Coming up fast and furious is the 2023-24 NHL season. How exciting is that! As exciting as playing online at PlayCroco? Well, let’s see….we have the Nashville Predators and the Tampa Bay Lightning starting the ball rolling on 10thOctober. The winners of the 2022 Stanley Cup, the Colorado Avalanche are looking to do better, in order to defend their title, after yielding to the Seattle Kraken during seven games in the first round of the 2023 playoffs.
Although winning the Stanley Cup is definitely something the Avalanche are focused on, there are a number of other “career objectives for them to master. Below we will look at some of the important milestones that the Colorado Avalanche have on their radar and hope to achieve this season.
The acquisition of Alexandar Georgiev
The Avalanche management played it risky last off season and acquired Georgiev from the New York Rangers. He since became a starter-level netminder and the gamble, it seems, has paid off and after only one season things are looking good. In statistical categories, Georgiev is ranking very high among all netminders:
“Georgiev started the third-most games (62), tied for the league lead in wins (40), and finished 10thin save percentage (SV%) and goals saved above expected (GSAx) among all goalies to play in at least 10 games last season.”
All in all, he has done exceptionally well and has rewarded those who had faith in him.
Even though Georgiev has only recently joined the Avalanche, he is already able to be placed on the franchise’s top ten leaderboard in a few goaltending groups. If this season his numbers are unchanged, it would mean he would complete the 2023-24 season “Tenth in saves and games played, seventh in wins and fifth in shutouts.”
Georgiev’s career to date has been somewhat inconsistent. It is likely that we will see some regression at some level. Nevertheless, he is likely to be up there near the franchise leaders.
With the retirement of Patrick Roy and the merry-go-round of different goaltenders, the Avalanche have experienced a shortage of quality players. It is not surprising that Georgiev can reach the top of the career charts so quickly.
Here’s hoping that he moves forward and finds himself a place at the top with those other celebrated Avalanche goaltenders.
Nathan MacKinnon
Nathan MacKinnon, Avalanche center, has already proved himself. He has helped them win the Stanley Cup again. He ranks fourth in the league according to points that he’s scored since joining the NHL in the 2013-14 season.
He already has a gleaming reputation so the only thing left for him to do is to get to the top of the franchise scoring leaderboards and earn his rightful place with the other Avalanche greats.
MacKinnon is fifth in career goals. “MacKinnon (475) is 63 helpers shy of Forsberg in third (538) and 15 back of Michel Goulet (490) in fourth.” What we might see in 2023-24 is him moving up, maybe one spot. This season he may pass Forsberg.
MacKinnon is the only working Avalanche player who has a chance to reach the top spot on the franchise’s career scoring marks, and challenge Joe Sakic for the place. But he has a way to go, almost 900 points in order to close the gap.
Head coach Jared Bednar
Since theill-famed season of 2016-17, head coach Jared Bared has made great progress. In that infamous season the Avalanche scored 48 points in 82 games. The “corresponding .293 points percentage (PTS%) was the third worst in franchise history…” Having only recently been promoted from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, this could have been particularly bad for the head coach, Jared Bednar.
Fortunately, the Avalanche put their trust in him and he has worked wonders in helping the team forge ahead and be successful since the latter part of the 1990s and early 2000s, and ultimately winning the Stanley cup in 2022.