Colorado Avalanche are shockingly snubbed from 2024-25 offensive list

When you think of offensive playmakers in the NHL, you instantly think of guys such as Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and to choose one from a different organization, Connor McDavid. It is imperative that you have superstars on your team.

The Avalanche recorded the most goals per game of any team last season, with 3.68. That was on the way to a 51-win season, and goaltender Alexandar Georgiev with the crown for most wins by a goalie all of last season. Despite the output the Avalanche showed, the team is being severely overlooked in terms of offensive production projections for the 2024-25 season.

The Hockey Writers has come out with their list of the top five projected offenses for the 2024-25 season: 5. Vancouver Canucks, 4. New Jersey Devils, 3. Toronto Maple Leafs, 2. Dallas Stars, 1. Edmonton Oilers.

To me, that is pretty crazy. I think that the Colorado Avalanche definitely deserve a spot on this particular list this year. They’ll still have Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin (who had a career year last season). At some point, the hope is that Valeri Nichushkin will return to the team and even though that won’t be at least until November, that still gives him time to generate some production for this offense.

The Avalanche also have the best defenseman in all of hockey (some will argue Quinn Hughes) in Cale Makar. Makar is an offensive machine, too. MacKinnon and Makar are two guys that it is hard to see have a huge drop off in production. Though it is very unlikely MacKinnon will not put up 140 points again, he’s still good for over 100.

Makar even put up 90 points while playing in just 77 games last year. Can you imagine his production had he were able to play in all 82 games? The sky is the limit for him.

The Colorado Avalanche might also have to put in some extra work, depending on whether or not Georgiev has a better year than last year. I also expect Justus Annunen to get more games under his belt next season, and with his inexperience, it could lead to the Avalanche having to put up more points than expected.

If the Avalanche are not in the top five in goals per game next season, it could spell trouble.