As we approach the 2016-17 season, we’re previewing what’s ahead for each of the 30 NHL teams. Here’s a look at the Colorado Avalanche.
MAIN SUMMER HEADLINES
• Tyson Barrie signs four-year contract extension
• Patrick Roy leaves head coaching job, Avalanche
• Avalanche hire Jared Bednar as new head coach
Head coach: Jared Bednar
GM: Joe Sakic
Team payroll: $72.04 million ($73 million salary cap)
2015-16 Record: 39-39-4 (Sixth in Central)
GF: 216 (19th in NHL)
GA: 240 (23rd in NHL)
Result: Missed playoffs by five points
Key acquisitions: Fedor Tyutin, Patrick Wiercioch, Joe Colborne, Rocco Grimaldi
Key departures: Mikkel Boedker, Shawn Matthias, Nate Guenin, Zach Redmond
Rookies to watch: Mikko Rantanen looked anything but comfortable over a nine-game stint with Colorado last season, but the 19-year-old received invaluable experience and is poised to be a rookie to watch with the Avalanche this season. He might not be a part of the lineup on opening day—an injury during rookie camp might keep him on the shelf for the first week of the season—but he’s going to be in the show, exhibiting the skill that saw him score 24 goals and 36 assists in 52 games as an AHL rookie.
J.T. Compher, who opted out of his senior year at Michigan University to sign with the Avs, is also likely to get a sniff in the NHL. He put up 16 goals and 47 assists for 63 points in 38 games with the Wolverines, which placed him second in scoring in the NCAA last season. He was a second round pick for the Sabres (35th overall) in 2013.
Colorado will have a successful season if…
New coach Jared Bednar changes the way they play the game.
Under Patrick Roy, this talented Avalanche team posted the worst possession numbers in the NHL last season.
Bednar won an ECHL championship for the South Carolina Stingrays in 2009, and last season he coached the AHL’s Lake Erie Monsters to a Calder Cup championship.
His philosophy?
“I think you have to be an aggressive team,” said Bednar on a conference call after he was hired by Colorado. “You have to play an up-tempo style. You have to attack. That’s not just offensively but defensively as well.”
What he’s preaching lends well to gaining and maintaining puck possession, and that’s the key to success for this Avalanche team.
Colorado will have an unsuccessful season if…
Goaltenders Semyon Varlamov and Calvin Pickard aren’t brilliant.
The defence is young and inexperienced, and without Varlamov and Pickard working in tandem and pushing each other to the peak of their respective games, this Colorado team won’t get to where it wants to go.
Varlamov went 27-25-5 last season, with a .914 save percentage. If he can’t get back into the .920s, the Avalanche will be putting a lot of stock in Pickard, who has only 36 games of NHL experience.
