Avalanche need new formula in bid to repeat as Stanley Cup champions
Colorado missing forwards Landeskog, Nichushkin after losing Burakovsky, Kadri in offseason
Forward Andre Burakovsky and center Nazem Kadri left as unrestricted free agents in the offseason. Captain Gabriel Landeskog missed the regular season and is out for the Stanley Cup Playoffs due to a knee injury.
And now forward Valeri Nichushkin is out indefinitely for personal reasons.
Nichushkin did not play in the Avalanche's 6-4 win against the Seattle Kraken in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday and apparently won't be available for Game 4 here Monday (10 p.m. ET; TBS, SN360, TVAS, ROOT-NW, ALT).
Meanwhile, forward Andrew Cogliano returned in Game 3 after missing the first two games with an upper-body injury, while forward Darren Helm didn't play after returning from a lower-body injury in Game 2.
Colorado leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. But to win four rounds, it's probably going to require more offense from the top players, tighter team defense and excellent goaltending from Alexandar Georgiev. Anticipating the departure of starter Darcy Kuemper in free agency, the Avalanche acquired Georgiev from the New York Rangers on July 7, another change.
"That's the reality of our team this year," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said Sunday. "It's not the same team. Like, last year, we were really deep at forward all year long, and then when we added Cogliano and forwards Artturi Lehkonen and Nico Sturm ahead of the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline], we became super deep.
"We had really good players sitting out every night at the forward position. And we haven't had that luxury this year."
[RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Kraken series coverage]
The Avalanche scored 4.25 goals per game in the playoffs last season, best in the NHL.
Defenseman Cale Makar led them with 29 points (eight goals, 21 assists) in 20 games, and he won the Conn Smythe Trophy, voted as the playoffs' most valuable player.
Forward Mikko Rantanen followed with 25 points (five goals, 20 assists) in 20 games. Nathan MacKinnon was next with 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) in 20 games.
After that came Landeskog with 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in 20 games, Nichushkin with 15 points (nine goals, six assists) in 20 games and Kadri with 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in 16 games.
Burakovsky chipped in eight points (three goals, five assists) in 12 games.
That's a big chunk of offense.
After scoring 3.76 goals per game in the 2021-22 regular season, fourth in the NHL, the Avalanche scored 3.34 goals per game in the 2022-23 regular season, 11th in the League.
They scored fewer goals even though MacKinnon and Rantanen scored more. MacKinnon set NHL career highs in goals (42), assists (69) and points (111). Rantanen set NHL career highs in goals (55) and points (105).
Makar had 66 points (17 goals, 49 assists) in 60 games, limited by injuries.
Colorado replaced some forward depth by signing Evan Rodrigues on Sept. 12 and acquiring Denis Malgin from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 19. Rodrigues had 39 points (16 goals, 23 assists) in 69 games. Malgin had 17 points (11 goals, six assists) in 42 games for the Avalanche after the trade.
"Some of the guys that we've picked up have been really good," Bednar said. "Like, obviously, Rodrigues fills some of that void. Malgin's chipped in. [Alex] Newhook's taken a step. It's just a different group. You have success, and players are going to move on to different situations, and it's the reality of the salary cap era. You do your best to fill in around it.
"There's some ups and downs to that, but I think our team -- [president of hockey operations Joe Sakic, general manager Chris MacFarland] and their staff -- did a nice job of filling in some of those pieces. But it's not the same high-powered offensive forward group that it was last year. So, I would say, yeah, we have to rely on our top guys even more."
The top guys came through Saturday. Rantanen had two goals and an assist, MacKinnon scored two goals, and Makar had a goal and an assist. J.T. Compher, who was fourth on the Avalanche with 52 points (17 goals, 35 assists) in the regular season, also scored.
But you can see the concern about depth. After MacKinnon fed Rantanen for the Avalanche's lone goal in a 3-1 loss in Game 1, Bednar split them for Game 2, keeping MacKinnon on the first line and putting Rantanen on the second line for more balance. Lehkonen, Nichushkin and defenseman Devon Toews scored in a 3-2 win.
It has been only three games, but the Avalanche have averaged 3.33 goals per game in the playoffs, tied for seventh in the NHL.
Rantanen (three goals, one assist), Toews (one goal, three assists) and Lehkonen (one goal, three assists) each have four points.
MacKinnon (two goals, one assist), Makar (one goal, two assists) and defenseman Bowen Byram (three assists) are next with three points each.
How much of the load can Colorado's top players carry? How much can the supporting cast contribute?
And how much can the defense and goaltending make up for any offensive shortfall?
Can the Avalanche repeat with a different formula?
