Colorado Avalanche Post-Cup: Bad, Unlucky, or Both?
In June of 2022, the Colorado Avalanche dominated the NHL postseason, defeating the two-time defending champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, in the Stanley Cup Final in six games. The Avalanche were led by their many stars, including Nathan Mackinnon, Nazem Kadri, and Norris trophy defenseman Cale Makar (who also went on to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, AKA the playoff MVP).
The team was unstoppable last season, but as per usual, they started off the season with many injuries. It’s quite common for the team that wins the cup to experience more injuries than usual at the start of the following season, as many guys will play injured in the playoffs. But the Avalanche have been plagued with an unprecedented number. It got so bad that at one point, they only had two healthy forwards left that were NHL-eligible in their entire system. As of January 27th, Colorado is in the second wildcard position, meaning they would barely make the playoffs if they started today. So have the Avalanche fallen from grace, or has bad luck caused the drop-off?
It happens every single season. A team coming off a championship-winning season has an unusual amount of injuries to begin the following season. But the Colorado Avalanche have suffered so poorly that it’s not even close. The current record for man games lost in the season after winning the cup was 289 by the Pittsburgh Penguins after 2016.
Man games lost is how many games players miss. So one player missing a game due to injury is a one-man game lost. The Avalanche are on pace for about 500. That’s nearly double what the Penguins had in 2016. They did know they would lose a few guys at the beginning of the season, such as captain Gabriel Landeskog, as they played during the playoffs on known injuries. But they’ve gone on to have nearly every player from the cup-winning team suffer from injury, including Mackinnon, Makar, Nichushkin, Byram, Manson, and many more.
They even had rookie Shane Bowers get injured in his first-ever game earlier this season. This disaster has caused many fans to question the training and coaching of head coach Jared Bednar, and rightfully so. How could one team have so many injuries?
If they can’t get healthy, they likely will miss out on the playoffs. That has only happened four times in the history of the league. The team has obviously had recent struggles, as they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks (the worst team in the league) on January 12th. Just five years ago, the Avalanche notched just 48 points in a horrible and frankly embarrassing season for the franchise. Bouncing back and winning a cup last year was huge for them.
But is it a one-and-done moment? Can they dominate the decade just like the Blackhawks did in the 2010s? Or will a constant cycle of injuries cause them to fall short and send them into a rebuild all over again? It remains to be seen if Bednar can pull his team together and get them back to their glory of just a year ago.