Would the Avs rather slam their fingers in the window than hoist the Stanley Cup?
It would really hurt to waste a hockey club blessed with the generational talent of Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.
Here we are, far enough into the NHL season for anybody in this dusty old cowtown not unhealthily obsessed with the mediocre Broncos to see the Avs have as good a shot as any team in the league to win a championship this season.
Except for one troublesome thing, and it’s the same old irksome thing: Colorado still hasn’t found a solid way to replace center Nazem Kadri from the fire trucks that rode through Denver during that glorious victory parade in 2022.
There’s a nagging hole in this team’s championship dream at 2C.
Can the Avs solve this problem without making a trade? Nothing in a 4-2 loss to Winnipeg gave me much reason for optimism.
When the Avs took the ice on Thursday night, their second-line center was … Ross Colton?
Don’t get me wrong. Colton is a bundle of hustle and heart, good on the forecheck and in the room. But isn’t that pretty much the definition of a third-line center on a legit championship contender?
Not to suggest Avalanche coach Jared Bednar has lost confidence in Ryan Johansen, a righteous dude who Colorado got for 50 cents on the dollar in an offseason trade with Nashville. But I don’t think it was just my imagination running wild to think Bednar got a little testy when recently asked to explain why Colton has surpassed Johansen in ice time.
“I don’t have to (justify it). There’s nothing saying that Ryan Johansen needs more ice time than Ross Colton,” Bednar said. “If Ross Colton’s played well and doing the job that he’s doing, then he’s earning more ice.”
Bednar has done an admirable job guiding Colorado to the top of the Central Division in another year when the hockey gods have not exactly been kind to a team winning at a remarkable rate despite the absence of captain Gabe Landeskog, winger Artturi Lehkonen and defenseman Sam Girard.
But does Bednar have enough firepower at his disposal to compete with Las Vegas and Dallas when the playoffs roll around, if Colorado must depend on defenseman Makar to be the team’s de facto 2C behind MacKinnon?
Super Joe Sakic is the best thing to ever happen to hockey in Colorado, but now that he’s taken a step into the shadows, we still don’t know if general manager Chris MacFarland has what it takes to re-invent a championship roster.
Well, good Boy Scout that I am, let me offer a helping hand:
Go make a freakin’ deal!
Yes, there’s the very sticky issue of the Avalanche being stuck against the NHL salary cap with little room to breathe, much less wiggle.
But the genius of creative thinking and the guts to make hard choices were the trademarks of the late, great Pierre Lacroix, who stubbornly believed any year the Avs didn’t win the Cup was a failure.
MacFarland has the contacts around the league, so I’ll leave the grunt work to him. I’m just the idea guy, work-shopping the problem.
If I dare to dream big, let’s find the money and convince Minnesota it needs to rebuild and won’t regret trading 26-year-old Joel Eriksson, who has scored a dozen goals already this season, to a division rival. If that’s too much to ask, could Columbus be persuaded to part with 30-year-old Boone Jenner, who scored 26 goals last season in 68 games? Or is Jenner not a big enough upgrade on the talent Bednar can now send over the boards from the Avalanche bench?
As spectacular as Makar, MacKinnon and Rantanen can be, this core hasn’t achieved as much as Las Vegas. Dallas has a strong and younger core than Colorado.
With no clear-cut favorite to win this season’s championship, the Avs need to do whatever’s necessary right now to get their mitts back on the Cup.
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