After a breakout 40-point season, Sam Malinski enters Avalanche training camp determined to prove his best hockey may still be ahead of him.
Sam Malinski has already taken another significant step in his development with the Colorado Avalanche, but standing still does not appear to be an option.
After establishing himself as a full-time NHL defenseman for a second consecutive season and playing all 82 games last year, Malinski arrived at training camp with a simple objective: keep getting better.
“I think there's still a lot of room to grow in my game,” Malinski said Thursday while speaking to Guerilla Sports' Jesse Montano. “So I definitely still have that hunger to just keep getting better.”
The numbers suggest just how much progress Malinski made last season. After recording five goals and 10 assists for 15 points in 76 games during his first full-time season with Colorado, he exploded for eight goals and 32 assists and finished with 40 points in all 82 games last year.
Yet Malinski isn't approaching this season as though he has figured everything out.
His offseason included roughly a month away from hockey, giving him time to return home to Minnesota, reconnect with family, watch his young nephews run around and get out on the golf course before eventually returning to training. Once the work resumed, the focus shifted toward continuing to develop the tools that have helped him become an increasingly dependable part of Colorado’s blue line.
There is an interesting contrast to Malinski's game. The Cornell product has the skating and puck-moving ability to create offense from the back end, including a willingness to walk the blue line and wait patiently for a shooting lane. Reminiscent of fellow Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, the shrewd Malinski can shimmy across the ice, subtly shifting his angle before unleashing a wicked wrister toward the net. His 40-point season demonstrated that his offensive game is no longer merely an intriguing part of his potential.
His 40-point season demonstrated that his offensive game is no longer merely an intriguing part of his potential.
Now, the emphasis at camp is on the other side of the puck.
“You go the whole summer and you work on a lot of skill stuff and shooting and all that,” Malinski said. “So just trying to dial in the little habits of, you know, going back for pucks and defending guys.”
That attention to detail has become a recurring theme in Malinski's development. Rather than point to one secret behind his improvement, he has previously credited the Avalanche's veteran room for showing him how NHL players maintain themselves over an entire season.
He has paid close attention to what his teammates do, from recovery routines to the daily habits that allow veteran players to remain effective over the course of an NHL season. Brent Burns, in particular, caught his attention last year.
For a player who attended an Ivy League institution like Cornell University, there has always been something distinctive about Malinski's willingness—and ability—to learn from virtually everyone around him. His curiosity has become just as important to his development as his skill set, allowing him to absorb lessons from teammates who have already navigated the challenges he is now facing.
That mentality remains intact as he enters another season.
“I don't think I need to treat it a whole lot different,” Malinski said.
The production has already improved dramatically. Now Malinski is looking for the next layer of his game.
