End of the Avalanche?

[BKarchitect]

You can't write off any team with Mack and Makar on it.

But I literally didn't notice Rantanen once this playoffs. Like does the guy not give a shit?

He definitely wasn’t his dominant best. Still had 14 points in 11 games.

People will look for scapegoats but I’ll give Moose a bit of a pass for this off-season when his overall playoff record is 81 games, 34 goals and 101 points. It’s a pretty spotless playoff record.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

He definitely wasn’t his dominant best. Still had 14 points in 11 games.

People will look for scapegoats but I’ll give Moose a bit of a pass for this off-season when his overall playoff record is 81 games, 34 goals and 101 points. It’s a pretty spotless playoff record.

Yeah i just noticed that. Good production but look who he's playing with. But I usually only watch Western playoff games during crunch time or elimination games and he was pretty mediocre. Barely heard his name.

 

[mr figgles]

You can't write off any team with Mack and Makar on it.

But I literally didn't notice Rantanen once this playoffs. Like does the guy not give a shit?

Same amount of goals and assists as Mack, but more hits, less giveaways, and significantly better on faceoffs. Who doesn‘t give a shit?

 

[BKarchitect]

Yeah i just noticed that. Good production but look who he's playing with. But I usually only watch Western playoff games during crunch time or elimination games and he was pretty mediocre. Barely heard his name.

Nope fair observation. 2 goals and a -7 is a bad series by anybody’s standard, let alone a superstar like Moose.

Same amount of goals and assists as Mack, but more hits, less giveaways, and significantly better on faceoffs. Who doesn‘t give a shit?

I mean, Moose had one of the poorest post-season series of his career against the Stars, he’s not wrong about him not being locked in. Dallas really neutered the big guns and MacK and Mikko were both looking fatigued on a short-handed team. That Dallas depth really was impressive.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

I'm not shitting on Rantanen I respect his game. I was just expecting more out of him these last few games. Really disappointed Colorado didnt push it to 7. The West was a minefield though. Good luck next year guys.

 

[robertmac43]

What? Makar & Mackinnon are in their prime. As long as thats the case this team is full steam ahead.

 

[dalewood12]

They have probably 2 of the 3 best players in the NHL. A slight retooling and they will be contenders next year.

 

[bleedgreen]

Seems like they could reshuffle pretty quick and the key players would still have enough to be who they are. Rantanen didn’t “show up….yet had 11 goals and he’s only 27.

They don’t have the depth from when they won. Period. They made some good deadline moves and if they can keep doing that they’ll be fine. They need to replace Landy and figure out Nichuskin.

 

[Gravity]

This whole talk about cup windows being some kind of linear thing is absolute dog shit. As long as the Avs can build around prime MacKinnon and Makar, they have a shot. There's some work to be done, but let's not act like it's over. Is it over for Vegas? They also lost against this very good Stars team.

That's exactly why cup windows are linear...because time is linear.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

Overreaction Saturday. The Avs will be fine. They just got beat by the better team.

 

[57special]

They've got the big stars, but their GM and coach have to put a team around them. There is no doubt that whole Nichushkin thing was a gut punch, at precisely the wrong time.

 

[landstuhltaylor]

2022 was the only year they stayed somewhat healthy throughout the run. O'Connor was an underrated loss this year, and they really need at minimum one of Landeskog or Nichushkin present in the top 6 to add some real jam. Parise on the second line really killed the ability to run at least 2 scoring lines and open the games up.

Winning the cup is going to be harder than it was in 2022. But if CMac can pull off a lopsided move or two and get some clarity in the top 6 they have a few more years of being threats. If they can somehow sell their souls again and stay mostly healthy again they can make another deep run.

 

[Mrfenn92]

Not the end

 

[BLONG7]

This whole talk about cup windows being some kind of linear thing is absolute dog shit. As long as the Avs can build around prime MacKinnon and Makar, they have a shot. There's some work to be done, but let's not act like it's over. Is it over for Vegas? They also lost against this very good Stars team.

Avs fix the goaltending, and there ya go...................there is some work for Sakic, but come on way too soon to say they are going going, gone...

 

[DitchMarner]

Why do some people get so dramatic following some eliminations?

It's hard to win the Stanley Cup in a 32-team League and very hard to win it more than once. Even many of the best teams are eliminated yearly.

I can understand poking fun at a team that has never won with its core or come close (like TOR), but COL won just two years ago and had a decent playoff showing this year. They have a strong core that has proven capable of winning and may win again. This year they ran into a better team.

 

[LOFIN]

Avs fix the goaltending, and there ya go...................there is some work for Sakic, but come on way too soon to say they are going going, gone...

Georgiev wasnt a problem

 

[Hasbro]

Was it the end for Chicago, when after winning the Cup in 2010, they had consecutive first round losses in 2011 and 2012?
Was it the end for Pitsburgh, when they made it past the second round only once in the six seasons after their 2009 win, including a rather decisive beat-down by the Rangers in 2015?

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!

 

[Hasbro]

Why do some people get so dramatic following some eliminations?

They are false idols! Cast them aside!

 

[PainForShane]

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!

this post... is too good. lmao

 

[Mickey Marner]

Nah, they just need to retool. Between Landeskog and Nichushkin they have 13 million in dead cap that they weren’t anticipating. Still plenty of valuable pieces to pivot with.

 

[leafsfan5]

Sometimes you just lose to a good team

Avs need to re-tool slightly but they're still in a good spot

 

[Voight]

MackInnon is 30 next year (and just had a career year), Makar will be 26 in the fall.

They'll be fine.

 

[StreetHawk]

Just saw that Nichushkin is signed for 8 years. Holy shit. What happens if he doesn't come back? His contract is terminated?

All of that lies in the CBA or possibly mediation if Nuke can't stay clean.

Avs have 2 massive question marks for their cap situation for both Landy and Nuke. Both have a lot of term left. Landy has missed 2 seasons due to injury. Have to be realisitc in that he's not likely to return to the form he had before he went down. So, if he's pain free this fall but his production is down, that is going to hurt their chances of PO success. If he can't return physically, then he'll end his career on LTIR. But, they should know one way or another this fall.

As for Nuke, who knows. At this point, not sure they can count on him. So, they may not know whether they have his cap space to spend or whether they need to account for it since he's likely to return at some point in the season. LTIR is only good if the player is done for the season. If the player is out 40 games, you need to have the cap room to bring the player off LTIR otherwise, you can't activate the player.

Free agency begins in like 7 weeks. Will the Avs know how much they can spend by then? Landy, probably have some idea, but won't really know til closer to camp when everything ramps up. Nuke, he'd only be like 8 weeks into stage 4.

 

[Kranix]

They're fine. Makar is young. Mack and Rant are still under 30. Half of their forward group this post-season was fringe-NHL garbage, however, so fill holes next year and be smarter about it, don't fall for the name value of a 47 year old Zach Parise. Also, graduate Colton to a larger role, for god sakes.

 

[AvStock]

The window is wide open with some retooling since MacKinnon will be 29 and Makar 26 next season. But their playoff failures the last 2 seasons have really shown how much their depth has been depleted since winning the cup. Some retooled depth, starting with a viable 2C, would make them contenders again. Kadri leaving left the biggest void and the Johansen gamble didn't work out,

I do find it strange how while we looked at the Avs as having a shot at a dynasty at the time they won the 2022 cup, in hindsight they might've won it just in the nick of time.

They won cause they had a stacked roster, Point was out, Tampa was tired from 2 cup wins, and the west was an easy path. Look at this year, we finally face competition with Dallas and fold. Bednar sucks