Welcome back, hockey! And I don’t mean that weird exhibition game against Minnesota that was like snacking on kettle chips while waiting for Thanksgiving dinner to finally hit the table. This was the real thing. Hockey that meant something, that actually counted. The Avs used all 59 minutes and 59.9 seconds available to them to top the St. Louis Blues…...

If it don’t read all zeros, it ain’t over. https://youtu.be/y3EedGi17HA

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – B- The fourth line had a terrific start to the game but tailed off a bit after that. I did not really agree with the penalty call on him late in the game, but the bigger concern is the shot block that hit his hand and seemed to cause him some issues. That’ll be something to watch…...

“The puck stops here.” That’s the quote, right? No? Well for our purposes here today we’re going to pretend it is as we look at our final position preview before the Avalanche play their first round-robin game this afternoon against the St. Louis Blues. We’re looking at the goaltenders, of which the Avs have two who had solid (or better)…...

A defense over a decade in the making. It was worth the wait. https://youtu.be/qocc9BM-BxE

There’s almost nothing in hockey more romanticized than the fourth line. Made up of a healthy mixture of youth and experience, the same barrier is true for almost all guys on the fourth line: they simply aren’t good enough to play higher in the lineup. Because of this, you typically find defensive specialists on fourth lines around the league as…...

Yesterday, we looked at “The New Guys” and how they’ve helped change Colorado’s roster at the top. Today, we’re going to look at everyone’s favorite players, “The Glue Guys.” No Stanley Cup has ever been won without the heart, grit, and lovable determination of the guys who go hard every shift of every game, even if they aren’t the most…...

Avalanche hockey is back and earnest and it’s everything I want it to be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjeKo0iIQgM

Player grades from Colorado’s 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild. Andre Burakovsky – C He didn’t do a whole lot in this one. Playing next to MacKinnon and Rantanen, he’ll need to be more impactful moving forward. It wasn’t bad at all, just not quite enough. We’ve seen a lot more from him and the Avs will need it. Cale…...

Turns out the Avs are still pretty good at hockey. https://youtu.be/ucsxxp-JIS0

After falling short last year in seven grueling games to the San Jose Sharks, Colorado’s front office knew it had the high-end talent to make trips to the second round a regular occurrence. It also knew it lacked the kind of depth needed to get beyond that point. Insert an aggressive offseason plan that saw Colorado add talent up front…...

The NHL announced all of the 31-player rosters at the same time on Sunday afternoon and Colorado’s featured a couple of small surprises. The breakdown of Colorado’s roster resulted in 17 forwards, 11 defensemen, and three goaltenders. The only forward cut from Colorado’s training camp was the minor surprise of the day as Vladislav Kamenev will not join the team…...

When the Avalanche head to Edmonton, they’re taking more than their Stanley Cup dreams with them.

If I wandered around the Denver metro area knocking on front doors and asking if people were familiar with Nathan MacKinnon, chances are I’d get a decent amount of “yes” responses but still enough “no” answers to make me feel inadequate at my job. If I surveyed the casual hockey landscape, however, I wouldn’t find anybody who isn’t familiar with…...

362 minutes. That’s all the Three-Headed Monster played together at five on five this season, less than 11% of the Avs total time. The reason for that obviously boils down to injuries for the most part but heading into the playoffs that should be far less of an issue. While the Avs may not go with that line all the…...

One of the great advantages of this weird playoff restart following a four-month shutdown is the expanded rosters teams are taking to their bubble cities. While Conor Timmins certainly would have benefitted plenty from whatever playoff run a very good Colorado Eagles team was set to make, him tagging along with the Avs in their quest for the Stanley Cup…...

Ahhh, yes, the time for another Tyson Jost conversation. This seemed inevitable when Jost opened Avalanche training camp as the 13th forward and hasn’t really moved up in the lineup in the week since the team first hit the ice. He’s moved around some but has consistently hung around on what you’d consider the “fifth” line, or the top healthy…...

Ever since the Avalanche returned to the ice last week, we’ve talked about the need for intensity to ramp up and reach a level fit for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Apparently Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar agreed. Just before beginning a structured five-on-five drill, Bednar stopped the practice the unleash a verbal tirade directed at his team. He loved the…...

After over four months away from the game due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you had to know the players were eager to get into a game situation after a few days of practice. On Thursday, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar and his staff gave all the players that opportunity, separating the 30 players between two teams and letting them go…...