Avalanche 'better suited' for playoffs after retooling roster

MANALAPAN, Fla. -- The Colorado Avalanche had elite talent. The question was whether they had enough depth. Now Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar have a different supporting cast after a series of moves, headlined by the trade of forward Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24.

The early returns are good. The Avalanche have gone 13-5-1 since the Rantanen trade and are on an 8-0-1 run entering their game at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, TNT, MAX). They're coming off a 4-3 overtime win against the Stars, who acquired Rantanen from the Hurricanes at the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7, and signed him to an eight-year, $96 million contract.

But the real test will come in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"We're not going to jump up and down due to regular-season points success," general manager Chris MacFarland said at the NHL GM meetings Tuesday. "We're trying to see what we can do in the playoffs."

The Avalanche had an incredible combination of elite talent and depth when they won the Stanley Cup in 2022. They had less depth when they lost to the Seattle Kraken in seven games in the Western Conference First Round in 2023 and to the Stars in six games in the second round last season.

They didn't come into this season with a grand plan to remake a significant portion of the roster, but that's how it played out. They acquired goalie Scott Wedgewood from the Nashville Predators on Nov. 30 not knowing they would acquire goalie Mackenzie Blackwood from the San Jose Sharks on Dec. 9. Wedgewood has gone 9-4-0 with a 2.10 goals-against average, .917 save percentage and two shutouts for them, while Blackwood has gone 18-7-3 with a 2.17 GAA, a .919 save percentage and two shutouts.

"I think Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood have played really well for us every night," MacFarland said. "We're getting pretty good goaltending."

Trading Rantanen was obviously bold. He ranks fourth in goals (287) and fifth in assists (394) and points (681) in the regular season since the Quebec Nordiques moved to Colorado in 1995. He's third in assists (67), fourth in points (101) and tied for fourth in goals (34) in the playoffs. At the time of the trade, he was sixth in the NHL with 64 points (25 goals, 39 assists) in 49 games.

But he was eligible to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, and the Avalanche added center Jack Drury and forward Martin Necas from the Hurricanes. Drury has five points (four goals, one assist) and has won 55.4 percent of his face-offs in 19 games while Necas has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 19 games.

"Listen, losing Mikko hurts in a lot of ways," MacFarland said. "He's a storied player for us. He's an unreal talent. But I do think one of the byproducts is, we've been able to get deeper."

Colorado added more players via trade afterward: defenseman Ryan Lindgren and forward Jimmy Vesey from the New York Rangers on March 1; center Brock Nelson from the New York Islanders on March 6; and center Charlie Coyle from the Boston Bruins and defenseman Erik Johnson from the Philadelphia Flyers on March 7.

Forward Valeri Nichushkin returned too. He sat out the first 17 games of the season while in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, then missed 21 games with a lower-body injury from Jan. 2-Feb. 23. He has nine points (six goals, three assists) in nine games since, which lines up with the 8-0-1 run. Colorado is 217-74-28 all time with him in the lineup.

"Val touches everything that we do," MacFarland said. "When he's out of the lineup, it's a big loss."

Captain Gabriel Landeskog is a wild card. He hasn't played since hoisting the Cup on June 26, 2022, and had cartilage transplant surgery in his right knee May 10, 2023. He went through a full practice Monday and is traveling with the team, but he is on long-term injured reserve and won't return in the regular season. He'd have to return in the playoffs -- "or next year," MacFarland said.

"He's still not taking contact," MacFarland said. "I think seeing him at practice is a good, necessary step. It's still in that wait-and-see approach."

MacFarland hopes the Avalanche have enough to emerge from the competitive Central Division, where they are in third place, two points behind the Stars, who have played two fewer games. MacKinnon leads the NHL with 103 points (27 goals, 76 assists). Makar leads NHL defensemen with 78 points (25 goals, 53 points). But the Avalanche are 2-0-1 in their past three games even though MacKinnon has only one assist in that span, and twice in the past four games, they've won without Makar recording a point.

"It's a tough division, and there's some teams that have got great goaltending," MacFarland said. "They've got size. You kind of have to be able to play any type of game, and I think we're better suited for that, whatever way it goes, right?

"Obviously, Nathan and Cale, they're superstar players. Their game speaks for itself. But I think now with some of the additions, we're a little more suited for kind of what you've been seeing here recently. We've been able to win games where Nathan doesn't have to carry the mail every night, so we'll see."