Kiz: Load up the van, let’s take the Avs to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard and tell them: Good job, boys. Go get ’em next year. Sorry, my friend. A champion deserves more respect than a condescending pat on the head. As defenseman Erik Johnson said after the Game 7 loss on home ice to Seattle, there are no participation ribbons in the NHL playoffs. So where does the blame begin for getting bounced from the first round? Go ahead and list the bad injury luck, but it’s hard for me to blame the cruel hockey gods for the disappearance of Valeri Nichushkin.
Durando: Are we allowed to blame the salary cap for starters? There’s a reason only two teams have repeated as champions in the NHL’s cap era. The NHL is unsympathetic toward teams with sights set on a dynasty. Think about Tampa, which did pull off the elusive back-to-back. So close to a three-peat only to get slapped around by the Avalanche in a Cup Final then bounced in the first round this year. I don’t know about you Kiz, but I’m of the strong opinion that three rings are required to earn the boy scout dynasty badge. The Avs still have the core to be Pittsburgh-esque and contend for years, but I think the front office learned this season how delicate the balance is between win-now and win-soon.
Kiz: In the past three seasons, the Hall of Fame core of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen has been embarrassed in the playoffs by Las Vegas, won the Stanley Cup and been humbled by Seattle. OK, the shine of that Cup is forever, but the achievement of the Big Three has been wildly inconsistent. What does that tell me? MacKinnon, Makar and Rantanen are awesome, but they aren’t enough to guarantee championship contention. The big guys need to get some reinforcements before the puck drops again.
Durando: MacKinnon was out of control in that series, eh? But this isn’t the NBA. One dude can’t drop 50 and save the day every time. The two recent expansion teams to discover near-immediate playoff success did so with depth. Seattle’s bottom-six forwards smoked Colorado’s all series, using Vegas’ rookie year template. Again, cap casualties make life hard for a winner. Joe Sakic and Chris MacFarland have proven they can find undervalued depth pieces to improve Colorado on the margins, but to stay at a Cup level, they’ll need to excel at that year after year.
Kiz: It wasn’t a mistake to let Nazem Kadri walk in free agency. It was an error not to replace him. Find a way to trade for Ryan O’Reilly at the deadline? The Avs are moving on to Round 2. So my blame for this playoff flameout starts with miscalculations by the front office. But I think a finger also needs to be pointed at Jared Bednar and the coaching staff. Did Alex Newhook or Logan O’Connor improve in any real meaningful way this season? When so much of your salary cap is eaten by superstar talent, the development of young talent is essential to staying in the championship hunt.
Durando: Moving on to Round 2 but maybe not much further, and at the cost of even more draft capital. O’Reilly was not cheap for the Leafs and their desperate GM. That said, the Avs need to productively use the assets they saved this season by drafting and developing in a meaningful way. Mid-to-late first-round picks haven’t panned out well for this organization, though Newhook has a chance to be an exception if his game matures and simplifies with age. That’s Bednar’s task. Sounds counterintuitive, but being conservative with picks and prospects was a roll of the dice. Didn’t pay off this spring. Maybe it will in two or three years.
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