Offseason Review: Coyotes have built a team to win, and Av’s look like the Stanley Cup Winners from 2 years ago.

 Season Preview, could the Coyotes change of pace this offseason to look to be more competitive help them make the playoffs, and did the Av’s changes up front make them a more lethal team then last year. 

The Avalanche following and Stanley Cup victory were ousted in round 1 of the playoffs last year, so they went into this offseason giving extensions to key blueliners, keeping their goalie duo intact and adding some really big middle six pieces to this team as they were missing some pieces last year that helped them win the cup, and after this offseason I think they look more like the cup winner rather then the team that exited round 1 last year, while after being a bottom dweller again last year, the Coyotes decided to change their approach and looked to make this team more competitive this offseason, and I think they were able to do so, as they added some solid forwards to their top 9 in free agency and also added top young prospect Cooley, and then they reworked their blueline by adding some top 4 D and kept their solid goalie tandem from last year, but will it be enough to put them into the playoffs this year.

Arizona Coyotes

2022-23 regular season record:

28-40-14 for 70 points, 7th in Central, 13th in West, finished 25 points back of Winnipeg for final spot in West. 

Significant Offseason losses:

RW/LW C.Fischer 13-14-27 80GP (DET) 

RW B.Ritchie 8-5-13 50GP (UFA) 

C L.Dauphin 1-0-1 21GP (UFA) 

LW B.Imama 0-0-0 5GP (OTT) 

LD C.Mackey 3-4-7 30GP (NYR)

Jerome Miron USA Today Sports

Significant Offseason Additions:

LW,RW J.Zucker 27-21-48 78GP

LW,RW J.Leonard 1-0-1 6GP 

LW,RW A.Kerfoot 10-22-32 82GP

C,RW N.Bjugstad 17-12-29 78GP

LW,RW Z.Sanford 2-1-3 16GP 

LD/RD T.Dermott 1-0-1 11GP

RD T.Stecher 3-11-14 81GP

RD M.Dumba 4-10-14 79GP

LD/RD S.Durzi 9-29-38 72GP

Top 3 Coyotes picks in the 2023 draft 

1RD #6 LD D.Simashev

1RD #12 RW,LW D.But 

2RD #6 G M.Hrabal

My Preseason projected 23 man lineup

          C.Keller-L.Cooley-D.Guenther 

    M.Maccelli-B.Hayton-N.Schmaltz

        J.Zucker-J.McBain-L.Crouse

      A.Kerfoot-N.Bjugstad-T.Boyd 

                     S.Durzi-M.Dumba

                J.Valimaki-T.Stecher

                 J.J Moser-V.Soderstrom

                         K.Vejmelka

                          C.Ingram 

J.Jenik-M.Carcone-T.Dermott

(IR J.Voracek, B.Little, S.Weber) 

CAP: $77.55, SPACE: $5.95 

Offseason review and Season Preview:

Now the Coyotes were once again a bottom dweller in the Western Conference last year and did pick bottom ten again last year, but a lot of people were surprised at how well and competitive the Coyotes wound up being last year, and after moving pieces like Stecher, Ritchie, Bjugstad and the big one in Chychrun at the deadline, they went into the offseason to look to make this team more competitive and look to improve off of a decent season, and not only do I think they did well this offseason to improve their team, but I think if some things go right for them, the Coyotes could maybe even be within grabbing distance of playoffs.

