The Colorado Avalanche have scored more goals and allowed fewer goals than any other team in the NHL. They have only lost two games in regulation. Their goaltending tandem is the best duo in the league. Yet, despite all of their spectacular success, there are a few areas in which the Avs can increase their hockey superiority to even more stratospheric levels.
Power play, but of course
The biggest, most glaring area of need for the Colorado Avalanche is any type of rhythm and success on the power play. Even the few goals that they have managed to score on the man advantage have seemed almost accidental rather than as the result of any positive process. If the Avs ever get out of their own heads and out of their own way on the power play, the ability to score at least once per game will give them the ability to put more games away early and take a balanced approach to finish them off comfortably in the driver’s seat. The responsibility for a turnaround on the power play will be on the coaches for the plan and vision and on the players for the execution of them.
Second-line chemistry
While the scoring contributions from the second line have been very good, there still seems to be a lack of synergy between center Brock Nelson and his primary winger Valeri Nichushkin. They each have their strengths in driving play, but they have not developed much chemistry together. In the past ten games that the Avs have played, Nelson has six goals and four assists, but Nichushkin only factored in on three of them. To truly be an elite second line, those two players need to start reading and connecting with each other with more consistency. One detail that can help with that is to decide which other winger can best fit with Nelson and Nichushkin and, perhaps, even be the catalyst that brings them together.
Managing the Burns-Manson pairing
The Avs and coach Jared Bednar have found the best combination for the bottom-four of their defense by moving Josh Manson to the left side and pairing him with Brent Burns on the right. Burns (40) and Manson (34) are the two oldest players on the Avalanche blue line. When the duo is on, they have been quite effective together, combining Burns’ talents for taking up space and moving the puck up the ice with Manson’s physicality and boldness. But when they are off, they are prone to sloppiness in both passing and positioning, which has led to dangerous chances and, at times, goals against the Avs. To maximize the pairing’s effectiveness, it will be necessary to be strategic with their minutes and their deployment.
The Colorado Avalanche have a lot to be proud of so far this season and there is no reason to believe that they are going to slow down any time soon. In fact, it is more likely that they can become even more dominant in 2026 by improving the power play and a couple of small aspects of their 5v5 play.