Nathan MacKinnon Must Take Accountability for Avalanche Failures

The one thing MacKinnon never does is take accountability for the team's failures.

That's not an indictment of his performance in the opening round. MacKinnon was excellent against the Stars, leading the Avs in scoring with 11 points. However, his performance was far from the reason they were eliminated.

MacKinnon had an opportunity after the defeat. He could have rallied the team, reaffirmed his belief in the organization, and led the charge to go into the offseason with an optimisitic approach.

Instead, he chose the sore loser route. His head drooped in defeat while finding the right words to say. Words that contain a subtext loudly screaming, "Can anyone on this team help me in the postseason?"

The best players don't do that. Tampa Bay Lightning superstars lined up to take the fall for their first-round defeat at the hands of the Florida Panthers. Jake Guentzel, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman, and Andrei Vasilevskiy all stated how they could have been better in the series. MacKinnon could have done that.

Furthermore, championship leaders don't do that. The Avalanche's captain, Gabe Landeskog, doesn't do that. Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar don't speak like that after losses or eliminations.

What it comes down to is leading by example. Nathan MacKinnon is one of the best players in the world. Everyone knows he's not the reason the Avalanche lost another Game 7. Still, it doesn't change that your best players and leaders have to set the tone for accountability. He's failed to do that yet again in defeat, and it's a continuing factor in Colorado's postseason struggles since their 2022 Stanley Cup win.