Now first in Net for the Coyotes,  they didn’t need to do much this offseason as their goaltending was basically not needing any sort of changes this offseason. Now last year the team had Vejmelka become the starter in Arizona with waiver claim Connor Ingram backing him up and although neither goalie had a winning record or fantastic numbers, both wound up doing alright and were a big part as to why a lot of people were surprised that the Coyotes were very competitive last year. Now late last year and in the early part of the offseason there was some speculation that with Arizona being sellers they may look to move Karel Vejmelka and try and capitalize on the fact that he is a pretty good starter and has a decent cap hit and could bring the rebuilding Coyotes a decent haul in a trade, but those rumours sort of went away once Arizona said they were going to start to be more competitive and with Vejmelka on the books for both this year and next, I don’t expect Vejmelka to be in the rumour mill this year as Arizona needs a good starter like Vejmelka, while Ingram was a different situation this offseason. Now after Ingram’s great season last year as Arizona’s backup where he had a .907 SV%, there was a lot of talk that his next contract may be expensive and with him being arbitration eligible, some thought that the Coyotes may not want to pay him what he could get in arbitration and that it may lead to a trade as the Coyotes may have wanted to get something for him and not pay him what he could get in arbitration, but they didn’t have to go that route as they were able to come to terms on a 3 year extension to avoid arbitration and avoid having to move him and at a reasonable $1.95 Million dollar cap hit, it seems like that is a really good deal and I have a feeling that his year he had last season with Arizona, I highly doubt he will be in the rumour mill this year (just like Vejmelka). So in my eyes the Coyotes goaltending situation which was pretty good last year and came into the offseason a bit murky doesn’t change which I think for a team on the rise is actually a really good move by Arizona, and they didn’t do everything right this offseason as just a couple of days ago the Coyotes placed possible goalie of the future Ivan Prosvetov on waivers to send him to the minors with Ingram and Vejmelka as their two goalies, and he was picked up by the Av’s, so losing Prosvetov to Colorado was not a good move as not only had he been playing well in the minors, but he also stood a good chance to eventually be the Coyotes long term starter, so it was a bad move there by Arizona to lose their 3rd stringer and become a bit weaker in Net, but I have no doubt that if he were to go on waivers again the Coyotes would claim him, so all in all the Coyotes goaltending situation did pretty well this offseason as Arizona keeps around Vejmelka as the starter and signs backup Ingram to a reasonable 3 year contract so they can be Arizona’s two goalies for the next few years, and although they did lose Prosvetov which is bad news for this team, I think they do come out of the offseason in a pretty good place. 

On the defensive end the Coyotes made some significant changes to the blueline that has them looking a lot better than they were last year. Now as sellers heading towards the deadline, the Coyotes wanted to get as much draft capital as they could, so they finally settled the Chychrun issue by moving him, sending him to Ottawa for 3 picks to get that issue resolved, then they also moved Gostisbehere for a pick to Carolina and they moved Stecher as part of a trade package to Calgary, so the Coyotes moved a couple of solid defensemen at the deadline for pretty good returns, but that left them

without very much defensive help beyond last year, so the Coyotes came into this offseason looking for some players they could bring in to help the team and I think they did a fine job in doing so. Now they also lost Connor Mackey who they got from Calgary in the Stecher trade to free agency and he wound up signing with NYR, so he didn’t stay around but there were other guys who did. The Coyotes still had a few defensemen on the team that they kept, Valimaki who was a waiver claim last year and did well enough to earn a extension, has proven he can be the top 4 D he was projected to be in Calgary and I think he will have a long term future in Arizona so keeping him in their top 4 was a smart move by Arizona, they also still have J.J Moser who has slowly developed into a great 2nd pair defensemen and the 2021 2RD draft pick seems poised to take that next step forward and establish himself as a solid top 4 defender and he is young so he will probably still grow, and then also have veteran Josh Brown and youngster Vic Soderstrom as well, as Brown is a hard hitting 6/7 defender who can definitely help insulate the young players but also probably wouldn’t be a regular and would occasionally be a spare, while Soderstrom is a former 1st round pick who hasn’t been able to establish himself in the NHL yet, but got some chances last year and I wouldn’t be surprised if he got some chances to be a solid 3rd pair defensemen this year as well, so in my eyes Soderstrom could still be a 2nd pair defensemen but will probably need to continue his development that he showed last year, and then they also went out this offseason and got a few bodies they could use in their top 4 in Dumba and Durzi, so they moved a 2ND round pick in next years draft to acquire Durzi this offseason from LA which was a really smart move, as Durzi is a pending RFA who has already established himself as a great offensive puck moving defensemen which is something the Coyotes don’t have much of and as a RFA this year the Coyotes should be able to sign him to a decent longer term deal that LA was never going to be able to sign him to and was the reason they moved on from him in the first place and with Arizona having a abundance of 2nd round picks for this upcoming season, it was extremely low risk for them and I think Durzi will fit in well in the top 4 on a offensive role, and then with Dumba, he wasn’t able to get what he wanted on the open market, so he decided to sign a low risk 1 year deal with Arizona that is just below $4 Million AAV, now Dumba is a decent 2nd pair defensemen, but since his 50 point season a few years ago, he hasn’t shown fantastic offensive numbers only mustering 14 last year which is why he couldn’t get a contract, but with a bigger role in Arizona I feel he will get back to his scoring ways and should be able to be productive in Arizona and if they aren’t doing well at the deadline then he would be a extremely likely candidate to be dealt, so it is a good fit in my eyes and should help Arizona get some more offense on the backend, and then they also bring in Dermott and bring back Stecher, now both are good 3rd pair defensemen and Stecher has familiarity with the Coyotes after playing there last year and I think Stecher is a pretty solid 3rd pair defensemen, so bringing him back should add some stability to the defence while Dermott is more of a offensive defensemen who could work well on a 3rd pair, and he has dealt with injuries over the past few years, so going somewhere where he will get a bigger role is fantastic for him so I could see things work out for him in Arizona and maybe be a solid offensive defensemen, so in my eyes this team is still not the best defensive team in the NHL by a long shot as they do have some good players but I would strongly say that all the players on Arizona’s blueline would be no better then a 3rd best D-Men on another NHL team so they do have a pretty weak defence compared to other team from around the NHL and they don’t have that amazing number 1 D in Arizona right now, but I do think this defence looks comparable to last years and I think they could be under the radar decent this year as they do have some good defensemen, but I still think they won’t make the playoffs and I think a below average defence is going to be a strong reason that happens. 

Gary A Vasquez USA Today Sports

And finally we go onto the forward group: now heading into the offseason a lot of people thought the Coyotes were going to continue to sell off as many players as they possibly could to continue on with this rebuild as a lot of people were pointing out that at the deadline it sounded like the Coyotes were willing to move and were possibly even shopping Crouse and Schmaltz on the forward group so those two were names that people (including myself) thought Arizona would move this past offseason for decent returns to continue with their rebuild, but they wound up not doing that and went in the other direction as they would keep Schmaltz and Crouse on the team and would wind up adding some pieces to make this team more competitive this year. 

Now the team moved on from Bjugstad and Ritchie at the deadline which I don’t think were moves that were too surprising given the fact that both were pending UFA’s and Arizona wasn’t making the playoffs so moving them and getting decent returns were probably the right move for Arizona, but despite all the rumours the Coyotes kept both Crouse and Schmaltz over the offseason and actually added some pieces as well to become a more competitive team this year as they look to turn a corner on this rebuild and start to become a lot more competitive. Now the Coyotes didn’t lose too many bodies this offseason as only Christian Fischer who is a solid middle six forward and had been in Arizona for quite some time now and deadline acquisition Brett Ritchie who they acquired from Calgary for his brother Nick and finished up the year in Arizona along with two others depth players left via free agency so it wasn’t like the Coyotes lost a whole bunch of pending UFA’s this offseason, and they were able to add a few solid bodies in free agency to their team. Now to replace the depth players in Imama and Dauphin they lost in free agency they were able to bring in Sanford and Leonard who are both fringe NHL players and could get some time as either spare or 4th line players in Arizona but could also see AHL time and I think could be really good call up options, but the other 3 players they brought in via free agency were solid top 9 players, first being Nick Bjugstad who has familiarity with the team after he played their last season and had one of his better season in recent memory playing in a increased role before being flipped to Edmonton at the deadline so he should remain a solid 3rd or 4th line forward for the Coyotes this season, then they also brought in Jason Zucker from Pittsburgh on a 1 year deal and Alex Kerfoot from Toronto on a 2 year deal, now Zucker was a mainstay the past few season on a 2nd line with Malkin in Pittsburgh and even though he had some injury troubles when playing in Pittsburgh, whenever he was healthy he was a solid beast for the Penguins in the middle six and I think with maybe some of the younger players he would do quite well as a solid secondary scorer in Arizona and should be a solid veteran presence this year, while Kerfoot is quite a bit younger then Zucker and although Kerfoot had a solid season two year ago putting up over 50 points, last year he only put up just over 30 and I think that 50 points was a bit of a anomaly, but playing with a exciting young Arizona team that has the potential for some pretty good fire power, I think he should be a solid 30-40 point player in Arizona and he isn’t signed for only 1 year but 2 so he will most likely be around for longer then this year, so all in all adding Bjugstad back who is a solid bottom six forward and knows this team well, Zucker who has some offensive abilities as well as a solid veteran presence desperately needed on this team, and Kerfoot who could provide some solid secondary scoring on a team who needs it in the middle six were all smart moves in my eyes and the cap hits were pretty reasonable for all of the players, so in my eyes the forward group looks a lot more lethal then it did last season thanks to all of these offseason additions. 

