Colorado Avalanche 2024-25 Player Report Card: Devon Toews

The playoffs are in the rearview mirror for all but two teams, the rest mired in various levels of disappointment. Another first-round exit, at the hands of former Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen, stung particularly badly. The Avalanche face challenges in the summer, but should be back as contenders again.

Part of that will be due to the calming presence offered by defenseman Devon Toews. In a season of challenges, Toews was a reassurance that the Avalanche didn’t have much of. When it comes to grading out his performance, how did the veteran defenseman fare?

Toews: Anchor of the Defense

We have heard all the stories about the beginning of this past season. The list of injuries was comically long. Valeri Nichushkin spent the first month of the season suspended. Alex Georgiev suddenly forgot how to stop even the most basic shots.

As the Avalanche attempted to figure things out and escape the funk of the start of the season, Toews remained a steadying hand. His offense struggled, in part because he had to cover for Cale Makar taking extra chances in the offensive zone.

By the middle of the season, with the Avalanche facing defensive depth issues again, Toews barely left the ice. It wasn’t uncommon to see him play 28 minutes per night or more. That just shows how much the Avalanche have come to depend on Toews and his defensive efforts.

Toews: On the Decline or an Anomaly?

At 31 years old, Toews is naturally past his peak and easing into the latter half of his career. He is by no means facing a drop off, but it is worth noting that he did take a step back in nearly every conceivable metric.

He was down in goals (12 to 10), assists (38 to 34), and points (50 to 44). Aside from the seven goals he scored during the 2022-23 season, he’s trended downward in all three offensive categories over the past four seasons. Additionally, he had fewer blocks, hits, and takeaways while hitting a career-high in giveaways (81).

The numbers don’t necessarily tell the whole story. Playing more than 24 minutes per night, oftentimes north of 26 minutes in the second half of the season, he is naturally going to have more opportunities to turn the puck over than he would otherwise. He takes a back seat offensively to Makar, but there isn’t enough there to feel like we’re seeing a massive drop off.

Grading Toews

Grading Toews comes down to a few key areas. We’ll look at his scoring, defense, playmaking, and teamwork, giving him an overall grade to follow. Here’s how Toews fared: