Has Colorado’s core underachieved?.

[RevengeOfTheDrai]

Colorado has been able to draft two franchise cornerstones, one being one of the best offensive players of the 21st century and the other being a generational defensemen. They also have solid impact players in Toews, Girard, Landeskog, a superstar in Rantanen(until this year), Nichushkin, and now Necas. You can’t call a cup a disappointment but you’d have hoped for more with this group of players.

Results since 2018:
2018: First round exit in 6(Preds)
2019: Second round in 7(Sharks)
2020: Second round in 7(Dallas)
2021: Second round in 6(Vegas)
2022: Cup
2023: First round to Seattle in 7
2024: Second round to Dallas in 6
2025: First round to Dallas in 7

Is one cup enough, or should they have achieved more? They should’ve beaten at least some of the teams that knocked them out, such as Seattle in 2023. One playoff run past the second round with Makar and MacKinnon seems underwhelming.

 

[Mr Nogatco]

Seems more like the GM's underachieved

Although given what happened with Nichushkin, yeah I guess that's underachieving. Who knows how those two years turn out otherwise?

 

[ManofSteel55]

They won a cup, so I have a hard time suggesting they have underachieved. Winning a cup is really, really hard. That is a lot of disappointing early exits though.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

Won a cup, that’s all that matters

 

[RevengeOfTheDrai]

Seems more like the GM's underachieved

The management wasn’t perfect, but the GM has tried to fix their problems, such as bringing in Blackwood and shipping Georgiev. Their GM also tried to fix their cap structure and traded Rantanen instead of losing him for nothing. Obviously now in hindsight we know that he cheaped out on Rantanen, but the moves were there. I can’t blame the GM for third period collapses, that’s on the players.

 

[AnimalMother73]

Feels like the same as their first core w/ Sakic, Roy and Foppa. They won 2 Cups but should have won at least one more. Avs prioritize an up tempo offensive style, always have. I don't think its as easy to win this way versus heavier defense first teams.

 

[Oilslick941611]

Won a cup, that’s all that matters

And fading.

They’ve had no success since that cup and have had the GM make a few self inflicted gunshots.

Sure a cup is a great and all that matters, but sustained success should be the goal because one day that cup you won is 30 years in the past and not relevant. So yes. They won a cup, congrats to them. But since then? Nothing but exits from the playoffs despite being heavily favoured from all the pundits and media.

 

[AnimalMother73]

The management wasn’t perfect, but the GM has tried to fix their problems, such as bringing in Blackwood and shipping Georgiev. Their GM also tried to fix their cap structure and traded Rantanen instead of losing him for nothing. Obviously now in hindsight we know that he cheaped out on Rantanen, but the moves were there. I can’t blame the GM for third period collapses, that’s on the players.

I can blame the GM on significant trade failures that necessitated the largest roster upheaval in a generation. There's something to be said for achieving good team chemistry which was made harder but the sheer number and impact of traded players.

 

[avsfan2189]

2018: first round exit in 6(Preds)
2019: Second round in 7(Sharks)
2020: Second round(Dallas)

These years shouldnt count towards any under-achievement label they were clearly building still as a bubble team in '18 & '19.

2020 was the start of high hopes but they had their 3rd string goalie play the remaining games of that dallas series I believe. Hard to win with the Michael Hutchinson as your starter.

2021 Vegas def stung, but no Kadri for that series due to a suspension in the first round
this was where you could make a case of cup expectations. they could have def beat vegas with Kadri and ultimately had a chance to take on Tampa for the cup.

Marchand and Bergeron and Boston by this logic has massively underachieved with their one cup in their career. If Mack and Makar go that same route ill agree but right now they are still in a position to take a crack at multiple cups. Sid didnt win again till almost 10 years after his first one.

 

[Devilsfan118]

Kind of shows you how truly challenging it is to win the cup, and how much has to go right in any given year.

