Everything in place and a place for everything.
What began with team bonding at the captain’s house, the annual golf outing and spirited workouts at Family Sports Center, can end only in one place for the Avs’ season to be a success.
With Gabe Landeskog raising the Stanley Cup on the ice.
This expectation was a burden for the last three years, largely without the Captain. It is now the challenge we put on the franchise with Martin Necas a pending free agent and a Brinks truck new contract needed for Cale Makar after this season. The Avs have had too much disappointment — or playoff chokes to put it less politely — and made too many wise additions to expect anything less than a title.
An eye-opening regular season matters little, other than securing home-ice advantage. Winning a playoff series over the Stars would be hollow if it’s not in the conference finals.
Factoring in contracts, ages and a coach on a simmering Bunsen burner, this season represents the last, best chance for the Avs to win a championship with this core.
They need more than one.
Nathan MacKinnon admitted as much a few weeks ago. A single ring? That’s not worthy of this collection of stars, namely MacKinnon, Makar, Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin.
It is not harsh. It is fair.
The players know it. They are too good to have a singular line on hockey’s prized silver mug.
It starts with the business of the books. It is going to be extremely difficult to keep these pieces together much longer with the current and future contracts of the Big Four. Retaining Necas will be tricky. And it is hard to see Sam Girard sticking around after next season if he excels and wants to cash in again.
Translation: The Avs need to win another Stanley Cup, or this franchise has squandered a prime opportunity.
The bar was set the moment that the Avs re-signed Brock Nelson. The goal crystallized when they added veteran defenseman Brent Burns, who has shoulder pads older than some of his teammates. The mission was clear when coach Jared Bednar hired new power play coach Dave Hakstol after the Avs’ special teams became unplugged against the Stars.
This represents the type of big swing that will return the team’s clutch gene or place Bednar on the unemployment line.
“You want to win. You want to do it again,” Makar said. “I wouldn’t look at it as a failure (if we don’t win it). But obviously, we want to do that, to be the best. We have some really good teams the past couple of years, and haven’t been able to get it done. This year, there is even more excitement around this team. No question marks at the moment.”
And no excuses.
Last season, they were baked in.
The Avs would have been better off placing toilet paper strips in front of the net during the first month. It would have stopped more shots than Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen. Nichushkin was suspended. Mikko Rantanen turned his contract situation into a drama lama. And nobody knew when or if Landeskog would play again.
A year later, the goalie issue is solidified, even if Scott Wedgewood has to carry a heavier load early as Mackenzie Blackwood recovers from an offseason injury. Nichushkin, according to Bednar, is in a great head space, happy and healthy. And Landeskog — he is to this team what Mick Jagger is to The Rolling Stones — is back without limitations.
So, yeah, one is not good enough.
“Most of the guys here have had at least a half-season together. They have got it figured it out. We will be ready to go,” said standout defenseman Devin Toews. “We will have a very good plan from the start, which we haven’t had for three years here.”
Nothing can erase the memories of 2022. Of “All the Small Things” ringing in our ears (love the blink-182 song, but the Avs are now smartly playing it occasionally to keep it more unique to the championship team).
Fans can live in those snapshots forever. But the Avs cannot settle. This group deserves a legacy, to be mentioned in the same breath as the Sakics, Forsbergs, Footes and Roys.
Good luck arguing their case with one downtown parade.
Players understand what is at stake even if they must operate with blinders on. It is impossible to build momentum if they get lost in distractions or divide their attention. A marathon grind awaits, where chemistry is built, resolve hardened, bonds strengthened. All for a two-month run to glory in June.
That pursuit seems more realistic because the changes during this season should not be drastic. Or even necessary.
But the clock is ticking. The roster looks solid and set. It is not frozen in place. Future contracts are looming, and there are no guarantees that this group will have a better shot than this to win another championship.
“Last year we had a lot of things moving around,” Landeskog said. “You look at our lineup, it’s deep and strong at all positions. So, I like where we are at.”
One is not enough.
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