Colorado is going to be a tough team to play against next season.
You’re talking about having Lehkonen, Nichushkin, Wood/Colton on three separate lines. That puts a lot of pressure on other teams. Imo, McFarland, Sakic, and Bednar have identified what they were lacking last season and adjusted
Last years team was terribly mismanaged. They basically played shorthanded all year because they were expecting Landeksog to come back. This year they’ll actually be able to fill out the roster.
Yeah it was fairly obvious IMO and I'm glad they addressed it.
Missing Landy, Val, Cogs, Helm, and having Lehknonen compromised took a lot of jam out of their lineup.
Especially in terms of net front presence and the ability to score much needed greasy goals against a Seattle team that played good two way hockey, and a goalie playing well, who they should have got more traffic in front of to take away his eyes.
This was clearly addressed with with the additions of Johansen, Wood, and Colton.
And hopefully with Val, Lehky, and Cogs in the lineup too they'll be even tougher to play against up front than they have been in a really long time. Even more so if Landy comes back.
I think Colton brings some swagger and self confidence that they lost with Naz. Zadorov and to an extent McLeod before Naz too. You could see it in Colton's fights with LOC and how he held up the number 1 to the Avs bench as a way to say "We got 1 we're still here." Wood's got some swagger too.
On top of everything else, the Avs could have used some of that swagger against Seattle to boost their confidence, with so many things going against them. Could have made the difference in a close series.