 

[Oilslick941611]

The management wasn’t perfect, but the GM has tried to fix their problems, such as bringing in Blackwood and shipping Georgiev. Their GM also tried to fix their cap structure and traded Rantanen instead of losing him for nothing. Obviously now in hindsight we know that he cheaped out on Rantanen, but the moves were there. I can’t blame the GM for third period collapses, that’s on the players.

I’m not sure bringing in a goalie with no playoff experience and then signing him to a long term 5.2 mil contract is a positive thing. He was a no show in the last 3 games of that series. Killed any positive vibes from his shutout.

 

[Avs2022]

Feels like the same as their first core w/ Sakic, Roy and Foppa. They won 2 Cups but should have won at least one more. Avs prioritize an up tempo offensive style, always have. I don't think its as easy to win this way versus heavier defense first teams.

It's really hard to win a cup. Lots of things have to go right . Coaching, lack of injuries, puck luck, preferrred match up. The Av's teams of the late 1990's and early 2001 were 1 game away from the Cup finals 3 different times. That's not including the 2 years (1996 & 2001) when they did actually win the cup. I always though they underachieved for the teams they had during those years. But looking back now, I'll take the two cups. They did just fine.

 

[RevengeOfTheDrai]

I can blame the GM on significant trade failures that necessitated the largest roster upheaval in a generation. There's something to be said for achieving good team chemistry which was made harder but the sheer number and impact of traded players.

Maybe the large roster upheaval contributed to the horrid special teams. Colorado went 3-for-22 on the power play (13.6 percent) and 16-for-23 on the penalty kill (69.6 percent) in the series. The power play numbers don’t make sense, they have one of the best pp on paper, so perhaps it was the lack of chemistry or bad special teams coaching.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Winning a Cup is difficult. The Pens with prime Lemieux and Jagr on it only won 2, which is only one more than the Avs' core. Washington with Ovechkin has only won one, and have only gotten out of the 2nd round like one time in their entire run.

So I don't think any core that doesn't have 2+ Cups has underachieved. Never winning a Cup with a core capable of winning a Cup is the only time I'd consider it underachieving.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

2018: first round exit in 6(Preds)
2019: Second round in 7(Sharks)
2020: Second round(Dallas)

These years shouldnt count towards any under-achievement label they were clearly building still as a bubble team in '18 & '19.

2020 was the start of high hopes but they had their 3rd string goalie play the remaining games of that dallas series I believe. Hard to win with the Michael Hutchinson as your starter.

2021 Vegas def stung, but no Kadri for that series due to a suspension in the first round
this was where you could make a case of cup expectations. they could have def beat vegas with Kadri and ultimately had a chance to take on Tampa for the cup.

Marchand and Bergeron and Boston by this logic has massively underachieved with their one cup in their career. If Mack and Makar go that same route ill agree but right now they are still in a position to take a crack at multiple cups. Sid didnt win again till almost 10 years after his first one.

MacKinnon and Makar are legendary players, The Boston duo is nowhere close to them.

 

[Sky04]

Out of the 2nd round once

 

[avsfan2189]

MacKinnon and Makar are legendary players, The Boston duo is nowhere close to them.

surely you're not saying Bergeron isn't a legendary player. He's literally one of the greatest two way players of all time. Boston had a very competitive core for a lot years and went to the cup finals against TB and STL in the years to follow

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Winning a Cup is difficult. The Pens with prime Lemieux and Jagr on it only won 2, which is only one more than the Avs' core. Washington with Ovechkin has only won one, and have only gotten out of the 2nd round like one time in their entire run.

So I don't think any core that doesn't have 2+ Cups has underachieved. Never winning a Cup with a core capable of winning a Cup is the only time I'd consider it underachieving.

Lemieux and Jagr played 7 seasons together and won 2 cups and made 2 more conference finals as a small market team in a pre-cap era. Colorado has made it out of the second round just once so far.

Their coach has to go, you can't stick with a guy who can't figure out DeBoer when the Stars play in your division.

