Avalanche Mailbag: Who is Colorado’s next captain?

The Colorado Avalanche return to action tomorrow in Nashville against the Predators after the completion of the Four Nations break. Three Avs won the tournament as part of Team Canada with Nathan MacKinnon being named MVP for his work.

With everyone gearing back up, I wanted to do an Avs mailbag. We haven’t done one in a while so this is going to be a big one. I hit up the Diehard Avs Discord first, then Twitter and Bluesky for questions.

Here’s what was on y’all’s mind.

This Avalanche team has lacked identity since winning the Cup. Injuries, suspensions, no captain for 3 seasons. How do you see this organization moving forward this offseason/this window?

_brandonjm_ from DNVR Avs Diehard Discord

This is a really broad question so it’s one of the tougher ones, but I’ll give it a shot. As far as injuries and suspensions, those are things that every organization is going to have to live with to a certain degree. The lack of Gabe Landeskog is something that gets larger every day, I think. They badly miss the player and the leader, but it does feel like the Avalanche have been stuck in stasis waiting for their captain to figure out if his career will resume or not.

The reality here is it is three full seasons since he last played. He’s tried to push it to return, but his knee has not responded in a way that allows him to play in the NHL right now. The Avs should be commended for being patient with him. His dedication to the organization earned him that, but the $7M “will he, won’t he” problem every offseason has to stop. The organization needs a guy to step into the captaincy and put the “C” on his chest.

I think we’ve already seen the organization making drastic changes to their makeup. Mikko Rantanen is gone. They have targeted younger players who will be around for multiple seasons in their four in-season trades already. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that continue in the run-up to the trade deadline in two weeks. The Avs 2.0 is, effectively, dead. Avs 2.1 began with the goaltender trades and continued with the Rantanen deal.

If Landeskog ends up retiring, who do you think gets the C and who ultimately gets the C? I know everyone thinks Makar but I feel MacKinnon might feel slighted if he’s passed up.

MartinLetain on Twitter

Martin, good to hear from you, my guy! My prediction would also be Makar and I think that’s where the organization would go with it. I don’t think MacKinnon wants that responsibility. I think he’s happy being part of the leadership group but not at the top of that particular food chain.

Makar has that kind of even-keeled temperament you want leading the charge and I think he’s become a larger and larger voice in that room over the last few years. My sneaky pick for this would be Devon Toews, who is an ultra-competitive bad ass behind the scenes and drives the emotional bus in a lot of ways. I’m not sure they could give him the “C” over Makar, but if it did happen, I wouldn’t be shocked by it.

How is your feeling on Sam Malinski?

avfan65 on Bluesky

I’m glad I got this question because it’s something I find interesting. Malinski was so good during the preseason that the Avs felt comfortable trading Erik Brannstrom to Vancouver in a deal that landed them an extra draft pick and some extra LTIR space with Tucker Poolman’s deal.

Malinski followed that up with a great start to his season, but it’s been a true tale of two years for him. These are Malinski’s on-ice results from the start of the year through the Christmas break:

• Shot attempts: 53%
• Shots on goal: 53%
• Expected goals for: 54%
• Scoring chances for: 55%
• High-danger chances for: 56%

Here are Malinski’s on-ice results after the Christmas break:

• Shot attempts: 49%
• Shots on goal: 43%
• Expected goals for: 54%
• Scoring chances for: 44%
• High-danger chances for: 39%

That is an enormous drop-off in effectiveness from Malinski. Obviously, not all of those results are solely his fault, but it’s clear that something changed in his game. He’s gone from averaging over 16 minutes per game to less than 14 in that same time. He’s been healthy scratched a few times.

His play took a real dip and it’s a problem for the Avs. Billed as an offensive defenseman, Malinski only has six points in 54 games, which is not good enough. He’s been a touch unlucky, but overall he’s not doing enough with the puck and his defense has taken a step back.

I like Malinski, but right now it feels like he’s just as likely to be included in a trade deadline deal as he is to secure that third-pairing spot on the right side. He turns 27 this summer so this isn’t a baby boy learning to walk here. He has to figure it out right now.

Thoughts on Kevin Bahl? Seems like a good third-pairing guy.

87NathanJones87 on Twitter

I would agree! I liked the Flames targeting Bahl in the Jacob Markstrom deal. He’s a big boy who handles his business well in his own zone. The Flames are in a weird place where they aren’t anywhere near good enough to make real noise in the playoffs but they have too much talent to bottom out. That puts them in a tricky spot come trade deadline time.

He’s been pushed into a much harder role in Calgary than he would play in Colorado and he has respectable results to show for it. Despite being 6’6″, his skating data is encouraging so he might be a decent fit in what the Avs ask from their defenders. The puck skill is definitely lacking, though, but isn’t that already true for the guys the Avs are already trying out in that spot right now?

I’m not sure why the Flames would want to move on from Bahl, who is only 25. He may not be a high-impact guy for them moving forward, but he’s young and still cost-controlled so it would take the Avs moving real assets to get him. If they used a second-round pick to get him, is that something you’re comfortable with? I don’t know that I am, but I’m not flat-out opposed.

Is Brayden Schenn a guy the Avs should make a move for?

Landysknee on Twitter

Schenn has garnered some interest now that the St. Louis Blues are once again scuffling. He’s very well-respected around the league and is a big-time intangibles add. He plays hard, brings an edge, and has the kind of competitiveness the Avs could certainly use.

The problem is his contract, age, and on-ice results. He can add some goals to the lineup, but he’s 33-years-old and signed for three more years after this and has seen his game his a real wall over the last few years. He’s still a decent offensive player but he’s not very good defensively and he’s overused by the Blues. He’d play a similar role in Colorado as he already does so it’s not as if the Avs would be protecting him more, either.

