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The Colorado Avalanche have been as up-and-down as any National Hockey League team in the early going of the 2023-24 campaign. After a roaring start, in which the team won six straight games to begin the season, the Avs are 4-5 since. Exacerbating the somewhat cold stretch is the fact that this club was shut out in three of four games at the end of October, an outrageous stat that no one in Denver — or anywhere else — saw coming.
Still, the Avs have rebounded nicely, winning two in a row and three of their last five to improve to 10-5, and remain in second place in the Central Division through just under one-fifth of the new campaign. But it's hard to know what Avalanche team you are getting on any given night. Is it the ones who ran the Anaheim Ducks out of the building after an 8-2 shellacking on Wednesday? Or is it the team that lost by that same score to the St. Louis Blues just a few nights earlier?
In the early going, it's been the usual suspects leading the way in Denver. Cale Makar is playing out of his mind despite a nagging injury; he has four goals and 21 points over 15 games. Mikko Rantanen has ten goals and the same number of points, while Nathan MacKinnon is one back with 20 of his own.
Although the superstars have been getting the job done, the free agency signings have been extremely disappointing for an Avalanche team that already lacks offensive depth. But before we get into that, let's talk about a continued pleasant surprise: Logan O'Connor's strong play.
Logan O'Connor poised to shatter career-highs
Fans of this team were hoping that Tomas Tatar, Jonathan Drouin and Ross Colton would help to solve the lack of depth up front. Unfortunately, that has not quite been the case. But Logan O'Connor has called Colorado home since being signed as an undrafted free agent five years ago, and he hasn't let the opportunity go to waste.
After winning the Stanley Cup with the team at the conclusion of the 2022 postseason, O'Connor has continued to bring a gritty, hard-working style of play that has endured him to Colorado fans. This season, he continues to play his role excellently. After 26 points in 82 games last year and 24 in 81 the season before, he's at three goals and seven points in 15 games. If he keeps this pace up, he's bound to reach the 40-point threshold and shatter his career-highs across the board.
What makes his production especially impressive is the fact he has no powerplay exposure at all. All of his points are coming at 5-on-5, and he's averaging just 13:26 of time on ice per game. It might be time for Jared Bednar to consider slotting the 27-year-old in on the second unit.
Trio of Tatar, Drouin, Colton struggling
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The Avalanche made a few moves this summer to shore up the offensive depth, which is especially important with Gabriel Landeskog out for the regular-season (at least) and Artturi Lehkonen going down with a scary injury earlier this season. The hope is that the moves made would shore up that depth, which is exactly the reason Tomas Tatar, Jonathan Drouin and Ross Colton were brought to Denver.
Through 14 games, Tatar hasn't scored a single goal, and he's accounted for just seven assists. He's only averaging 11:38 of time on ice per night, and it's clear that the veteran Slovakian still hasn't earned the trust of his coach. He's still maintaining a look with the second powerplay group, along with Colton and three defensemen: Bowen Byram, Samuel Girard and Devon Toews. That should tell you everything you need to know about where this team's offensive depth is.
Unfortunately, Drouin has been even worse. The early-season hope that he would rekindle the chemistry he had with junior teammate MacKinnon in Halifax a decade ago has gone unrealized. The French Canadian didn't last long on MacKinnon's wing, and he's accounted for just three points over 13 games despite still playing in the top-six.
Ross Colton has probably been the best of the three after he was acquired in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning before the season. He has five goals and six points, and has been centering the third line with O'Connor and Miles Wood. Wood is another player who was signed in the summer and has been good, if not great; he's accounted for five points in his first 15 games in Colorado.
Still, if you ask any Colorado fan, you'll find the reinforcements brought in this summer haven't exactly been thriving. The five new forwards — Drouin, Tatar, Colton, Wood and Johansen — have combined for 27 points over 72 games. It's certainly not ideal.
We all knew it would be the top dogs pulling the weight, but this team needs more from the middle-six; it can't be on Mack, Rantanen and Makar every night. The Avalanche are still a lock to make the playoffs, but they would be in much better shape if the new faces could increase their offensive output going forward.
