Colin Wilson feeling refreshed, says he's found "perfect situation"

Going from the ride of a lifetime to the Stanley Cup Finals with the NHL’s darling of the postseason in the Nashville Predators, to traded to a Colorado Avalanche team coming off an embarrassing 48-point season, in just a matter of three weeks, was a shock to the nervous system of forward Colin Wilson.

But once his final destination was known, Wilson, who had been expecting to be moved in the summer, was ready to get on with the next stage of his career.

“I’ve been there for eight years and both parties kind of decided it was time to move on,” Wilson said. “Both sides weren’t necessarily seeing eye to eye anymore. It’s good to get in here.”

It was a bittersweet ending, as Wilson was one of the building blocks for the Predators in their rise to relevance after he was the seventh overall selection in the 2008 NHL draft. Eight years is a long time with one team, and by the end things had just run their course.

“For them, it was certainly some contract obligations with some guys coming up they needed to sign,” Wilson said.  “With me, I think they maybe wanted a little more from me there in the playoffs in the last bit so I think both sides just kind of decided to move on.”

While coming to the Avalanche may not have been the dream of every player, especially one who came within two victories of having his name engraved on Lord Stanley of Preston’s Cup, the 27-year-old feels Colorado is actually the right kind of place for him now.

“It’s a new set of challenges and a new team and everyone is looking for a fresh start so I think it’s a perfect situation for me,” Wilson said. “It’s a good mindset to have on this team and you want to forget what happened last year but certainly, keep it in the back of your mind a little bit. I think we’re all striving for a better year.”

The self-described power forward is viewing his opportunity with the Avalanche as a reset for his stalled career.

“I’ve been happy with my first eight years and I know I can build on that and get better and be put in a spot to succeed,” Wilson said with a smile. “I’m happy where I’m at.”

His start in Colorado has been slowed because of a minor injury suffered just before training camp, which relegated him to skating on his own or in a non-contact jersey, which he jokingly said gave him a false sense of confidence early on.

“It definitely changes things,” Wilson said with a chuckle. “The first couple days I felt like I was really beating these guys wide but they couldn’t hit me so it was nice to finally be kept in check.”

Wilson’s first full practice with the Avalanche saw him slotted on a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. When asked about the responsibility and opportunity in playing with two high-quality players like that, Wilson went deadpan.

“No pressure,” he said. “They’re talented players and it’s pretty fun playing with those guys. They have speed and skill and it was fun to be playing with them.”

Allowing it’s still early in the preseason and Wilson has yet to play a game in an Avalanche uniform, head coach Jared Bednar’s first impressions of his new left wing have him excited to see what’s next.

“I’ve really liked what I’ve seen from him so my expectations are growing,” Bednar said. “I think that he’s a guy that’s played checking roles before, he’s put up good numbers. We expect all of our players to be 200-foot players. He’s a guy that fits right into that. I really like his character and his work ethic, his detail, and his tenacity in practice I think is helping drive our group so that’s good. I like his leadership.”

That leadership and Wilson’s experience helping the once-rebuilding Predators rise to the top of the Western Conference last season are attributes Colorado’s new No. 22 feel will help him find a home with the youthful Avalanche.

“It was a young team when I [started in Nashville] and it’s becoming a young league as I look around the league,” Wilson said. “Being in a rebuild situation is a good situation. You get a lot of fresh start talk but that’s the feeling when you have a lot of young talent trying to prove themselves as a team.”

While many young guys are trying to prove they belong in the NHL, Wilson is simply looking to re-establish himself as a guy who belongs in a team’s future plans. Like many around the league during the overly optimistic preseason, things are off to a good start for Colin Wilson.