The new-look Colorado Avalanche could go on another deep playoff run this year, but Adam Proteau says the Avs could also very well turn out to be a team that disappoints this season.

There are pressing questions for every NHL team this coming season, but some teams are more fascinating than others. And for this writer, one of the most intriguing franchises in 2024-25 is the Colorado Avalanche.

There’s no question the Avs are flush with high-end talent, with superstars Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen giving Colorado an advantage over most opponents. But, as is the case with every Stanley Cup-winning team in the salary cap era, the Avalanche’s depth took a major hit this summer. Indeed, when you look at the Avs’ depth chart past their top line of forwards, the drop-off in skill is considerable, and worrisome for Avalanche fans.

Making matters more challenging for Colorado is their dicey predicaments with star wingers Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin. Landeskog, of course, has missed the past season-and-a-third with a major knee injury, but he’s determined to play again. And if he can make it back, the ripple effect he’ll have on the lineup – and the impact he’ll have just by being in the dressing room – will be a huge positive for his team.

Meanwhile, the Avs will get another boost when Nichushkin is eligible to return to action after serving a six-month suspension for violating Stage Two of the NHL and NHL Players Association’s player assistance program. Before he ran afoul of the program, Nichushkin posted 28 goals and 53 points in 54 regular-season games last year. And if he and Landeskog return at or near the same time – Nichushkin will be eligible to return in November – suddenly Colorado will have two first-rate forward lines to go along with two Grade-A defensive pairings.

All in all, the Avalanche are a bit of a wild-card team, but not in the sense that they’re competing for a wild-card berth. Rather, we’re talking about them as a squad that could be one of the more dominant groups, or a team that could take a step or two backward in the competitive Central Division. Much will depend on the health of Landeskog and Nichushkin – in addition to the performance of the goalie tandem of Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen – but if things work out as management hopes, the Colorado could once again go on a long post-season run come spring.

Call it a Jekyll-and-Hyde predicament for Colorado if you want, but the truth is nobody should feel 100 percent comfortable projecting where the Avs will wind up in 2024-25. To be sure, they can count on MacKinnon, Rantanen and Makar delivering as advertised, but after that, the destiny for the Avalanche is nowhere near as clear as some would like it to be. 

The Avs could thrive, or they could crumble, and only the constant test of the regular-season grind is going to determine how much fun Colorado fans will have this coming year.