After one disappointing playoff run sparked calls for Colorado to move on from Brock Nelson, history suggests the Avalanche would be making a costly mistake by abandoning patience now.
One disappointing playoff run has suddenly turned Brock Nelson into a trade candidate in the minds of some Colorado Avalanche fans.
That's exactly why the Avalanche shouldn't listen.
Nelson delivered one of the best regular seasons of his career in 2025-26, proving he could still be a top-six contributor on a Stanley Cup contender. Yes, his postseason performance was frustrating. Yes, he needed to be better. But if history has taught this organization anything, it's that championships aren't won by tearing apart a roster every time it falls short.
Nelson finished the playoffs with just two goals and one assist in 13 games, and both of his goals came into empty nets. For a player expected to provide secondary scoring, the lack of offensive impact was impossible to ignore. It's understandable why frustration has turned into trade speculation.
The problem is that reality rarely matches emotion.
Nelson signed a three-year contract worth $7.5 million annually last offseason, a deal that was questioned from the moment it became official. There was logic behind the criticism. After Colorado acquired him from the New York Islanders at the 2025 trade deadline—along with forward prospect William Dufour in exchange for Cal Ritchie, a conditional 2026 first-round pick and a conditional 2028 third-round pick—Nelson never fully found another gear offensively.
Even so, he still produced four assists in seven playoff games during Colorado's first-round exit against the Dallas Stars in 2025, making this year's decline even more puzzling. Was he playing through an injury? Was something limiting him physically? Those questions remain unanswered.
What isn't up for debate is the season he put together.
Nelson scored 33 goals and added 32 assists for 65 points, one of the strongest offensive campaigns of his career, before also winning Olympic gold in Milan. Considering the uncertainty surrounding his fit in Colorado entering the season, he exceeded many expectations over 82 games.
The playoffs simply didn't follow.
That doesn't mean the Avalanche should suddenly abandon the patient philosophy that built a championship team.
Colorado’s 2022 Stanley Cup roster wasn’t assembled overnight or through emotional reactions to postseason disappointment. Andre Burakovsky arrived in 2019. Nazem Kadri was acquired that same summer in the trade that sent Tyson Barrie and Alexander Kerfoot to Toronto. Even after his 2021 suspension for an illegal check to the head of St. Louis Blues defenseman Justin Faulk, the Avalanche didn’t move on from him following a bitter postseason exit. Valeri Nichushkin also signed in 2019 after being bought out by Dallas.
None of those moves paid off immediately.
Instead of blowing up the roster after that second-round loss to Vegas in 2021, the Avalanche stayed the course, trusted their core, and continued making calculated improvements around the edges, like trading for Darcy Kuemper to drastically improve their goaltending.
One year later, they lifted the Stanley Cup.
That's why the calls to trade Brock Nelson, Martin Necas or even Cale Makar after one bad series feel more reactionary than rational.
Joe Sakic acknowledged the disappointment of falling short after winning the Presidents' Trophy, but he also recognized the bigger picture. A 65-win-caliber season doesn't suddenly become a failure because of two difficult weeks in May. It becomes another step in the process of building a perennial contender.
The Avalanche don't need a demolition project.
They need smart, incremental upgrades—a more physical forward group, another defenseman who brings an edge, and perhaps a little more depth for another long playoff run.
That approach built a champion once, and there's every reason to believe it can again.
As for Nelson, the most likely and perhaps the smartest outcome is a simple one: let him come back healthy, motivated and determined to write a different ending next spring.
