49-29-4, 102
points (3rd Central, 8th overall)
3.33 GF/GP, 6th; 2.82 GA/GP, 12th
24.8 PP%, 8th; 79.8 PK%, 12th
Key losses: C/RW Charlie Coyle, LW/RW Jonathan Drouin
Key additions: LW/RW Victor Olofsson, D Brent Burns
Expected lineup:
Artturi
Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton – Jack Drury – Victor Olofsson
Joel Kiviranta – Parker Kelly – Logan O’Connor
Devon Toews
– Cale Makar
Josh Manson – Brent Burns
Samuel Girard – Sam Malinski
Mackenzie Blackwood – Scott Wedgewood
PP1:
Landeskog – MacKinnon – Necas – Lehkonen – Makar
PP2: Nichushkin – MacKinnon – Necas – Nelson – Makar
5-on-5:
Despite having one of the best offenses in the league, it might be surprising to see that the Avs were not one of the best teams at even strength last season. They’ve finished 16th in 5-on-5 goals twice in the past three seasons in a category they usually dominate, and the one time they finished second was when Nathan MacKinnon went supernova in a 52-goal, 140-point, Hart and Lindsay-winning season (2023-24). I expect their 5-on-5 play to improve in 2025-26; less roster turnover, a healthy lineup and a return back to their historical levels are all good reasons to believe it will happen.
Their 5-on-5 output didn’t change much after trading Mikko Rantanen – it actually improved, going from 3.29 GF/GP to 3.39 GF/GP, but it’s a small sample size – but this is clearly a team that still thrives on its top players to drive its offense. Given this is the Avs’ Cup window, their approach will very much be the same, riding MacKinnon and Cale Makar for much of their even-strength scoring and building the team around them. The Avs are a predictable, though unstoppable, offensive team, and both MacKinnon and Makar are elite top-five fantasy options. THN Yearbook & Fantasy Guide projects MacKinnon to finish second in scoring with 123 points and Makar to finish with 97 to pace all defensemen.
Where the most change has happened is on the peripherals of the roster, where the Avs are arguably more balanced. Necas is not in Rantanen’s tier, but his career remains on an upswing with the potential for 90 or even 100 points in a contract year. Remember, he was the league’s leading scorer early last season, and it would absolutely not be surprising if Rantanen and Necas ended up with similar point totals this season. If Rantanen is worth a pick in the first couple of rounds, then Necas shouldn’t be too far behind.
(The elephant in the room, however, is that the Avs may find themselves in another Rantanen-like situation again, where they may be forced to trade Necas if they cannot get him to sign a long-term contract).
Brock Nelson is the best No. 2 center they’ve had since Nazem Kadri, but Nelson will turn 34 in October and for the first time in four seasons failed to score at least 30 goals. He was held to just four assists in seven playoff games, and it remains to be seen if he can provide some much-needed secondary scoring from the middle.
A projected second line with Nelson, Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog – a huge wild card given how much time they’ve missed – could end up being one of the best second lines in the league. However, even if they are healthy and reliable, it’s difficult to see Jared Bednar holding back MacKinnon’s ice time. Landeskog averaged 20:19 in his last full regular season (2021-22) and 17 minutes in last season’s playoffs, and I suspect his 2025-26 average will be closer to 17 than 20. If two of the three can finish with 60-70 points, that’s a big win for the Avs.
Bottom-six depth is a concern but perhaps less so after re-signing Joel Kiviranta and adding Victor Oloffson. If Olofsson can find shifts in the top six, just as Ross Colton had for parts of last season, he can be an attractive streaming option. That fantasy value is boosted further if Olofsson can find his way onto the power play, where he is most effective with 41 of his 105 career goals coming on special teams.
Power Play:
This is where the Avs have little worry because MacKinnon and Makar often play the full two minutes, and Necas will likely do that, too. That means Bednar only has to swap out two players between two units; the Avs don’t have enough talent to fill out a second unit with five different players that can also demand ice time from MacKinnon and Makar’s first unit. In other words, it never makes sense to take MacKinnon and Makar off the ice because no one else and no other combo is better.
The four that will likely rotate are Landeskog, Nichushkin, Brock Nelson and Artturi Lehkonen, and their fantasy values will fluctuate depending on their power-play minutes. (I can see Colton or Olofsson drawing in every now and then). The pair that will start at the beginning of the power play tends to get more minutes, and boost their fantasy value accordingly. I suspect it’ll be changing all season due to chemistry, game flow and health, though Lehkonen likely retains the most value because he gets slightly more minutes on the power play than Nichushkin and usually skates with MacKinnon at even strength.
All stats courtesy of naturalstattrick.com, moneypuck.com, hockeyviz.com, allthreezones.com, hockey-reference.com, eliteprospects.com unless otherwise noted.