What we learned from the Colorado Eagles 2022 season after a division final exit

After an exciting first and second round sweep, the Colorado Eagles historic season came to an end in the Division Finals. Top-seed in the Pacific and 2nd place atop the Western Conference, the Stockton Heat were exactly as advertised. Despite high-octane offensive talent, including league points leaders in Kiefer Sherwood, Dylan Sikura, and Jordan Gross, the Eagles were shut down by Dustin Wolf – the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award winner for outstanding goaltender of the year.

Stockton swept their second round opponent, the Bakersfield Condors, and opted to start the series at home, likely after seeing the home-ice advantage given to Colorado against Ontario when they started 2-0 at home.

It was an effective decision and stellar goaltending from Wolf shut out the Eagles both games making Friday’s contest back in Colorado a must-win to keep the Eagles in it.

After scoring the overtime winner on his birthday in Game 2 of the Ontario series, Jean-Luc Foudy did it again with the OT winner in a 6-5 win over Stockton to force Game 4. The Eagles would still fall 1-0 in the end.

To encapsulate the series, early penalties destroyed critical momentum at the start of the games which made finding offense difficult. Colorado outshot Stockton half the time, but Wolf made every important save. The Eagles penalty kill was nearly perfect throughout the playoffs, but went 15 for 18 in the Stockton series.

Not lost in all of this was tremendous goaltending from Justus Annunen who finished the playoffs with a 0.923 SV% and helped to keep the Eagles in it against a Stockton forward group that had some tools of their own, particularly in the Heats’ Justin Kirkland who had 7 points in the series.

Three shutout games are not the high note Colorado would like to end on, but an overview of the season reveals a net success. The Colorado Eagles as an AHL team began with Greg Cronin’s tenure as coach. 

Entering his fourth season behind the bench, Cronin started the year after signing a three-year contract extension this past August. He finished this season 39-22-4-3 and has remained above 0.500 each year. 

Joining Cronin was former Colorado Eagles player, Aaron Schneekloth. Under Schneekloth, the Eagles won back-to-back Kelly Cup championships in the ECHL. Schneekloth was retained as an assistant coach when the Eagles joined the AHL in the 2019 season. He is responsible for the d-pairings seen throughout the year, and he also signed a two-year deal this past summer so he is expected to be a continuing piece in the Eagles’ future.

The Eagles d-corps continued to contribute to the team at both ends of the ice making up 31% of the team’s production – largely supported by Gross who won the Eddie Shore Award for outstanding defenseman of the year and put up 65 points – 29 of which came about through his role on the top powerplay unit also crafted with the support of Schneekloth.

A new face to the coaching staff this season was former Utah Grizzlies head coach and general manager, Tim Branham. Retired NHL defenseman, Brett Clark, was expected behind the bench as another assistant, but a breach of COVID protocol prompted a change and Branham was brought on board. Branham ran what became a very successful penalty kill unit for the Eagles.

Also joining the Eagles as a goaltending coach was former Avalanche goaltender, Peter Budaj. This change took effect in late January and Annunen talked about how helpful it was to have the expertise of both Ryan Bach and Budaj.

This was the furthest the Eagles have gone in the Calder Cup playoffs since their AHL inception and their highest divisional finish outside of their second year wherein they finished 2nd (they were unable to play in the Calder Cup playoffs that year due to COVID-19.) That team consisted of points leaders like T.J. Tynan, whom the Eagles faced in the second round this year, as well as Sheldon Dries and Jacob MacDonald – none of which cracked 50 points that year.

On this 2021 team Sikura, Sherwood, and Gross all met or exceeded 65 points, and top line centerman, Mikhail Maltsev was not too far behind the 50 mark with 48 points. Sherwood held a 2nd in the league record for a 24-point streak across 14 games in March through April while Sikura also made the list with 13 points through 9 games early in the season.

The top line which was cemented as Sikura, Maltsev, and Sherwood contributed a combined 196 points making up 30% of the team’s offense alone. Their teamwide goals per game from this year compared to last increased from 2.97 to 3.59.

Twelve players had career years in terms of point production per game spanning across the forward group and d-corps.

Special teams ended the year with a penalty kill that was the best of any team past the second round. Their powerplay was among the top 5 as well.