And you are adding these guys to a offensive group that already has Keller who is coming off one of the best seasons a player has had since the Jets moved to Phoenix, Schmaltz who actually did quite well last year, Maccelli who was one of the guys up for the Calder last year, as well as Hayton, McBain and Crouse who all had solid seasons last year and should remain top 9 forwards, and then you add Logan Cooley who should be a Calder candidate this year and should fit well in the top six as well as Dylan Guenther who I know didn’t make the starting night roster but may get some opportunities throughout the year, if you add all of these guys plus the free agent additions, the Coyotes actually have a solid and exciting young top 9 that should be contributing well this year and should grow over the next few years into a elite unit, so in my eyes after adding the offseason additions to a already good squad, the Coyotes I think will score more goals then a lot of people think this year. 

So my 3 reasons for the Coyotes missing the playoffs this past year was the fact that last years team was built to be bad and get a high draft pick, they also didn’t have a ton of depth up front and the offensive fire power just wasn’t there, but I think they have basically rectified all 3 of my concerns this offseason, as the team by adding players instead of subtracting this offseason have made them more competitive and with the young guys having a year more of experience I think this team (while not set up to be a playoff team in my opinion) is set up to be a ton more competitive this year, the depth this year looks a lot better as they have young guys like Jenik and Smith as well as other options in the minors who they could call up if they run into injuries, and by adding a guy like Zucker and Cooley to the top six and even Kerfoot and Bjugstad on the forward group partnered with the solid season Yotes players had last year, I think it is safe to say the fire power on this team is much better then last year so I think they addressed my three concerns with the team from last year well, and then they also have one more issue that hasn’t been resolved and it may be the biggest issue in Arizona right now and that is the arena, as the Coyotes never did get the Tempe vote to go their way this offseason, and they are currently left without a building, and although there is still optimism around the team they can find a new arena in Arizona, the NHL has basically said the Coyotes have until February to have a solution for the Arena or they may wind up having to move them in my opinion if there is no arena locked in, so the Arena situation is something we will have to watch out for but in my eyes the on ice product looks a lot better and they should be more competitive this year. 

Offseason Grade A-: The Coyotes headed into this offseason with the mindset of changing what they have been doing the past few offseason’s and looking to improve this team to be more competitive going forward and to start coming out of this rebuild and not just take on other teams bad contract like they had been before, and they wound up doing a pretty good job of that I think as the Coyotes didn’t Trade Vejmelka like some thought and kept him to be the 1A with Ingram the 1B, defensively they didn’t lose too much as their big blueline moves came at the deadline, but they did add Dermott and Stecher to be solid 3rd pair D-Men to the team while adding offensively gifted top 4 defenders Durzi and Dumba to help with scoring from the backend and to help out the defence, and then up front they add Zucker, Kerfoot and Bjugstad in free agency while also bringing in top prospect Logan Cooley to make a impact in the top six and add some more scoring to help guys like Keller, Maccelli and Schmaltz out, so I think after their mindset changed and they wanted to make this team more competitive this offseason, they did a fantastic job adding all of these pieces which should help the team compete and I really did like their offseason which was why I decided to give them a A- rating. 

Current 2023-24 record prediction: 42-35-5 for 89 Points, 5th in Central and 10th in West, 19 more points then last year.

Colorado Avalanche 

2022-23 regular season record:

51-24-7 for 109 points, 1st in Central, 3rd in West, Would host the Kraken in round 1 of the playoffs and after having 1-0 and 2-1 series leads, would lose 3 of the next 4 to shockingly lose the series 4-3 in round 1 to Seattle and bow out in round 1. 

Significant Offseason losses:

C,RW J.T Compher 17-35-52 82GP (DET) 

C L.Eller 10-13-23 84GP (PIT)

LW,C A.Newhook 14-16-30 82GP (MON) 

C,LW E.Rodrigues 16-23-39 69GP (FLO) 

C,LW,RW D.Helm 0-0-0 11GP (Retire) 

LW,RW M.Nieto 12-12-24 81GP (PIT)

C,LW M.Maltsev 0-0-0 5GP (LA) 

LW,C,RW A.Galchenyuk 0-0-0 11GP (UFA)

LW,RW D.Malgin 13-8-21 65GP (UFA)

LW S.Ranta 0-0-0 6GP (UFA)

RD R.Merkley 0-0-0 0GP (UFA)

