Can the Avalanche finally win it ?

The past 2 seasons have been the source of much disappointment for Colorado hockey fans. The Avalanche who are known to have many stars on their team, have not been able to perform to expectations. With seasons of 98 points and 100 points only on top of two first round exits in 6 games versus Nashville and Minnesota, major changes were expected in Colorado. Head coach Jared Bednar was not offered a contract at the end of his term and was replaced by Rod Brind'amour.

GM Luc Bélanger has been very busy this past off-season trying to fill some roles in the lineup. One major task was to find a real #1 goaltender and that is why Jordan Binnington was brought along. Colorado's been juggling many goaltenders these past few years starting with Jack Campbell, Alexander Georgiev and Connor Ingram. Jordan Binnington was brought along to stabilize this position and bring alot of good past experience. In a surprise move, GM Bélanger made the acquisition of young goaltender Samuel Ersson in return of Connor Ingram who had had a decent season. "We had to think of the future of our goaltending depth and felt that Ersson has all the tools to be a very effective backup or even a starting goaltender for us. We are sure he will learn from Jordan Binnington this next season.". 

This off-season, Colorado let go of veterans Jeff Skinner, Tyler Johnson, Phoenix Copley, Frederik Gaudreau, Calvin de Haan, Dmitry Kulikov and Alexandar Georgiev. They were replaced by Jonathan Huberdeau, Samuel Ersson, Jordan Binnington, Ryan McLeod, Radko Gudas and Vladislav Namestnikov.Team captain Gabriel Landeskog who's been on the LTIR for the past 2 seasons is hoping to make a return next season and earn back his spot on the first line with MacKinnon and Rantanen. 

Before training camp, the lineup should be : 

Huberdeau-MacKinnon-Rantanen

Paul-Jenner-Rakell

Novak-Sissons-Noesen

Hoffman-McLeod-Namestnikov

Makar-Toews

Oleksiak-Savard

Chiarot-Gudas

Binnington

Ersson

Coach Brind'amour will want to try out some new line combinations with Jonathan Huberdeau possibly being on the left wing with Nathan Mackinnon and Mikko Rantanen. "Huberdeau's magic is not that far gone and we believe he needs this spark to perform at the level he once did 3 seasons ago." Hard worker Nick Paul will be auditioning on the first line and will possibly steal some shifts from Huberdeau. The 2nd line centered by Boone Jenner will be looked upon for some secondary scoring. Rickard Rakell is expected to bounce back from an above average scoring last season. Thomas Novak will have the opportunity to battle for a 2nd line spot while Ryan McLeod will also try to eat more minutes on the bottom 6. 

On Defence, Colorado will look to heavily rely on the pairing of Cale Makar and Devon Toews to log the most minutes and lead the way. Jamie Oleksiak and David Savard will bring some good defensive stability in the top 4 while Ben Chiarot and heavy hitter Radko Gudas will bring some hard hitting and clearing the front of the net presence. 

All in all, Colorado is aiming high this season and they hope that their fans will be thrilled with some much better results.