Colorado Avalanche season snapshot awards

With the NHL pausing the 2019-20 regular season on March 12 due to the concerns surrounding the coronavirus, NHL.com is taking stock of each of the League's 31 teams.
Today, the award-worthy candidates for the Colorado Avalanche:

The Colorado Avalanche have overcome injuries to several key players and entered the pause two points behind the St. Louis Blues for first place in the Central Division.
To showcase some of the strong performances that have helped the Avalanche experience success, here are the top players in various categories:

MVP

Where would the Avalanche be without Nathan MacKinnon? With all the injuries they've had at forward, including Mikko Rantanen (28 games missed), Matt Calvert (20), Nazem Kadri (19), Gabriel Landeskog (16) and Andre Burakovsky (12), MacKinnon has had several linemates this season, yet he has set the tone for the fourth-ranked offense in the NHL (3.37 goals per game). MacKinnon is fifth in the League with 93 points (35 goals, 58 assists), 43 more than the next most by an Avalanche player, rookie defenseman Cale Makar, and 48 more than the next most by a forward (Burakovsky).

Rookie

Makar entered with high expectations after he had six points (one goal, five assists) in 10 Stanley Cup Playoff games last season, and the 21-year-old has lived up to the hype; he ranks second among NHL rookies with 50 points (12 goals, 38 assists) in 57 games. Recently playing on the top defense pair with Ryan Graves, Makar has consistently drawn tough assignments, but he has a plus-12 rating and leads Avalanche defensemen with a 52.3 shot attempts percentage (at least 10 games played).

Defenseman

In his first full NHL season, Graves has helped turn the Avalanche from a below-average team defensively (they ranked 16th in the NHL at 2.98 goals-against per game last season) to one of the best (they are sixth in the League at 2.71 goals allowed per game). Graves, who leads the NHL with a plus-40 rating, also leads Colorado in even-strength goal differential at plus-35 (72-37); the next highest by a defenseman is Ian Cole's plus-18. Graves is first in blocked shots with 150, and his 112 hits are second to Nikita Zadorov (175). And despite getting just 4:06 of power-play time all season, Graves has contributed offensively as well with 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 69 games.

Defensive forward

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare has been every bit the 200-foot player Colorado was expecting when it signed him to a two-year contract July 1, 2019. Bellemare leads the Avalanche with 53 takeaways, and his 46 blocked shots are second among their forwards behind J.T. Compher's 60. He also ranks fourth in shorthanded ice time per game (2:05) and is tied with Calvert for the lead with four shorthanded points (two goals, two assists).

Comeback player

Burakovsky may have been overshadowed in recent seasons with the Washington Capitals, but he has thrived in his first season since being traded to the Avalanche on June 28, 2019. He has gotten the opportunity to play in the top six with time on the power play. As a result, he reached NHL career highs in goals (20), assists (25), points (45) and power-play points (11) before sustaining an upper-body injury Feb. 28.