RD E.Johnson 0-8-8 63GP (BUF)

George Walker IV USA Today Sports 

Significant Offseason Additions:

LW M.Wood 13-14-27 76GP

C,RW R.Johansen 12-16-28 55GP 

C,LW J.Drouin 2-27-29 58GP

LW,C R.Colton 16-16-32 81GP

LW F.Olofsson 1-3-4 28GP 

LW R.Tufte 0-0-0 3GP 

RW,C C.Wagner 0-0-0 1GP 

LD/RD C.Schueneman 0-1-1 7GP

LD/RD G.Fairbrother (AHL Numbers) 1-6-7 25GP

Top 3 Avalanche picks in the 2023 draft 

1RD #27 C C.Ritchie

1RD #31 LD M.Gulyayev

5RD #27 RD Ishimnikov

My Preseason projected 23 man lineup

     J.Drouin-N.Mackinnon-M.Rantanen

A.Lehkonen-R.Johansen-V.Nichushkin 

          M.Wood-R.Colton-O.Olausson 

     A.Cogliano-B.Meyers-L.O’Connor 

                   D.Toews-C.Makar

                   B.Byram-J.Manson

                J.Johnson-S.Girard 

                        A.Georgiev 

                        P.Francouz

R.Tufte-F.Olofsson-K.MacDermid

(LTIR G.Landeskog) 

CAP: $83.11, SPACE: $.387

Offseason review and Season Preview:

Now after winning the Cup in the 21-22 season, the Av’s dealt with multiple injuries last year headlined by Captain Landeskog missing the entire season, but they overcame all the injuries and a slow start to win the Division and beat out all of their Central rivals, but after getting first in the Central, they wound up matching up with the Kraken in round 1 and the banged up Av’s lost in 7 games in round 1 to the upstart Kraken. So after a very disheartening way to end the season walking out in round 1, the Avalanche were poised to make this team better this offseason to give them another chance to get another Stanley Cup, and I think they had a pretty good offseason and added a lot of fantastic pieces to this already good group. 

Now in Net for Colorado they didn’t need to do anything really this offseason as they still had their dynamic duo in Net from last season and didn’t really make any moves. Now last year with Kuemper leaving via free agency the Avalanche went out and got Georgiev from New York in a trade to work in a tandem with Francouz and that tandem wound up working extremely well last season, as Georgiev played majority of the year last season and put up a stunning .919 SV% and a 2.53 GAA and was at least in the conversation for the Vezina while Francouz played a decent amount of games as well and also had a SV% of above .915 and a GAA under 3.00 so both goalies did really well in the regular season, and even though Georgiev didn’t carry the success he had in the regular season to the playoffs, with both goalies still being signed for this year they didn’t want to tamper with anything and kept both goalies, now Georgiev has become the starter with Francouz the backup but prior to the season the Av’s did get news that Francouz was injured and would miss the start of the year, so they would then go out and look to add another goalie to help them in the short term while Francouz recovers from his injury and they were not able to trade for anyone, but they did find someone on waivers that they felt confident in to be the backup in the short term for the Av’s behind Georgiev, and that was former Coyotes Prospect Ivan Prosvetov. Now Prosvetov was looked upon to be the Coyotes goalie of the future and at least be a consistent NHL goalie in a year or two, but he was waiver eligible this year and with Ingram and Vejmelka in Net for Arizona right now there was not really a fit for him on the NHL roster, so they sent him down to the minors via waivers trying to make him their 3rd stringer but it was not to be as he was claimed off of waivers by the Av’s and became the teams backup for the short term and while at this point Georgiev has gotten most of the starts and Francouz is still out, Prosvetov has been a serviceable backup and looks alright with Colorado right now, so the Av’s didn’t need to do anything this offseason to upgrade in Net as they still had a pretty good duo, and although losing Francouz is hard for the short term, he should eventually be back and Prosvetov who was a much needed waiver claim seems to be alright in the backup role after having a decent season last year with Arizona, so in my opinion it was a great offseason for Colorado in net by basically doing nothing and keeping their two goalies from last year there. 

