Different Avalanche team than last year, same goal

There are significant differences between this year's Colorado Avalanche team and last year's team, but the goal is the same - win the Stanley Cup.

DENVER -- This year's Colorado Avalanche team has been consistently compared to last year's Stanley Cup-winning team, but they are not the same.

Obviously, the most significant difference is the offense. Colorado is missing captain Gabriel Landeskog, which has had a huge impact on the team. Then there's the absence of Nazem Kadri, who signed with Calgary in the offseason because the Avalanche couldn't afford to keep him with the other elite talent paychecks on the team. Another producer in the Cup run was Andre Burakovsky, who is now in Seattle.

Head coach Jared Bednar said president Joe Sakic and general manager Chris MacFarland and the rest of the staff did a good job filling in those holes. Guys like Evan Rodrigues and Denis Malgin have helped the team win games.

"But it's not the same high-powered offensive forward group it was last year. So I'd say yeah, we have to rely on our top guys even more and they've done an amazing job of finding ways to produce," Bednar said Sunday. "MacKinnon's career year, Rantanen's career year, you know all that helps."

The top scorers are leaned on quite a bit, but the non-elite players play a significant role on the team too. And there are no elitist attitudes in that locker room. All the guys, no matter what their stats are, want to win games. Bottom line.

"I think it's important in building a consistent winner. When you have elite players -- like Nate, Mikko, Cale -- in the salary cap era, you need young guys to step up and complement your lineup and help your team win," Rodrigues said.

Good examples are Alex Newhook and Logan O'Connor. While they contributed as part of the Cup-winning team last season, they've stepped up their game this year and Bednar has noticed.

The 2022 Stanley Cup team had a plethora of talent. Not saying this year’s team isn’t talented, it has had to work harder to prove it’s a playoff-worthy group.

“That’s the reality of our team this year. It’s not the same team. Like last year we were really deep in forward all year long,” Bednar said. “And then when we added, like Lehkonen at the deadline, when we added those guys at the deadline, we became super deep.

“We had really good players sitting out every night in the forward position. And we haven’t had that luxury this year.”

But, lacking a captain all season, new faces in the locker room and a ridiculous number of injuries throughout the season, here we are. Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a team that was doubted to make the postseason before the All-Star break.

The offense may look different, but the defense doesn’t so much. The system Bednar had last year remained in place this season and it continues to work for this team.

“But I still believe that with our team, a lot of the offense is driven by the backend and it’s the same defense group that we had last year. Obviously, a different goalie,” Bednar said.

That new netminder, Alexandar Georgiev, has played an amazing first year as a starter. And so far, he’s continued that success into his first playoff games.

So this season’s squad isn’t the same as last season’s squad. That doesn’t mean they don’t have the same chance at repeating and winning another Stanley Cup. They found a way last year. They're finding a way this year.