2024-25 Avalanche Season Preview: Central Division

1 month ago  /  Mile High Hockey

Photo by Tyler Schank/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images


Taking a deep-dive into Colorado’s Central Division matchups. The Central Division has the potential to be an intriguing one this year. As is always the case, the Colorado Avalanche will see every single team in the Central Division multiple times this year, some of which have made pretty big changes to their respective rosters. Take a look at how Colorado faired against each of these teams last year, what big changes each team went through in the offseason, and how they might fare this year against each team.
Colorado Avalanche vs. Chicago Blackhawks
Colorado faced Chicago four times last season, winning three out of those four matchups. The Blackhawks finished at the bottom of the division last year, as it was a rebuilding year for the organization. Chicago won the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery and drafted Connor Bedard, who had a very impressive rookie year putting up 22 goals and 39 assists for 61 points in 68 games last season.
Chicago made some intriguing additions in free agency this year that should help to make them a bit more competitive this year, namely players such as Laurent Brossoit, Tyler Bertuzzi, T.J. Brodie, and Teuvo Teravainen. The Avalanche will play Chicago four times again this year, with the first matchup coming on October 28. It’ll certainly be interesting to see if these matchups are more or less competitive than they were last season.

Colorado Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars
Along with the Avs and Stars playing each other four times last season and Colorado winning three of those games, these two teams also faced each other in the second round of the 2024 playoffs, which resulted in Dallas sending Colorado home. Both of these teams are slated to be vying for the top spot in the division this year, along with a couple of other teams as well, but we’ll get to them later.
Dallas both maintained and lost some pretty important pieces during free agency. As far as additions go, Matt Duchene returned to Dallas on another one-year contract, and they signed goaltender Casey DeSmith to a one-year contract as well. They also signed both Matt Dumba and Ilya Lybushkin to multi-year deals on defense.
However, as previously mentioned, Dallas also had a few key pieces depart during free agency as well. Perhaps most notably, Joe Pavelski called it a career after playing 18 seasons in the NHL. Chris Tanev and Jani Hakanpaa both signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Scott Wedgewood signed with the Nashville Predators in free agency. Colorado and Dallas see each other a total of three times this season, with the first matchup coming on November 29, and we’ll see if these teams meet in the postseason once again.

Colorado Avalanche vs. Minnesota Wild
The Avalanche and Wild saw each other a total of four times last season, with Colorado winning all four of those matchups, and Nathan MacKinnon walking away with a hat-trick in one of those games as well.
Minnesota didn’t make a lot of splashy moves during free agency this year. The biggest contract they signed during free agency was signing Yakov Trenin to a four-year deal carrying a $3.5 million AAV. Later in the summer though, the Wild signed their star rookie defenseman Brock Faber to an eight-year extension carrying an $8.5 million AAV, which will kick in next season. Also of note for the Wild, this season will be the last year that they are paying an exorbitant cost of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts, meaning they can actually make moves next summer once a majority of that money is done being paid.
Colorado and Minnesota will see each other a total of four times this year once again, starting on January 9. The Wild ended up missing the playoffs last year by 11 points at the end of the season.

Colorado Avalanche vs. Nashville Predators
Talk about a team that had a loud offseason. Colorado and Nashville saw each other three times last year, with the Avalanche winning two out of those three matchups. After looking like they were going to most likely miss the playoffs for a majority of the season, Nashville kind of came out of nowhere down the stretch and made the playoffs. Ultimately, they went home in round one in six games against the Vancouver Canucks.
During free agency this summer, as mentioned previously, Nashville had a loud offseason. Most notably arguably, the Predators signed both Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault as free agents to multi-year deals. Nashville was certainly already offensively talented with the likes of players like Filip Forsberg on their roster, but they seemingly became even more offensively talented overnight with their signings this offseason.
We’ll see if that’s actually the case or not with the Predators and if they can actually replicate what they did last year soon enough, as they take on the Avs four times this year starting on November 2.

Colorado Avalanche vs. St. Louis Blues
St. Louis and Colorado saw each other four times last year, with Colorado winning three of those four matchups. This season, they’ll face off a total of four times during the regular season once again, with the first matchup coming on January 31.
St. Louis made a number of offseason moves, including signing Pavel Buchnevich to a six-year contract extension. The most notable additions they made this year though were by far them acquiring both Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg by way of offer sheets from the Edmonton Oilers. It’s pretty rare in general that you see an NHL GM offer sheet for another team’s players, and because of that, those signings certainly made their rounds in the hockey world and kind of took it by storm a bit, because of how rare this is. Both of these players should give St. Louis some badly needed depth for the upcoming season.

Colorado Avalanche vs. Utah Hockey Club
Colorado and the Utah Hockey Club, previously the Arizona Coyotes, played each other a total of four times with each team winning two of those four games and splitting the series evenly. This year, these two teams will see each other a total of three times this season, starting on October 24.
Utah made a number of signings during this past summer, but their arguably biggest acquisition came from the 2024 NHL Draft. Utah selected Tij Iginla with the 6th overall pick in the first round of this past year’s draft and signed him to a three-year entry-level contract on July 11. Utah was in the mix for a wild card spot for a good chunk of the 2023-24 season, but went on a 14-game losing streak during the season and ultimately not making the playoffs. They’ll look to hopefully make the playoffs this year and take a step forward, and we’ll see how that goes for them soon enough.

Colorado Avalanche vs. Winnipeg Jets
And finally, we have the Winnipeg Jets. The Avalanche and Jets saw each other a total of three times during the regular season, with Winnipeg winning all of those games. Colorado had the last laugh however as they sent the Jets home in the playoffs in five games. This year, these two teams will meet a total of four times this upcoming season starting on November 7.
Winnipeg made a couple of key moves during the offseason, such as signing Dylan DeMelo to a four-year extension and Cole Perfetti to a two-year contract, but they also had a few key losses as well. Those losses included Sean Monahan becoming a UFA, Laurent Brossoit signing in Chicago, Tyler Toffoli signing in San Jose, and Rutger McGroarty being traded to Pittsburgh for Brayden Yager. That all being said, they did not lose any really key players, and will more than likely be in the mix for a playoff spot this upcoming season once again. We’ll see how they actually fair in the playoffs this year.


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