One of the best teams in the National Hockey League is showing they have the makings of playing far into May.
Following a 7-4 win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night, the Colorado Avalanche clinched a berth into the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. While it was only a matter of time before the team punched its ticket to the postseason, the Avs can now focus on trying to clinch a fourth straight Central Division title and make a deep playoff run.
With Nathan MacKinnon playing at a Hart Trophy level, Cale Makar on pace for another Norris Trophy, as well as solid depth on their blueline and forward group, Colorado has the makings of challenging for a second Stanley Cup in three seasons.
If they were to make a deep run, the team would be rewarded by getting captain Gabriel Landeskog back into the lineup. The Swedish star has not played since the Avalanche won it all in 2022, and is expected to be ready to play by May.
On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk explain what will make this Colorado team so dangerous in the postseason.
Frank Seravalli: When I look at that team, there really just aren’t many weaknesses. I love the fact that they’ve basically changed out one-quarter of their forward group since the deadline. Getting [Valeri] Nichushkin back has been huge. I love the additions of [Brandon] Dhuaime and Yakov Trenin. Their penalty kill has been fantastic since the trade deadline. MacKinnon having an all-world season, Rantanen hitting 100 points…there’s really not much not to like about this forward core.
You flip to their defense…you see Sean Walker, third-pair right-shot, and the goals that he scored just since coming over from the trade, he’s been humongous. Josh Manson was a huge part of their run to the Stanley Cup in 2022, and then their top pair [Cale Makar and Devon Toews], which, for my money, is probably the best in the NHL.
You can watch the full segment and the entire episode here…
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