The Playoffs Should Suspect an Avalanche

By Brendan Jordan

The beginning of the 2015-16 NHL season didn’t go exactly the way Avalanche coach Patrick Roy had intended.

The team started off their first 10 games with a record of 3-6-1. After coming off of a playoff season in the 2013-14 season, expectations were high for the Avalanche for the next season. A big key to the Av’s success was their goaltender, Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov practically carried the team to the playoffs, stopping a whopping 2,013 pucks from entering the back of the net, which earned him a Vezina trophy nomination for Best Goaltender of the Season. What a coincidence that he made 2,013 saves in the 2013 season.

Before this current season, the Avalanche gained themselves 90 points in their 2014-15 season, but that wasn’t enough to make the playoffs. The central division is considered the best division in the NHL, featuring teams such as the Chicago Blackhawks, who have won three Stanley Cups in the last six years, the St. Louis Blues, who have always been an NHL powerhouse in the regular season but never live up to standards and win the Stanley Cup, and last, but certainly not least, the Nashville Predators, who have really proven themselves in recent years to be a feared and talented team.

Although the Avalanche are shown to play well against better teams in the NHL, it wasn’t enough to earn them a playoff position in the 2014-15 season.

The main focus here is how they play this season. The Avs made some roster moves over the offseason to really improve their defensive core. During the first round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, the Avalanche traded away forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Jamie McGinn to the Buffalo Sabres for forwards Mikhail Grigorenko and J.T. Compher, defenseman Nikita Zadorov, and a second round draft pick. Ryan O’Reilly had been causing the Avs some problems in the most recent years with his contract negotiations. O’Reilly was asking the Avs for a multi million dollar contract extension that the Avalanche just simply couldn’t accept. The additions to Zadorov and Grigorenko were just the additions that the Avalanche needed. Adding power to their defensive core was the main concern for the Avs for many years. Everything but the defense could meet up to standards. Adding big 6’5”, 220 pound Zadorov to the roster was something the Avs needed to do a long time ago.

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Other than the O’Reilly trade, the Avs picked up some other players without having to give up a lot. Jack Skille came to the Avalanche on a Professional Tryout (PTO). Jack cracked the roster and earned himself a starting roster spot following training camp. They also scored themselves defenseman Francois Beauchemin. “Big Beauch,” as fans call him, signed with the Avalanche for three years in a contract worth $13.5 million. In the previous season, he had the most amount of ice time with the Anaheim Ducks, who made it to the Conference Finals. Beauchemin adds gritty toughness to the Avalanche and is leading the team and the NHL in blocked shots this season.

The Avs also landed themselves a few more forwards, such as Blake Comeau, Chris Wagner, Andreas Martinsen, and Carl Soderberg. Recently, the Avalanche also grabbed themselves defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk off of waivers. Bodnarchuk has only played a few games with the Avs, but has proven himself to coach Roy to keep him up in the NHL with the team.

Taking a look at how this season is going compared to last year, the Avalanche are looking like a team that is capable of withstanding the regular season and earning themselves a playoff spot. As of right now, the Avs are fighting with two teams for the Central Division wild card spot. These two teams feature the Nashville Predators and our hated rival The Minnesota Wild. As of today, (Jan. 21) the Avalanche are just one point away from the top wild card spot in the division. Minnesota has lost their last five games, giving the Avs a huge advantage. Going back to the previous statement, confidence in the Avalanche and their playoff battles have risen, and more people are starting to believe that they will make it . If they continue to play hard against Divisional and Conference teams, they will earn the playoff spot.