The Colorado Avalanche haven’t played a competitive hockey game since September 4th, 2020, when they lost in overtime of Game 7 to the Dallas Stars. The pain of that game is still very fresh in my mind, thankfully the guys who played in it probably aren’t mental midgets, and they’ve probably moved on. But as a fan, the pain doesn’t go away until a new season begins, and that happens tonight.
The Avs begin their much anticipated 2021 season against the St Louis Blues. For the first time in a long time, the Avs come into the season as the odds on favorite to win the Stanley Cup. For people in their mid 20’s like myself, this is a very new feeling. We’ve had some decent teams over the last decade, but certainly nothing like this. And I legitimately could not be more excited to get things underway. From MacKinnon to Makar, this team is fucking loaded. The Avs have everything required to win a Cup. They have depth, a superstar center, and more than competent goaltending. And while their depth wasn’t a huge issue last season, our savior Joe Sakic worked his magic this offseason to bring in even more talent.
For those of you living under a rock, Sakic made two impactful trades this fall. Two moves that he hopes can get the Avs over the Divisional Round Game 7 hump.
Bandon Saad
Saad was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks that saw Nikita Zadorov heading the other way. While some fans were upset to lose Big Zs size and physicality, his boneheaded plays will not be missed. Saad had a pretty productive season last year on a pretty shit Blackhawks team. He played 58 games and had 21 goals, 12 assists for 33 points. Saad has consistently been a 20+ goal scorer, but where he really shows up is the playoffs. He won two Stanley Cups with the Hawks, and he was one of the best players on the team both seasons. That’s why Sakic brought him in to perform in the playoffs. Saad figures to get top-six minutes and potentially help out on either side of special teams. Hard to see a situation where this trade doesn’t work out swimmingly for the Avs.
Devon Toews
The Avs traded two 2nd round picks to the New York Islanders in exchange for Toews (no relation to the Blackhawks Jonathan Toews). This trade set hockey twitter alight. People were saying you just can’t pick up the phone when Joe calls cause he’s gonna fleece ya. And when the people think you’ve fleeced Lou Lamoriello, you know it’s a great trade. The 26-year-old Defenceman had a breakout season on the Island and was a first pairing D-man through the entire playoffs. Toews is an upgrade from the departed Zadorov both offensively and defensively. However, Toews won’t be asked to do as much offensively this year compared to last year. A big reason for that is his projected D partner, Cale Makar. If that pairing holds, it could be one of the most, if not the most, productive D pairing in the entire NHL this season.
Other than those two additions the Avs roster has not changed much, but it really didn’t need to. Sakic said all offseason that he liked his team. He felt adding Saad and Toews was the couple pieces needed to win a cup. And after everything Joe did to get the team here, you’d be a fuckin idiot to disagree.
I can’t properly express how excited I am to see this team play. The Avs have not had this much talent on a roster since the early 2000s teams. Teams that existed before the salary cap was introduced in the NHL. The amount of skill that Sakic, and the front office, have accumulated is tremendous, but it will all be for not without a deep playoff run. But I, a gambling man, wouldn’t bet against it. All that is to come, for now, let’s all just enjoy having this team back on our TVs. Cause right now the snows looking all time, and I can’t wait to see just how good it can be.
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The Snow Report 