Frankly, if the contract was two years shorter, I would be a lot more interested. I know there’s a large contingent of people who believe anyone would be better than Casey Mittelstadt, but Schenn has 32 points in 56 games while Mittelstadt is at 32 points through 57 games. Schenn only has two more goals than Mittelstadt, too. Schenn is seven years older and costs $750K more per year. Is this really much of an upgrade? Color me unconvinced.

Ideal trade deadline with players in/out? And what would your confidence be with that team going into the playoffs?

Braydenn25 from Twitter

Staying in a realistic realm here (so no Sidney Crosby), I think my ideal would be for the Avs to grab a couple of guys from sinking teams that have uncertain futures. From Boston, the Avs acquiring Trent Frederic and Brandon Carlo would really do it for me and then add Yanni Gourde from Seattle.

Putting Frederic and Gourde with Ross Colton on a remade third line would be amazing, but I think Colton would probably have to be part of the deal. Even then, putting Frederic and Gourde together with Logan O’Connor would give the Avs a lot of sandpaper and speed for opposing teams to handle.

If Colorado’s bottom-six forwards are going to struggle to score anyway, as is the case right now, they might as well be awful for opposing teams to play against. This configuration accomplishes that. I also think there’s a realistic path for the Avs keeping one or both of the pending UFAs this summer, so it may not be just a rental, either.

Carlo’s addition solidifies Colorado’s top four defensemen and adds the bruising presence on the right side that they were hoping Josh Manson would be. Manson and his nightly adventures would move to the third pairing in this world while Sam Malinski is also probably part of the trade. Carlo is signed for two more years, so these deals could provide a boost for this year and subsequent years, as well.

My confidence would be higher with that group than it is today with the current group. It would be a fun group to see play.

Have you seen the growth you were hoping to in Cal Ritchie’s game so far this season?

NickLaPoint from Twitter

Frankly, I haven’t. When he was one of Canada’s top players at the World Junior Championship, the offense stalled out and that group had trouble scoring. Ritchie is predictably not struggling to score in the OHL with 63 points in 36 games played. Ritchie is yet another example of a guy who would have been better served going to the AHL but because of the age rules in place with the AHL and CHL, he wasn’t allowed to do that.

Ritchie was clearly overmatched at the NHL level but is bored in the OHL. The only real red flag would have been if Ritchie had a bad year, but instead he’s performed to expectation. I’m not looking at this as a good or bad year. Next training camp is the next major litmus test for him.

How much trouble is [Jared] Bednar in if they get eliminated in the second round or earlier?

ABakiera on Twitter

I don’t think he’s in much trouble as long as the team is competitive. If they go into Round 1 and get clowned, I think the conversation gets a bit louder. I do think there is a real chance that for the first time, we see a change in his assistant coaches. Ray Bennett’s message certainly doesn’t seem to be getting through anymore and the power play has been a mess for months now.

Something drastic would have to happen for Bednar to be on the outs in Denver.

Between the off-ice issues and injuries, do you think the Avs should move on from Val Nichushkin in the offseason?

Karlski_01 on Twitter

This…is a tough one. I know people love to cite the Avs’ win-loss record when Nichushkin is in and out of the lineup, but that has always been a problem for me. That said, there’s no denying that Nichushkin, at his best, is a true unicorn in the sport.

His combination of size and skating is rare and add in his hands and willingness to dig pucks along the wall and you have a player whose two-way ability was crucial to Colorado’s Stanley Cup victory in 2022. The sneaky truth is that since then, Nichushkin has been nowhere near as effective when he’s been available, especially defensively.

In fact, Nichushkin’s defensive results this year have been hovering around league average but that part of his game has been in precipitous decline. There are also, you know, all of the other circumstances surrounding him and his unreliability, especially come playoff time.

I don’t think it’s inappropriate for the Avs to explore moving on this summer, but what kind of return would he garner to make it worth it? If Nichushkin stays on the straight and narrow and gets through the playoff run without incident, has he turned a corner or should the Avs pounce and try to move him before getting burned again?

He isn’t the same player he once was and he still has five years remaining on his deal, so this isn’t a guy they can just dump on a team and move on. Frankly, I wonder about a Nichushkin-Seth Jones swap but I know that will be unpopular with a large contingent of people reading this and I get it. I won’t make my case here, but moving on from Nichushkin just isn’t as far-fetched as it once appeared.

Since the Avs opened up a bit of cap space, who is your dream get for the summer via free agency or trade?

NmHikerPerson on Twitter

This is a tough one, too, because you never really know who is available on the trade market and so many of the top free agents re-sign every year. If we remove Landeskog’s $7M salary from the equation, the Avs are slated to have about $15M in cap space to work with.

I’ll disregard the possibility of Jonathan Drouin re-signing just for the sake of the conversation. I’m also not including the possibility of Mikko Rantanen re-signing because I think that ship has probably sailed. In free agency, four players stand out to me as guys I think would be great fits in Colorado:

• Brock Boeser
• Vladislav Gavrikov
• Nikolaj Ehlers
• Dmitry Orlov

Another name I will be keeping an eye on because I’ve long loved his game is Andrew Mangiapane, but he’s more of a depth guy than a big-impact player. Aaron Ekblad feels like a grenade waiting to blow up on someone so I’m less excited there, but his teammate, Sam Bennett, is another guy that would look great in Colorado.

I’m not sure how many of those guys will even make it to market, but I won’t be surprised when I’m writing free agency previews about a few of them come late June.

As far as a trade target goes, I wrote about my love of Buffalo Sabres center Ryan McLeod in my already-disastrous 2025 predictions piece, so I guess let’s say he’s my “dream get” via trade. Of other RFAs that might be available, Noah Dobson and K’Andre Miller would also be on my “dream get” list.