Given the conclusion of their season, a few familiar faces have stayed in Loveland to continue practice as Black Aces for the Colorado Avalanche: Mikhail Maltsev, Dylan Sikura, Roland McKeown, Jayson Megna, Martin Kaut, Keaton Middleton, Jean-Luc Foudy, Hunter Miska, Trent Miner, and Justus Annunen.

This has already cropped up in conversations surrounding injuries to the Avs ahead of the Stanley Cup Finals. Megna, who had 9 points in 9 games through the playoffs despite battling a facial injury, has attended a couple of Avalanche practices already while the rest of the Black Aces continue to skate in Loveland to stay sharp. Annunen has also dressed as a backup goaltender for two games in Kuemper’s absence.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the prospects and company:

Mikhail Maltsev:

Maltsev has been on the Avs radar throughout this season. He had a brief call-up experience in October wherein he played three games up with the Avalanche and returned to the Eagles with some valuable insights to emphasize areas of improvement.

It was a rough showing but after he returned to the Eagles, he immediately posted 5 points over the next 5 games seemingly motivated to get another chance. The opportunity came in December and much of January and he did not register a point through 18 games played with the Avs this season – some would say he deserved credit here. 

It’s not the absence of production that stood out but rather the notable improvement in his pace and energy to better adapt to the Avs speed and style of play.

Another quiet, but hopeful quality of Maltsev is the fact that he dressed for every Eagles game with exception to those he missed due to callups. He was asked to lean into his physicality and become harder to play against, and he rose to that occasion, improving his possession numbers and becoming more aggressive on the forecheck and backcheck.

He’s hearty. He missed a couple shifts during a game one time and Cronin explained that he had a slight, lingering “thing” that he was battling throughout points this season – but Maltsev returned and played every game. He finished the year with 48 points as mentioned before, and 4 goals and 2 assists through 9 games in the playoffs.

Maltsev really stepped into the role of 1C for the Eagles, distributing the puck well, not getting worked off the puck at both ends, crashing high-danger areas and completing those passes (where many of his assists were earned) at home plate. His between the legs move right at the netfront almost became a signature.

He played a strong transitional game, improving upon possession exits, play-driving as a whole, and entry passes. He had ample opportunity to do this on the top line and top powerplay unit and eventually received looks on the penalty kill often on the second unit out.

Maltsev also became good for a d-zone faceoff win when the team was trailing, he improved this area of a game as a whole, but Cronin has specifically cited some of these moments in postgame interviews.

Above all, there was a visible confidence and comfortability that came to Maltsev as the season wore on. Smiling in practice photos and more exuberant goal celebrations with his teammates – things really seemed to come together in a year’s time. Expect Maltsev to be one to keep an eye on in camp this summer especially following any offseason moves that may affect the current Avs forward group.

Justus Annunen:

It’s his first AHL season on North American ice and he’s 22. Justus Anunnen, even in spite of a few stumbles, was the Eagles’ starting goaltender this year. He won Outstanding Goaltender of the Month in November with a 0.937 SV%. He had a tough March and sat out a few games in favor of Hunter Miska. He started to regain his confidence near the end of the regular season and dialed it in for the playoffs. He finished the regular season with a 0.893 SV%, 45 starts, and 1,131 saves – the 6th most in the league. Despite the Eagles being out of the playoffs, to date, Annunen still made the 2nd most saves of any goaltender in the postseason. He has been tested a lot and shows maturity and promise.

Jean-Luc Foudy:

He went from being a healthy scratch in early March to goals in back-to-back games shortly after. Cronin described him as a perimeter player and hoped he could get Foudy to get to more dangerous areas. Foudy missed just 3 games this year and finished with 26 points in 65 games, but it’s in the playoffs where he really shined. He improved his puck distribution, playing in the  inside-30 ice (he actually took a goaltender interference call early in the playoffs for being overzealous), and generally becoming a key contributor for the Eagles at critical moments with two overtime winning goals and among the team leaders with 7 points in 9 games. 

At 20 years old, it was no small feat to see Foudy emerge as a lock on the second line, PP2, and as a trustworthy player in situations like overtime playoff hockey.

Oskar Olausson:

After making his pro debut in the second round of the playoffs, Olausson only played in four total games. Outside of 2 assists in his debut, he did not produce any more points in a more limited role on the fourth line (compared to his top line debut in the absence of Dylan Sikura).

