After their 8-2 win over the Ottawa Senators, the Colorado Avalanche have just played over half of their season. Things have been looking great: with a record of 32-4-7 for 71 points, the Avalanche not only sit atop the Central Division but also the NHL as a whole, led by key performances from multiple players currently in the running for numerous regular-season awards. 

If the NHL season were to end today, it would be no surprise if the league saw the Avalanche take home a majority of the awards just based on their first half of the season. Here are the Avalanche players we could/should see take home awards if the season ended today, and who should take home them by the end of the season if their play continues at the level they have played at in the first half.

For MacKinnon, it's no surprise that he could/should walk away with numerous trophies, given how well he has been playing. He has been on a whole other level this season, and it's unbelievable to say that, especially given what we saw two seasons ago (2023-24), when he finished with career highs across the board. Fifty-one goals and 89 assists for 140 points, which led him to take home the Ted Lindsay Trophy and his first Hart Memorial Trophy. If he continues at this pace, he is on track to finish with 69 goals, 80 assists, and 149 points, which would smash his current career highs and be the last skater since Auston Matthews to score 69 goals, back during the 2023-24 season.

All while helping the Avalanche have the greatest regular season the NHL has ever seen, with finishing with over 135 points, which the Boston Bruins achieved during the 2022-23 season, where they finished with a record of 65-12-5. In 43 games, they went 34-5-4. Thankfully, the Avalanche have extra overtime losses to help recoup some points, so they need to go better than 31-7-1, which the Bruins did to end their second half of the season.

The biggest challenge for MacKinnon will be the Art Ross, especially with how Connor McDavid has helped turn not only his but also the Edmonton Oilers' season around. Thanks to MacKinnon's four-point night against the Senators on Jan. 8, he now sits one point ahead of McDavid in points, and it will be a back-and-forth all season long with how both players are playing.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Makar take home his third Norris Trophy and go back-to-back as a winner with how he has started this season, despite scoring at a better rate than he did last season halfway through last season. In 43 games, he had 13 goals and 36 assists for 49 points. This season, he has 13 goals and 38 assists for 51 points, which is third in scoring and first in assists and points by a defenseman. So seeing him score over 30 again isn’t out of the question, as he finished with 22-12-3 to reach 30 goals, which can be done if the power play, which has been showing progress, continues.

This season, he was the first defenseman to reach 50 points and the first to do so since Erik Karlsson did it three consecutive seasons (2013-14/2014-15/2015-16). He is currently on pace for 25 goals and 72 assists for 97 points, so as of the projections, he isn’t going to top that 100 mark that we thought he would last season, but it's another strong showing of being a focal point on this Avalanche offense. Among defenseman who have played over 1000 minutes, Makar is first in High Danger xGoals (4.05), On-Ice Goals% (68.8%), On-Ice Expected Goals% (55.7%), Created xGoals (11.9), and more in the top five per MoneyPuck.

Obviously, a significant topic of discussion for the Norris is not just a defenseman's offensive production but also his defensive play. Makar has shown that while his game centers on his offensive capabilities, he is more than capable defensively.

The “Lumberyard” has been a focal point this season with just how much they have contributed to this first half of the season. Yes, the Avalanche are getting a crazy amount of production from their key players, but goaltending has been massive, keeping them in games when they might fall behind and making sure that once they gain the lead, it holds up. With Mackenzie Blackwood hurt to start the season, Scott Wedgewood took the starting position and ran with it to a level no one expected. 

Now boasting a 19-3-4 record with a .917 SV% and a 2.19 GAA, he leads all goaltenders in wins, and the only other goaltender who has a better SV% than him is his teammate, Blackwood. He has been great since returning from injury, with a record of 13-1-1, a .924 SV%, and a 2.07 GAA. What was once this team's most significant weakness has been resolved and elevated to a level not seen before, even better than the goaltending of the 2021-22 championship team.

Which leads to how award voters process their picks, because the Avalanche roll them out as a “1A, 1B” scenario, since both are so good that keeping them out of the lineup for too long wouldn't help their play. Compared to other “1A” goaltenders who might get the majority of the games as the starter and lead the team in goalie stats, similar to Ilya Sorokin (Islanders) or Logan Thompson (Capitals). Having a backup to play 10-15 games in cases of back-to-back games or injuries.

The coach of the year or Jack Adams Award is a hard one to vote for, as many coaches can qualify every season, but what really makes one coach more deserving than the others? Is it a coach who helps take a lottery team to the playoffs? A wildcard team to the Stanley Cup? What accomplishments weigh more than others when casting a vote for the best coach of the year? For as long as Jared Bednar has been the Avalanche's coach, he has been recognized by the public as a good coach, but rarely as a candidate for the Jack Adams Award.

The most significant comparison this season, especially if the Avalanche break the NHL regular-season point record, is Jim Montgomery's 2022-23 Boston Bruins, who broke the original record with 135 points. If the record is broken again, how do you not give the award to the coach who helped the team have the single greatest regular season the NHL has ever seen?

At the end of the day, if you were to ask any of the players on this team about personal achievements, they would obviously acknowledge them. Still, they would all prioritize winning the Stanley Cup over individual awards, but it would be nice to see just this season an “Avalanche” of awards for this team.