Avalanche ceiling remains uncertain despite mid-season surge

Jared Bednar won’t go long without thinking about his hockey team or his various outdoor passions.

It certainly shouldn’t be surprising when he finds a way to tie the two together. The Colorado Avalanche reached the halfway point of an eventful 2024-25 campaign Tuesday night.

So far, the way he describes this season isn’t that different from other years. How the Avs got to this point certainly has.

“I say that all the time. It’s like a boat,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “One thing is broken, you plug the hole and another hole appears somewhere else. You’re constantly working on every aspect of your game. Something is going to give you problems and you pay attention to it for three, four, five days and then something else shows up.

To borrow from Bednar’s nautical theme, the SS Avalanche has spent time in rough seas this season. There were days when the ship had too many holes and not enough hands capable of repairing them.

And even once the ship is steadied, it’s still difficult to find Colorado’s place among the NHL’s top threats to win the Stanley Cup.

Who are the Avs really? It may still be too early to tell.

“You just try to maximize what you can get out of the group that you have,” Bednar said.

Availability has been one of the club’s main challenges this season. By removing captain Gabe Landeskog from the equation – although his status will likely become a bigger part of the 2024-25 story in the coming weeks – the Avs put their top 10 offensive players together for 36 minutes.

The “Big Three” superstars – Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen – played every game. The two new goaltenders, Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood, have turned the other biggest weakness into a strength, but the injury bug has already ravaged Wedgewood for at least two weeks.

Just give the Avs three world-class offensive talents, some high-end mates and solid goaltending, and it’s enough to make Colorado a threat in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Whether or not they can be one of the favorites to win it all in April, or just a dangerous outing, depends on the rest of the roster.

The Avs got off to a rough start, not only in net but also on defense in front of the goaltenders. That game improved, but the save percentages didn’t, which led to both exchanges.

Colorado’s underlying defensive numbers are actually a bit worse over the past month since the new guards arrived, but there are a few games in a small sample size that outweigh otherwise solid work. And the goaltenders did their part, regardless of the play in front of them.

“I think over the last few weeks we’ve played really well,” Makar said. “I think there are still things we can clean up. We’re not going to be perfect in the middle of the season, but I think especially with guys coming in and out of the lineup and still finding ways to win, it’s pretty good.

There might still be some work on the fringes of the roster, but that’s where Landeskog’s future comes in. He has skated with the team several times over the past week, representing a slight up from before but probably nowhere near a return date.

Whether or not he can play a regular season game this season has a dramatic impact on what the Avalanche can or cannot do with the roster, especially before the trade deadline. And injuries have made it difficult to gauge whether or not even minor improvements are needed.

Would a completely healthy version of the Avs be one of, if not, THE best team in the NHL? Maybe.

Could Colorado finally get the group together in time for the playoffs, but end up like Vegas last season – a potential threat that couldn’t get out of the starting blocks? This is also possible.

For now, the Avs remain a work in progress. One with an upper floor if Blackwood continues to play well, but the ceiling remains a mystery.

“We always want to improve, line by line, player by player and as a whole team,” Bednar said. “Doing what we want to do better and more consistently throughout the year to get ready for the playoffs.”

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