Avalanche’s Next Steps After Western Conference Final Sweep – The Hockey Writers – Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche, in 2022, completed the mission every organization sets out to do at the beginning of a season: win a Stanley Cup. However, since then, they haven’t found their way back to the Stanley Cup Final, as the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers have both claimed the Western Conference twice, respectively.

The Avalanche were swept by the Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. Cale Makar was sidelined for the first and second games due to an upper-body injury. Nathan MacKinnon didn’t miss a game, but he was very clearly playing through something, as well. However, Vegas’ captain Mark Stone also missed the first two games of the series. Plus, it’s the playoffs — everyone is going to be playing through something — it’s normal. 

After winning the Presidents’ Trophy while having one of the most dominant regular seasons, and still falling a whopping eight wins away from the Stanley Cup, how far are the Avalanche really away from the Cup in the near future, and where do they go from here? 

Fingers Start Point to Jared Bednar 

After the loss to Vegas on Tuesday, a few fingers immediately pointed towards head coach Jared Bednar and whether or not he should have a job next season. Bednar, who coached the team to its Stanley Cup four years ago and has brought the team a lot of success, has been coaching the team for the last decade, making him the second-longest tenured coach in the NHL. The first decision should be whether or not he should be brought back.

The 54-year-old is one of the best coaches in the league, and most importantly, one of the most respected ones. In the press conference after the Golden Knights completed the four-game sweep over the Avalanche, the coach of Vegas, John Tortorella, told everyone to get off of Bednar’s back. 

It’d be the wrong move to get rid of Bednar, at least over this off-season. As the window to win gets more dire, and the Final hasn’t been reached, you go back to the drawing board and start asking some questions.

Bednar just led the team back to the Western Conference Final for the first time in four seasons; that’s improvement. The thing is, there’s such a thing as coaches overstaying their welcome; players just start to get sick of their coaches, or the other way around. If that starts to happen, whether now or later, changes need to be made.

Looking Into the Future With the Core

It’s not too early to start asking questions about the Avalanche’s main core, especially with the contracts coming to an end and the fact that no one is getting any younger. The leaders of this franchise are clear: MacKinnon and Makar. Colorado might find itself in an interesting spot, though, when it comes to re-signing Makar.

Will they get it done? Most likely. But depending on how crazy they get with the cap space and if Makar is satisfied with the current situation the team is in (he’ll be an unrestricted free agent and can do whatever he wants), there’s a chance for a negotiation struggle. Makar will be turning 29 by the time his next contract kicks in. MacKinnon is signed through the 2030-31 season.

Martin Necas is locked up, making $11.5 million per season until 2034. Devon Toews, Makar’s defensive partner, is signed to 2031, cashing in $7.25 million per season. The captain, Gabriel Landeskog, is on the books until 2030. Nazem Kadri, Sam Malinski, and Valeri Nichuskin are all signed for the next three seasons. The problem, however, is that the core is aging or already past its prime.

MacKinnon is 30, Kadri is 35, Toews is 32, and Brock Nelson, who was acquired at last year’s trade deadline, is 34. After a sweep, how many more years do they have to give, and how do the Avalanche decide when the right time to offload them is (except MacKinnon) and gain some future assets? Right now, it’s looking like next season might be the last run with this core all together.

Lastly, goaltending isn’t the biggest issue. The defense chased around the forwards too much, got out of place and tired, and left the goalie out to dry; Scott Wedgewood wasn’t the malfunction, he’ll be fine next season after he’s re-signed. 

The Avalanche are going to struggle to make any additions because they have no draft capital. Luckily, they have some cap space to work with over the next couple of years. The best thing they could do is to see what magic they can do over the summer, keep this current core and run it back the same way it was, possibly for the last time. Was this just a Presidents’ Trophy curse, or has their time passed? At the end of next season, we will know.