Avalanche Journal: Colorado’s path to a title looks much tougher than 2022
Just before the Stanley Cup Playoffs then-Calgary coach Darryl Sutter offered a now-famous quote about playing the Colorado Avalanche in the first round It s going to be a waste of eight days Technically the Avs dispatched the Nashville Predators in seven days but toss in the trip day to Denver before Encounter and he was bang on Getting to play the Predators and breeze through a four-game sweep kickstarted a run to the Stanley Cup for the Avalanche If Gabe Landeskog is going to lift that trophy again in June the road is very likely to be much much harder The Avs have thoroughly remade the roster during this tumultuous season and have a lineup capable of winning playoff games But the path to immortality looks far more fraught right now than it did three years ago We re focused with what s in front of us and what is in front of us is a gauntlet Avs general manager Chris MacFarland declared But I still feel like our guys deserve the opportunity to have these additions made You never know when you re going to be back in these situations We re very proud of another -point season We think we have a good squad So does Dallas so does Winnipeg and Vegas and St Louis and Edmonton and on and on The road starts Saturday night in Dallas where the Avs have to knock off the organization that knocked them out a year ago This Stars roster if it gets healthy in time is better than the one that defeated the Avalanche in six games last year Colorado s ability to win a championship has increased over the curriculum of this season The roster is just flat-out better and deeper than it was in October The Avs are better at center and in goal right now than they were in April Their odds of winning the first-round series haven t changed much though We ve known it was likely to be Dallas for weeks The Stars have played poorly of late but they didn t get worse when they added old friend Mikko Rantanen at the business deadline If the Avs can get by Dallas they ll likely face Winnipeg in the second round The Jets won the Presidents Trophy as the best regular-season group in the league Colorado had its way with Winnipeg last year but the Jets have a new coach and performed better this season Get out of the toughest foursome in the league Then it s likely Vegas in the conference final Even if there s an upset or two Edmonton and Los Angeles are very good teams Colorado could become the first unit since Chicago in to beat four -point teams en road to the Stanley Cup Dallas Los Angeles and Edmonton could all pull off that feat as well Even though Florida started with a -point gang last season Tampa Bay the Panthers four opponents averaged points in the regular season That s the toughest road to the Cup in the past decade just edging out Chicago in Colorado s road in and Tampa Bay s in using -game pace in a -game season are the only others to average at least points If the Avalanche defeated Dallas Winnipeg and Vegas to reach the Stanley Cup Final and then face any of the top six teams in the East by points so not New Jersey or Montreal the Avs would surpass the Panthers with the toughest path to a title in the past years Related Articles After season of injury adversity Avalanche is healthier group in showdown with Stars Avalanche s new reality is here with playoff star Mikko Rantanen playing for the other guys How unprecedented roster turnover reshaped Avalanche for another Stanley Cup run Renck Is Avalanche goalie Mackenzie Blackwood ready to meet playoff moment Stanley Cup run hinges on it Colorado Avalanche vs Dallas Stars Series predictions who has the edge and five things to watch in Stanley Cup Playoffs The teams at the top of the league are more bunched up now than they ve arguably ever been Colorado is eighth in the NHL standings this year with points The Avs would have been th with three years ago A flat cap for several years after the post-COVID- pandemic helped flatten things out There s no company in this tournament field that would be favored against the Lightning or the Avalanche in a seven-game series Sure upsets can happen But even with that just getting out of the West looks like a much tougher task for the Avs than it was three years ago The cap has done what NHL commissioner Gary Bettman desired it to do competitively ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro commented That s jam all of these teams together and make it as much of a toss-up as you can Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis
