Lost in the Avalanche: Where are the champions?

1 month ago  /  Mile High Hockey

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images


Just how much of the 2022 Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche has changed? Time moves fast and with it the changing complexion of the NHL keeps evolving. While the Colorado Avalanche still have Stanley Cup aspirations they’ll have to accomplish a repeat this era with fewer and fewer familiar faces on the squad. Too soon to check-in on where the 2022 champions have dispersed to? This exercise was already done in 2023 with only seven departures, now there’s just eight remaining players from the team.
Still in Colorado
When the 2024-25 season kicks off there will be at most eight members from the 2022 Stanley Cup team on the opening night roster, barring any last minute trades or surprise injuries. Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon joins his other elite counterparts Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar as the headliners of the team. Other top talent remaining includes Devon Toews, Samuel Girard and Artturi Lehkonen in addition to depth mainstays Josh Manson and Logan O’Connor. They will all have to remain healthy and be key components if the Avalanche are going to advance to another Stanley Cup victory.
Up in the Air
That figure of eight holdovers could rise to ten in the most optimistic scenario if two unavailable forwards can join the team at some point. Captain Gabe Landeskog hasn’t played since the Stanley Cup final clinching game in Tampa but there’s still hope he can resume his career following his 2023 knee surgery sometime in the upcoming season. The fate for Val Nichuskin is just as complicated as to what happens when and if his suspension is lifted. Both are key pieces to Colorado’s forward core and their chances of repeating.
Retired
The list of former Avalanche champions who have already called it a career is growing only two years removed from lifting the Cup. Game 6 hero Darren Helm only made it through 11 games and one playoff contest the following season before retiring. Backup goaltender Pavel Francouz missed all of the 2023-24 campaign before making his retirement official this summer and Andrew Cogliano also recently made the decision to retire with both moving into Colorado’s front office to help with scouting and development. Ryan Murray may still be trying to make a comeback but hasn’t played since his 13 games with Edmonton in 2022-23.
Filling another net
Amazingly no player who suited up in the 2022 playoffs for the Avalanche has departed for Europe yet but 11 champions are currently playing for other NHL franchises.
The forward who is has still left a hole in the hearts of the burgundy and blue is Nazem Kadri. It was a rocky start for him in Calgary with a seven-year $49 million contract to live up to but in his second season with the Flames he settled in and put up a second-career best 75 points. There’s still a few lingering questions remaining if he’s the one who got away.
Other key forwards from that championship team Andre Burakovsky may have been an important glue guy and dynamic trigger man but now is giving his services to the Seattle Kraken after signing a five-year deal worth $27.5 million signed just after the Cup run. JT Compher was a versatile forward who will begin his second season in Detroit on a very similar five-year $25.5 million pact. Both of their absences are felt in Colorado especially as there hasn’t been a true replacement for either player.
As far as depth pieces, they have also found a new home. Alex Newhook received a four-year $11.6 million bridge deal following his trade to Montreal. Although he only played 34 total games in Colorado Nico Sturm earned a big payday is entering the third year of a $6 million contract he inked with the San Jose Sharks. Everyone’s favorite energy forward and Cup dropper Nicolas Aube-Kubel just agreed to a one-year $1.5 million deal in Buffalo this summer.
Stopping the Puck
The defense has seen less turnover in quantity but are quietly moving away from the envious competitive advantage that Colorado once held. We can’t forget the shocking trade that sent Bowen Byram to Buffalo which changed the composition of the defensive core.
The Avalanche have also changed some depth defenders in deciding they are taking a break in their on-again-off-again relationship with Jack Johnson as he will be starting the season in Columbus on a one-year $775k league minimum deal. Likewise Erik Johnson has found a year of employment with the Philadelphia Flyers for $1 million as he hopes to cross the 1000 NHL career game threshold expected sometime in November. Kurtis MacDermid didn’t see the ice in the playoffs for Colorado but put down roots in New Jersey as he signed a three-year $3.45 million agreement shortly after getting traded there.
As far as in the net, Darcy Kuemper cashed in on a big deal five-year deal for $26.25 million with Washington but lost his starting job last season and has since been traded to his former team in the LA Kings to finish out the last three years of the contract.
Their names will forever be etched on the Stanley Cup and in the hearts of Avalanche fans.


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