This gives me no panic. It’s such a limited body of work to evaluate him on and he looked impressively comfortable playing at the AHL pace. He had a shot in every game he played (which was on par with the rest of the team outside of Sikura who has an incredible shot percentage in general).

He has the right speed. He has an excellent shot especially on the powerplay. He made some defensive gaffes that will get better with more experience. The offseason will be interesting for the Eagles with some UFA’s hitting the market and expiring RFA’s up for qualifying offers – the Eagles forward group may change with more opportunity for Olausson to assume a larger role than what was available at the end of this year.

Martin Kaut:

Perhaps the most surprising of players not to get a second chance at a call-up opportunity after suffering a shoulder injury in November during a match against the Columbus Blue Jackets is Kaut. After rehabilitating his injury for a month, he returned to the Eagles lineup in December and had 3 goals in back-to-back games. Also on the top powerplay unit with Maltsev, Sikura, Sherwood, and Gross, Kaut finished the year with 36 points in 46 games – 12 of which came about on the PP. His production compares to previous years, but it’s his role on the penalty kill which proved to be valuable to the Eagles, especially in the postseason.

Kaut proved to be very reliable defensively, tying up sticks and creating turnovers in his own end which allowed breakaway chances (and one successful short-handed goal).

Sampo Ranta:

Ranta played 10 games to start the season with the Avalanche. He didn’t produce and returned to Loveland hopeful to work on the details of his game. Cronin described him as a 3rd or 4th line NHL’er and a prized prospect, but his utilization was extremely varied playing wing on the third and fourth lines at points. 

He missed just over two months to recover from a foot injury at the end of the season and returned in the middle of the playoffs. He played 5 of 9 games and was unable to generate anything offensively. To his credit, very few were able to against Stockton and Ranta had only just returned for the Ontario series after missing the first round against Henderson.

He produced 14 points in 38 games during the regular season. He played with energy every single shift and doesn’t often lose puck battles. He’s unafraid to do the blue collar things and it can reward him. It’s his playmaking and puck management that haven’t moved the needle for me yet, but missing as much time as he did makes it hard to find consistency. Hopefully he can get to 100% healthy if he wasn’t already and complete a full year with the Eagles to take that next leap.

Shane Bowers:

Similar to Sampo Ranta, Bowers’ season was seriously impacted by injury. After missing close to two months following an arm injury at the start of the season, he also missed a couple of games in February after tweaking something in practice.

Through the regular season, he played 37 games with offense trickling in at 6 goals and 3 assists. Near the end of the year, Bowers was scratched for a handful of games. Cronin cited the physicality of the series (predominantly against Ontario) as a primary reason for the decision, opting for the services of the hard-nosed Dalton Smith instead.

Despite this rocky regular season, when Bowers did get an opportunity in the postseason, he had an immediate impact.

Bowers returned to the lineup in Game 2 against the Ontario Reign and contributed 2 assists in the win over Ontario.

He went pointless in the next game and then sat for the start of the Stockton series. After the Eagles were shut out in Game 1 and 2, Bowers got another look in Game 3 and opened the scoring and added another assist in the 6-5 win.

In Game 4, the Eagles were shut out yet again but Bowers was just behind Sikura with 6 shots on net. Cronin said Bowers does extra work in the weight room, and he did appear to put on weight/muscle at the end of the season which could coincide with some of the feedback regarding the physicality of the regular season matchup where Cronin opted for size and grit.

Bowers is a tough player to pin because when you look closely, he doesn’t make grievous mistakes and plays a complete game. He has great vision, excellent speed, and skilled hands, but there are points throughout the season where he is less visible. It’s a tough break for a player whose career has already been marred by injury.

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To begin wrapping things up, there is still room for the Eagles to demonstrate that they’re a viable vehicle to develop young prospects. The delicate nature of development asks players to be perfectly primed for the next level in due time but not too much time. Looking at the season the Eagles had as a whole, they are trending in the right direction to offer players: prospects, veterans, and somewhere in between, chances to grow and achieve their personal best – whatever that may be. Seeing the strides the Eagles took as a team and an organization is worth the excitement.

Every season ends eventually. For the Colorado Eagles, it ended after back-to-back sweeps and a hard-fought series against the Pacific Division champions. I was honored to be a part of it, and I am looking forward to next year.