State of the Avalanche: 2024-25 Edition

The season is halfway complete!

With last night’s game against the Florida Panthers, the Colorado Avalanche are now halfway through the 2024-25 season: 41 games down, 41 games to go. And boy, it’s been a shaky, yet unique and intriguing first half of the season for the burgundy boys.

The Avalanche are right in the middle of the pack with a 25-15-1 record, sitting third in the Central Division with 51 points, all but even with the Dallas Stars. All things considered after starting the season 0-4-0, it’s miraculous the Avalanche are in this position.

The usual suspects have left their mark. Nathan MacKinnon has 65 points in 41 games, with 14 goals and 52 assists. Cale Makar again is leading the blue line with 49 points, tallying 13 goals and 36 assists. In a contract year, Mikko Rantanen is dominating with 24 goals and 34 assists for 57 points.

Below them, there have been some quietly solid players throughout the season. Casey Mittelstadt has been streaky but still has 26 points. Artturi Lehkonen has been in and out of the lineup only playing 29 games, but recording 14 goals and six assists. Ross Colton has been the same with 12 goals in 24 games, he once led the league in goals this season. Finally, the return of Valeri Nichushkin after his suspension was highly anticipated, and in 21 games he has 17 points.

However, while the usual players have left their impact, they’ve undergone various changes. Just in the first half of the season, Colorado has a new-look fourth line and two new goaltenders.

The first move came with the trade of Justus Annunen and a sixth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft for Scott Wedgewood on November 30. Then, they traded Alexandar Georgiev to the San Jose Sharks alongside Nikolai Kovalenko, in exchange for Mackenzie Blackwood and Givani Smith on December 9.

They also acquired Juuso Parssinen and a 2026 seventh-round pick from the Nashville Predators for prospect Ondrej Pavel and a 2027 third-round pick to complete the fourth line. While the bottom line hasn’t shown much, goaltending has.

With the two previous netminders, the Avalanche faltered in games and couldn’t outscore their problems. Now with the lumberyard intact, they have led the charge back up the standings and into contention in close games. It’s easy to say the Avalanche would’ve lost games they’ve won if Georgiev and Annunen were still the choice goaltenders.

The team has grown a better culture than at the start of the season, and the results have shown on the ice. Eventually, reinforcements are bound to come in – but the Avs have to find ways to stay healthy too. Only nine players have played all 41 games, and there have been nearly 40 different players to suit up this season.

Options on the blue line should be returning soon, with John Ludvig reconditioning with the AHL-affiliate Colorado Eagles. Oliver Kylington should return to on-ice activities soon in his recovery.

Ahead of them, Nichushkin is aiming for a return after a 7-10 day lower-body injury. Ivan Ivan, another young forward who broke into the core this season, has been week-to-week with an upper-body injury and is bound to be back eventually. Miles Wood has struggled with injury all season, and his month-to-month status means he’ll have to wait a bit longer.

For the third straight season, we’re also left wondering and checking in on the status of the dearly missed captain of the team, Gabriel Landeskog. While he had been skating privately according to DNVR’s Nick Gismondi last month, he’s now come into the public eye some more.

He’s starting to skate before games with the team in the morning, just giving them a little bit of a boost. Landeskog and the entire organization have been behind him, and are committed to getting him back on the ice – not a matter of if, but when – whether it’s 10 games from now or in the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting in mid-April.

Unfortunately for the captain, he’s still likely way out from completing his comeback. Furthermore, the challenges of fitting him in under the cap space make it that much more difficult with his $7 million contract. Hence, he may just have to wait until the postseason when the cap doesn’t matter.

All things considered, it’s a great spot to be in if you’re the Colorado Avalanche. At this point last season, they were 26-12-3. In 2022-23, they were 21-17-3. Finally, in their Cup-winning season of 2021-22, they were in the midst of a nine-game win streak and a record of 30-8-3.

The team is certainly far from the same as they were when they won the Stanley Cup. But wrecked with injury as they were in ‘22-23, Colorado is in a better spot today. It’s just a matter of putting it all together and hoping for the best to make another push towards the greatest trophy in sports.

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, the Avs have it tough. They have 21 road games and 20 home games, with four, five, and six-game homestands making it up. Between those 41 games, eight of them are back-to-backs. 30 of those games are against teams currently at or above .500.

Colorado has its work cut out for them. It’s certainly not the best position to be in halfway through the year, but it’s a whole lot better than it could’ve been. Here’s to the second half of the season and high hopes and expectations for the team going forward.