Jordan Freeman
The Colorado Avalanche finished last season with a tanking record of 22-56-4, good enough for 48 points, last place in the league. The Avalanche are a team that has struggled for quite some time. Their only cup came in 1996 where they swept the Florida Panthers.
Since then, things have not been well for the club. Colorado has been known as one of the leagues bottom feeders for quite some time, but things may be starting to get better.
This season has been an odd one for certain so far. Teams like: New Jersey, Las Vegas, and Toronto (who has improved much these last two years), hold spots in the top ten. Colorado was up there with them only days ago. Right now, they sit in 13th place at 4-3-0. 8 points out of a possible 14 (not bad).
Ave’s fans were given a somewhat optimistic offseason. The club lost goalie Calvin Pickard in the expansion draft, but picked up free agent Nail Yakupov, who has 3 goals and 2 assists so far, has helped needed. Of course, the biggest talking point in the offseason, was the fate of Matt Duchene. Will he get traded? What will happen to him? Etc.
Well, he wasn’t going anywhere. He said he was going to focus on playing and not trade rumors, and that’s what he’s been doing. Duchene has 3 goals and 3 assists in 7 games, nearly a point per game. If his goal was to get traded, he was helping his case immensely. However, with the success of his team, that may change. As of now, the Avalanche are still above a .500 record. Their fast start has given them a big boost to morale.
Can they stay at the top? Or will they slide back to the basement and join Arizona (the only team yet to record a win this season)? It doesn’t seem likely, at least, not yet. There is still a lot of hockey to be played this year and anything can happen. We have seen plenty of teams stay above, or fall below expectations so far. Colorado is above.
If they’re going to stay in the early hunt, they need to keep the momentum going. They are on a downward slide right now, and their next chance to change their fortune comes against the Blues on Thursday. St. Louis is fresh off a 5-2 win over Chicago. Now, they head to Denver to take on the Avalanche as visitors.
The Blues need to realize they are not going to get an easy game out of Colorado. For Colorado, they need to play hungry, play desperate. Being in the Central division, each point may very well count when it comes to deciding what side of the playoff line you are on. The Central is stacked, like usual, so the Avalanche need to pounce on every opportunity to walk away from a game with two points.