Avalanche Brace for New Rivals in West Division

But don’t fret, Avalanche fans, with the division realignment and a regular season against only those divisional opponents, there should be plenty of opportunity to generate some animosity for other clubs.
Louis Blues, Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights finished 1-2-3 in last year’s Western Conference.
Five of these teams played in the expanded postseason, with Colorado, Vegas and Arizona all winning a series.
Last season, every team in 2020-21’s West Division played between 20 and 23 games against their new divisional opponents.
Louis looks to be the division’s front-runner, going 13-4-3 against the rest of the West Division last season, but they’re also the leader to emerge as Colorado’s biggest rival.
As close as the Avalanche and the Blues have been, the budding rivalry with the most potential for Colorado might be with Vegas.
The Avalanche and Golden Knights have only played nine games against each other –— eight in the regular season and one in the bubble last summer.
The West was the most difficult division the Avalanche could have landed in, based off their records against the newly created divisions.
Colorado was 11-8-1 against teams from the West last season.
But it won’t be a surprise if the top three are the Blues, Avalanche and Golden Knights in this division.
Three of the games went to overtime, and Colorado actually led the series 3-2.
The Red Wings shut Colorado out in Games 6 and 7, and went on to win their 10th Stanley Cup