Brian Bradshaw Sevald USA Today Sports 

On the defensive end Colorado had most of their defence locked up beyond this year so they wound up not doing much to the defence either in the offseason. Now last year they didn’t do much to add anything at the deadline as the Avalanche looked like a pretty solid team defensively, so they kept basically the entire defence they had except for adding depth players like Jack Johnson and Ryan Merkley to the team, but after their first round exit it seemed like they may wind up making some moves on their defence but they wound up not doing so. Now entering the offseason the Av’s still had MacDermid, Makar, Toews, Girard, and Manson under contract beyond this season so with all of those guys being valuable to the team they didn’t feel the need to move them, so this 5 defensemen all remained in Colorado, now guys like Merkley and both Johnson’s (Erik and Jack) were UFA’s and it seemed like Colorado wasn’t going to bring any of them back and 2/3 didn’t comeback, as Merkley who at one point was a good prospect, but hasn’t been able to get much of a look at the NHL level in the recent future left and went overseas to play elsewhere Erik Johnson who had been a extremely productive 3rd pair defensemen in Colorado the past number of years and was someone some people thought might stay in Colorado, wound up not being brought back by Colorado and left and signed a 1 year deal in free agency with Buffalo, but the other pending UFA in Jack Johnson remained in Colorado this time as he signed a cheap one year contract with the Avalanche to continue being a good 6th/7th defensemen on a Stanley Cup Contender who he is familiar with, so keeping Jack Johnson gave the team 6 solid defensemen under contract, and their was one other significant player who’s contract was up but was a RFA instead, and that was Byram who they Av’s really like but has had some bad injuries the past few years, so on free agent day the Av’s gave him a 2 year bridge deal with a AAV of almost $4 Million to keep him in the lineup and he should continue to show his potential over the next couple of years which they saw the past few years when he was healthy, and then on top of adding a few depth defensemen like Schueneman in free agency who can be a decent 7th/8th defender and do well when called upon like he showed in Montreal and getting a decent prospect in Fairbrother in a trade with Montreal who could hopefully develop into a decent 3rd pair defensemen in time, they didn’t do anything else and those 7 defenders who were under contract are the 7 defensemen who are starting this year in Colorado as they continue to run with a top 4 of Toews, Makar, Byram and Manson with a really good number 5 in Girard and 2 decent 6’s in Johnson and MacDermid, and I did think there was a possibility that Girard might be moved as he is a little over priced as a 3rd pair defensemen in Colorado and I do think they will have to explore that next season, but they were able to make the cap work and keep him in the lineup, while the other big news they made this offseason was sign top pair defensemen Devon Toews who has found a home on the teams top pair with Makar and was entering the final year of his deal, to a 7 year extension with a reasonable $7.25 Million dollar AAV that will begin next year and now Colorado doesn’t have to risk losing him, so the Av’s took a really good approach to the defence this offseason as they kept around basically everyone, resigning or extending Toews, Byram and J.Johnson while also adding a few depth additions and letting E,Johnson go via free agency and they still have a top 5 defence in my opinion, so even though they kept everyone together, their defence still looks lethal and I think minimum changes to the defence was the right move for the Avalanche this year. 

