Quest For the Cup: The Colorado Avalanche Are Hockey’s Ultimate Wagon in 2026

“I distinctly ordered the Antarctic Blue Super Sports Wagon with the C.B. and optional rally fun pack!”
– Clark Griswold, National Lampoon’s Vacation

When they brought Clark the “metallic pea” station wagon with the faux wood paneling instead of his requested order, you could understand why he was looking for something “icier” in his wagon. If you had to put yourself in something that could haul the whole crew cross-sountry, you’d want it in something at least a little… cooler.

There may not be an icier, cooler, and more decisive wagon in sports at the moment than the 2025-26 Colorado Avalanche. The President’s Trophy winners came out of the gates like they’d been shot out of a cannon, and dominated nearly the entire season. Finishing up with the best offense and defense in the NHL, with a pair of goalies who both showed the capability to stand on their heads when needed. Thus far, they have been nothing short of a juggernaut, including a currently-undefeated streak six games into the playoffs. These Avs need not hitch themselves to a wagon, they simply are one. Step in the way, and they’ll likely just mow you down.

Sports that determine their champions via playoff series instead of single elimination games (hockey, baseball, and basketball vs football or soccer) tend to offer the better teams a better chance of not having an unfortunate outcome derail their shot at a championship. As sports often show, any team can beat any other team on any difficult night, but taking a best-of-5 or -7 series is a wholly different matter. In those situations, the scales tend to (almost) always tip in the favor of the better squad.

Conversely, those single elimination champs inevitably are the only undefeated team from their playoffs, as a loss would have sent them home. This means it is a much more difficult proposition in series-based playoffs to be undefeated on the way to a championship. Even the greatest teams of their eras tend to drop a game or three along the way, just as the wagons tend to have a blown tire or two as they cross that great expanse to their ultimate goal, be it a Stanley Cup or Wally World. Just ask the Griswolds.

Which tends to portend that these Avs won’t be 16-0 on their way to a Stanley Cup. Hell, the 6-0 start has a much-wiser Avs writer than me in AJ Haefele reminded of a similar start and tragic finish in 2021. But this doesn’t feel like that Avalanche squad. This group feels much more decidedly like the following year’s squad, who won the cup on the way to a ripping-hot 16-4 run to their third championship.

The 2022 model of that Avs wagon was one of the best Stanley Cup runs in NHL history, with only a few teams (’88 Oilers, ’95 Devils, ’12 Kings) able to claim better-or-equal runs. Not many basketball or baseball teams have done as well or better, either. The ’01 Lakers went 15-1 on their way to a championship, and the ’86 Celtics and ’96 Bulls each made their impressive 15-3 marks as well. The ’76 Reds swept their way through a shorter postseason, and the ’98 Yankees only lost a couple, but… the number of teams that can just put their foot on the gas pedal of their particular wagon and keep it there are few and far between, no matter who they are, or which era they came from.

Which is why this run has the potential to be something incredibly special for the Colorado Avalanche. Make no mistake, if they ended up taking this year’s Cup by winning three game sevens along the way from here, no true Avs fan will feel that outcome means any less. A cup is a cup, whether it took you 16 games or 28 to get there. But this team doesn’t feel like one that will dilly-dally on their path, or make too many stops along the highway to admire the Grand Canyon. This Avalanche squad feels pretty single-minded in getting this wagon to their intended destination, and then admiring the trip instead from the vantage point of looking back. As well it should be. You can always hit Wally World when the task is done. For the moment, this wagon is in drive, and running over whatever and whoever is in front of it. They have the C.B. radio and the optional rally fun pack. Enjoy the ride, Avs fans. It’s a quest. A quest for fun.