy to speculate that Georgiev would be a shoo-in contender for the Vezina once again, but that hasn’t happened through mid-February.
While he’s seen a lot of time in the net - 44 games as of February 11th - Georgiev hasn’t been the same Vezina-like player. He has a quality starts percentage of just 0.465, an 0.898 save percentage, and a 2.94 GAA to go with a league-leading 126 goals allowed. For context, he allowed just 156 last season, so this has been a noticeable drop-off for the 27-year-old.
To make matters worse for Georgiev, he’s facing slightly fewer shots on goal this season at 28 per game as opposed to the 30.7 he saw last season. Overall, his game has dropped, and it must return to at least resemble the Vezina-like levels of the recent past for Colorado to rebound.
Acquiring a goaltender like Kaapo Kahkonen would be great, but until he gets some help, defending the net consistently is Georgiev’s responsibility.
Devon Toews increasing productivity will work wonders
Devon Toews is the Avalanche’s second-highest producing blueliner next to Cale Makar, and through 53 games, he has a respectable 29 points and eight goals. But Toews has been converting quite a few of his shots on net into goals with an 8.1 shooting percentage. By comparison, Makar is shooting an 8.7, so it’s clear that Toews has been relatively accurate this year when he sees a good scoring lane.
However, he’s taken just 99 shots on goal this season, good for just 1.86 per contest, and if that number goes up, it could potentially help the Avalanche score thanks to his efforts, or even provide the possibility for a tip-in or a redirection. Since Toews’ average total ice time is roughly a minute under Makar’s, it’s not like increasing his number of total shots on goal to at least close in on the potential Norris contender is farfetched.
Toews’ 3.3 defensive point shares are also the highest on the team, showing us that his performance on defense has been a huge factor in Colorado’s overall productivity. But if he contributes more in the offensive zone, he’ll make an even greater impact for a team that needs it right now. Look for Makar to keep holding up his end of the deal, and hopefully, Toews will put himself in a position to match it down the stretch.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference as of February 11th)