From Stanley Cup winners to first round exits, the defending champs fall short in Game 7 to the league's newest team, the Seattle Kraken. In my first round previews, I had the Kraken as my one big upset and sure enough, they managed to take down the Avalanche and move on to round two. A pair of goals from Oliver Bjorkstrand, who was one of the few members of this Kraken team to not contribute offensively up to that point, was enough to hold the Avalanche off as the Kraken will ride high into round two after winning Game 7 by the score of 2-1. The Kraken surprised many all season long as they found themselves in a playoff spot early in the season and held onto it right up until game 82 of 82. The Avalanche dealt with a lot of adversity throughout the season that now have them facing all the big questions that come with a first round exit. Before we get to that, let’s run through the highs, lows and in-betweens and look at how to assess the year as a whole in Colorado.
The game changing moment in this series definitely came from Jordan Eberle’s overtime game winner in Game 4 that evened up the series at two wins a piece. That was to quickly be followed by the low moment where they went down to the Kraken 3-2. At that point, the Avalanche faced elimination but wouldn’t go down without a fight as their high moment came in their 4-1 win that forced Game 7. However that high wouldn’t come without a big low that wouldn’t fully come to fruition until after the game. Late in the second period of Game 6, Seattle forward Jordan Eberle laid a questionable hit on veteran Andrew Cogliano. Eberle would be assessed a minor boarding penalty and despite how bad it looked, Cogliano would return to finish the game as we wouldn’t know the severity of the hit until the days that followed.
In what became a big storyline of the series, it turned out Andrew Cogliano was playing through a literal broken neck as a result of the Eberle hit. As expected, controversy came with the hit. No hearing or suspension would come from the play as it was only a minor but that’s not to say that’s a good clean hit by any means. It’s important to note that Eberle’s not the kind of player that goes around throwing cheap shots, he’s about as good as a guy as they come in the game. Cogliano was caught mid-transition in a very awkward, vulnerable position which led to an incredibly, unfortunate situation. Especially for a guy like Cogliano who rarely ever gets hurt and up until an iffy suspension decision, never missed a game in the National Hockey League. I’m not here to say whether or not the officials made the right call, it’s an extremely difficult decision to make, especially in a Game 6. Hopefully Cogliano is okay and I’m sure Jordan Eberle will be extra cautious in those kinds of situations moving forward.
Unfortunately for the Avalanche, they were no strangers to dealing with injuries as they did not have an easy year on that front by any means. Not just in the playoffs, but throughout the entire season the Avalanche spent extended periods of time without their top players. Captain Gabriel Landeskog didn’t play at all this season, Nathan MacKinnon, Arrturi Lehkonen, Josh Manson all missed well over a month of hockey at different times, Samuel Girard and Bowen Byram missed weeks, Valeri Nichushkin dealt with injuries all season long and then left the team in the middle of playoffs due to an “alcohol related incident.” This team really never had a full calibur lineup at all this season. This obviously played a huge role in them not being able to make it out of the first round but credit should still be given to Seattle for how they played.
The question becomes now what as the Avalanche have a lot of decisions to make headed into the off-season. You still have MacKinnon, Makar, Rantanen and hopefully Landeskog will be ready to go come opening night next season. One of the biggest questions as of right now is what’s going on with Valeri Nichushkin? There weren’t a ton of details that came out about what happened specific to him in the situation. Reports show that 911 received a call in regards to a Ukraine born woman from Russia who appeared to be in distress on the night of Game 3 in Seattle. Team representatives found the woman in Nichushkin’s room when they went to go check on Valeri and when the team’s medical doctor assessed the woman, a call was made to 911 as it was believed she was too intoxicated to leave on her own. From what I’ve gathered, there weren’t any direct reports about Nichushkin’s connection to this situation. It doesn’t seem that there was anything criminal going on and Nichushkin’s absence was noted by Jared Bednar to not be for disciplinary or legal reasons.
Obviously whatever happened that night of Game 3 is a pretty sensitive situation. You have to hope that both the woman and Valeri are both okay and dealing with whatever’s going on in a healthy, productive way but as of right now, Nichushkin’s status is in a bit of a question which will undoubtedly be something to keep an eye on moving forward. This is a guy the Avalanche just signed to a massive eight-year extension that helped them win a Cup last season so hopefully he’ll have everything sorted out and be ready to go for next season. Outside of those “core four” forwards plus Lehkonen, the Avalanche do not currently have any forwards under contract for next season. The majority of their roster consisted of veterans on expiring deals such as Lars Eller, Darren Helm, Andrew Cogliano, Erik Johnson, Jack Johnsonn, Matt Nieto, Evan Rodrigues and JT Compher. Of all these names, Compher makes the most sense to keep around but at the same time, Compher could certainly earn himself a nice paycheck if he hits the open market.
As of right now, Colorado has a lot of holes to fill. Even if we assume that Landeskog and Nichuskin will be back and ready to go at the start of next season, they barely have two full lines of established NHL forwards with how many are pending free agents and have plenty of work to do in that regard internally. Bowen Byram, Alex Newhook and Denis Malgin are among their notable restricted free agents in need of extensions. The Avalanche will have the cap room to take care of that but how much will remain for them to spend in free agency is certainly their biggest question mark. They have guys in house that are worth consideration for promotions but you have to think they still have some voids in their lineup, especially down the middle. Defensively, they’re pretty set with who they have but they really haven’t been able to replace what Nazem Kadri brought to this team.
Their biggest need in the off-season is definitely going to be centers as well as filling out their forward lines. If everyone comes back with a clean bill of health and they bring in the right guys, they shouldn’t have a problem being a threat in the West, especially if they can stay healthy. You have to think the Avalanche definitely underachieved this season but again, just look at their injury reports throughout the season, it’s hard to consider the year a failure when you understand the amount of adversity they had to overcome. It’s also worth noting how difficult it is to repeat, the fact that they are still within a year of winning a championship gives them a bit of leeway. However as I mentioned with Tampa, winning isn’t an excuse to grow complacent. It’ll be a busy off-season for Chris McFarland and the management group in Colorado to get this group rejuvenated and ready to get back after it next season.
Chris Feldman
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