And finally we go onto the forward group: now this is the unit that changed most significantly in the offseason as Colorado revamped their middle six to look a lot more lethal then last season. Now during last season the team was doing good heading toward the deadline and they wanted to add a couple of forwards to strengthen their group heading into the playoffs, so before the deadline they acquired Matt Nieto in the Merkley deal, acquired Malgin from Toronto and added Lars Eller from Washington, and even though they never added anyone of huge significance before the deadline, they still added a solid 3rd line Center and a couple of bottom six wingers but it wasn’t enough to help them oust Seattle in round 1, so they entered the offseason looking to get better in the forward group and the first piece of news they got was that Landeskog (who had been out the entirety of last year due to injury) would miss the entire 23-24 season as well which was a huge blow to the Av’s as Landeskog (on top of being the teams captain) is also a strong producer in their top 6 and can put up 60-70 points on a regular basis and even though there is some optimism that he may be able to get back at some point in the playoffs if Colorado made it, that won’t help them in the regular season so not having him back hurst Colorado, but this year they know how long he will be out for and could then place him on LTIR and get $7 Million dollars in cap space, so it is bad to lose him for a long period of time, but on the other hand it opened up more cap space for them to do other things. Now in free agency they would lose a handful of their forwards including Compher, Rodrigues, Eller, Helm, Nieto and Malgin as they brought none of those players back, and although Helm is a replaceable bottom six forward who retired and Eller, Malgin and Nieto were all deadline acquisitions who they chose not to keep around, it was going to be a bit harder to replace Rodrigues and Compher who were two solid middle six forwards who the Av’s weren’t able to keep around, so they would go out in free agency and bring in first Jonathan Drouin on a cheap 1 year deal as Drouin has connections with Mackinnon from their junior days and on a cheap prove it contract it works for both sides whether he plays with Mackinnon or lower in the lineup, then they signed Miles Wood to a long term extension to help fill out a bottom 6 role on the team and help bring some more physicality to the lineup, they also get Tatar who on a one year deal to round out their middle six seems like a extremely good value deal for the Av’s and they also brought in Riley Tufte who can be a good spare forward or call up option for the Av’s this year so they weren’t able to improve their group in free agency and in fact I think they got a bit worse but they made a few trades that I think made the forward group better, first they would add Frederic Olofsson from rival Stars for nothing and sign him to a one year deal to be another good and productive bottom six forward, then they moved pending UFA Galchenyuk who they weren’t bringing back to Nashville for Ryan Johansen at 50% of his contract retained as the Av’s now not having Kadri and losing Compher gave them a need for a solid 2nd line Center and at a $4 Million dollar cap hit playing with more productive players, Johansen should fit in well as the new 2nd line Center on the team, and then they made two moves that were connected as first they shipped off Newhook who wasn’t fitting overly well with the team to Montreal for 2 picks (a 1st and 2nd) and prospect Fairbrother and then flipped the 2nd round pick to Tampa for RFA Ross Colton who wound up signing a 4x4 deal in Colorado, and Colton is a guy who should fit well in the Av’s middle six while Newhook wasn’t doing well in the Av’s middle six so I can see the reason they moved him to get Colton, and that is what they did as they bring in Johansen, Colton, Tatar, Olofsson, Drouin, Wood and Tufte while guys like Compher, Rodrigues, Newhook, Eller, Nieto, Helm and Galchenyuk all left and the depth on this team seems to be changed and possibly for the better as they still have some solid top 6 forwards like Mackinnon, Lehkonen, Nichushkin, Rantanen and bottom six forwards like Cogliano and O’Connor are still with the team so hopefully adding this pieces to the lineup will help the team get more depth scoring and be a bit more well rounded then they were last year and I think with all of the moves they made this offseason, the offense will be more like the cup winners from two years ago and less like last years team and I think the offense was the biggest win by Colorado this offseason. 

So my 3 reasons for the Avalanche exiting the playoffs in round 1 this past year and not going further in the playoffs was the fact that they weren’t as deep of a team as they were the year before when they went to the Cup Final and won, second was the plethora of injuries they had last year, and 3rd was the fact that their power play went dry in the playoffs, and I think they did well this offseason to address most of my concerns from last year, as I can’t say they will improve with the injury bug as that is a unknown commodity, but I think they are well positioned this year to overcome injuries, then they went out this offseason and knowing that Landeskog wasn’t coming back this year, they would go out and get some good players to fill in holes on the forward group they had last year and I think they are in a much better position this year then they were last year and they look a lot more well rounded and like the team that won the cup 2 years ago, and I think those additions should also help their power play not dry up this year, so all in all I think the Avalanche did well this offseason to improve their team to the point were I think all 3 of my concerns from last year have basically gone away. 

Offseason Grade B: Colorado came out of their first round exit from last year at the hands of the Seattle Kraken and knew that they needed to make some changes to this roster to be a bit more prepared when it came to the playoffs, so in Net they knew they had a solid starter in Georgiev and a solid 1B/backup in Francouz and knew those two are still a fantastic duo, so they didn’t make any moves there (besides picking up Prosvetov for the short term), their defensive team it still one of the best in the NHL so they didn’t need to make many moves and besides losing 3rd pair D Erik Johnson, they didn’t do anything so I still like their D group, but I think the real improvement this offseason was on the forward group as last year they didn’t have as much depth as when they won the Cup and didn’t have Landeskog, but now you add Johansen who is a solid 2C, as well as guys like Drouin, Tatar, Wood and Colton who should fit in well in the middle six and help this team get some more depth scoring and I think this team is a lot more positioned to be a deadly team then they were last year and with keeping the goaltending and D intact while improving the offense is why I am giving this team a offseason grade of B as I think they had a pretty darn good offseason. 

Current 2023-24 record prediction: 51-23-8 for 110 Points, 2nd in Central and 3rd in West, 1 more point than last year.