 

[CanadianHockey]

The playoff format means good teams in strong divisions will get knocked out early. The central has been a grind for a good chunk of these years and the Avs didn't always have reliable goaltending and lost Landeskog for the last couple seasons. I think I'd agree that 2021 and 2023, Colorado underperformed. In 2021 they had a 2-0 series lead and blew it. In 2023 they lost to a meh Kraken roster.

The other seasons, I find it hard to fault them. They were underdogs in 2018 & 2019 as the WC2 both years and earned one upset against the #1 seed Calgary. In 2020 they got unlucky as the #2 team drawing the #3 Stars in round two. 2024 and 2025 they lost to very talented Dallas teams that had better overall rosters, IMO.

 

[shadow1]

My $0.02, I only consider three of the seasons as abject failures:

• 2021: Completely fell apart against Vegas
• 2023: GM gave the reigning champs no chance to repeat
• 2025: No explanation needed

2018, they made the playoffs a year after losing 62 games in 2017. 2019, barely made the playoffs, upset Calgary and pushed SJ to the limit in Game 7. 2020, insane injury luck, pushed Dallas to Game 7 OT despite being down to 3rd goalie/Hutchinson in net. 2024, losing stunk but they were more of a darkhorse team.

All that being said, Colorado should have more than one series win in the last three seasons. It's unacceptable.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

surely you're not saying Bergeron isn't a legendary player. He's literally one of the greatest two way players of all time. Boston had a very competitive core for a lot years and went to the cup finals against TB and STL in the years to follow

We may have different definitions of legendary but no, I wouldn't. My view is that those are the guys who you turn on an old game years after they're retired and are like "holy shit, that's ____ on the ice." Like a top 50 talent of all time or so.

 

[NVious]

3 cups in 30 years, a cup in the last few.

I think they're fine.

 

[avsfan2189]

My $0.02, I only consider three of the seasons as abject failures:

• 2021: Completely fell apart against Vegas
• 2023: GM gave the reigning champs no chance to repeat
• 2025: No explanation needed

2018, they made the playoffs a year after losing 62 games in 2017. 2019, barely made the playoffs, upset Calgary and pushed SJ to the limit in Game 7. 2020, insane injury luck, pushed Dallas to Game 7 OT despite being down to 3rd goalie/Hutchinson in net. 2024, losing stunk but they were more of a darkhorse team.

All that being said, Colorado should have more than one series win in the last three seasons. It's unacceptable.

no kadri all series vs vegas though definitely hurt having JTC as the no.2

 

[RevengeOfTheDrai]

The playoff format means good teams in strong divisions will get knocked out early. The central has been a grind for a good chunk of these years and the Avs didn't always have reliable goaltending and lost Landeskog for the last couple seasons. I think I'd agree that 2021 and 2023, Colorado underperformed. In 2021 they had a 2-0 series lead and blew it. In 2023 they lost to a meh Kraken roster.

The other seasons, I find it hard to fault them. They were underdogs in 2018 & 2019 as the WC2 both years and earned one upset against the #1 seed Calgary. In 2020 they got unlucky as the #2 team drawing the #3 Stars in round two. 2024 and 2025 they lost to very talented Dallas teams that had better overall rosters, IMO.

Are we sure the Dallas rosters were better?. Maybe deeper for sure, but looking at the play the Avalanche had 57.3 percent of the 5-on-5 shot attempts in the series. At times, they tilted the ice, but didn't finish enough. Three times, the Avalanche led in the third period and lost. That sounds like coaching and a mental collapse to me. Dallas was missing Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen. Stars weren’t the favorites without their number one D.

 

[WarriorofTime]

People just gotta accept one Cup is probably going to be the norm with hard cap max 8-year contract lengths. Two is possible if you can get them in like a 3-year span. If you have superstars that win one really early because they are fortunate enough to wind in a situation with good depth then it's straightforward enough to re-tool around them for another some time later when they flip over the depth. It'll take a bit of a freakish run of great drafting all coming together at the same time.