The best way to describe the Colorado Avalanche’s 22-23 season would be frustrating.  Everyone in and around the organization clearly expected this team to have a better run than a first-round playoff exit against the second year Seattle Kraken.  Fortunately for Joe Sakic, Chris MacFarland, and the front office team is that it is easy to point to the team’s lack of depth due to the massive amount of man games lost due to injury last season, and how that prevented the team from getting into a rhythm at any point in the season or in the postseason. Unfortunately, the team appears to be without Captain Gabriel Landeskog for the second consecutive season due to a debilitating knee injury. However, the team did make a plethora of moves to fill their holes that led to their demise last season. 

The most notable transaction McFarland made this off-season was what was effectively a three-team trade with Montreal and Tampa Bay. This deal sent Alex Newhook to Montreal for a first and second round draft pick, the second pick having been flipped to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Ross Colton. Analyzing this trade, the immediate impact on Colorado’s roster is that they traded Newhook, who in the model (hockeyprospecting), offensively, could be similar to Anthony Mantha at his ceiling, and is otherwise a great defensive player. They got Ross Colton in return, who has a lower offensive ceiling, trending to be closer to Teddy Blueger and Warren Foegele offensively, but is also a defensive stalwart. In terms of roster impact, this trade will not make a big difference, but the draft pick received could have a long-term positive impact. Aside from this trade, Colorado adjusted their roster to change their depth pieces. They decided to not re-sign Evan Rodrigues, Erik Johnson, and Lars Eller, effectively releasing three declining defensive players with little offensive impact. On the other side they acquired Ryan Johansen, Miles Wood, and Jonathan Drouin. Johansen will be a solid two-way, middle-six Center for the Avalanche, but his best offensive years seem to be behind him, as he has become more of an average producer than the star he was in the late 2010’s. Miles Wood, similarly to Ross Colton, adds bottom-six, two-way value, but offensively is not much more than a replacement level producer. Finally, Jonathan Drouin is the most intriguing acquisition of the off-season. During his tenure in Montreal, Drouin has been an average level top-six producer, but there is a chance that Jared Bednar will be able to do with Drouin what he did with Valeri Nichushkin to develop him into a star-level producer. Potentially playing with any combination of MacKinnon, Nichushkin, Johansen, or Rantanen would give Drouin the most talented linemates he has been deployed with since his age 21 season in Tampa Bay. The Avalanche also opted to not extend middle-six center J.T. Compher following a career high season on offense. Compher posted 52 pts this past year while having a decent defensive impact, but at 28 years old, it makes sense for Colorado to look to Colton, and Ben Myers to replace his two-way productivity. On to the draft.

Colorado only had five selections; however, they did a great job adding value with limited selections. With their two first round selections Colorado selected Calum Ritchie and Mikhail Gulyayev. The Ritchie selection feels like the acquisitions of Newhook and Shane Bowers in recent years, as Ritchie’s closest offensive comps coming out of juniors are Max Jones and Vladislav Namestnikov. If he continues to develop like these players, Ritchie could be a long-term bottom-six option for the Avalanche. The Gulyayev selection may end up being the highest value late-first round pick of the draft based on how incredible his offensive output has been in Russia. In the MHL season, he was a point-per-game plus producer from the blue line, and saw meaningful KHL ice time as an 18-year-old player. The only players in the last four decades with similar performances and trajectories in their age 18 season were Michael Del Zotto and Scott Niedermeyer. In addition to these two picks, Maros Jedlicka is a very interesting prospect. As a two-year overager, Jedlicka put up 17 goals and 39 points in 35 games in the Slovak men’s league, indicating that he is one of the better European scoring prospects in this draft (In terms of PPG). Obviously, teams were not chomping at the bit for a 20-year-old prospect, but at six-foot-two and 200lbs, Jedlicka could come over in the next couple years, and have a significant impact in Colorado’s bottom six. That is not too shabby for a 7th round draft pick. This situation is similar to Anaheim’s selection of Ondrej Kase a decade ago.

Overall, the Colorado Avalanche had a strong off-season plugging holes and adding depth to their roster, while also hoping they do not face the same injury troubles from last season. I am going to give the Avalanche front office a B+ for this off-season. I like all of the moves that they made, but Colorado still has not replaced Nazem Kadri’s offensive productivity, and until they can find a player with that level of output, I am hard pressed to believe that they will win another Stanley Cup. Having said that, sometimes an unexpected player will rise to the occasion, as Vegas just won a Stanley Cup with Chandler Stevenson having a star year as their 2C, so anything is possible.