After a stunning sweep at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights, it will be a long summer of reflection for the Colorado Avalanche and discussion on where they go from here. But first, some initial reactions as we wrap-up the 2025-26 season.
If you had to choose one of the roster or coaching staff to blame, which one is more culpable?
Adrian: The roster as it applies to the coaching philosophy. If this is a next-man-up, process-oriented club, management can afford to develop more youth inside whatever
cup window they feel they are in.
Jess: It’s tough because on the one hand, the roster certainly did not perform up to their true ability or potential in the WCF, but it was well-known the types of injuries their best players were dealing with. Regardless, when it comes to execution, a coach can implement whatever systems he wants to and coach the team up mentally however he wants to as well, but the players have to actually buy in and listen to it as well.
Jackie: The roster to me was never as great as it was hyped up to be. Thankfully the Avs didn’t have to dress 50 players and make nearly a dozen in-season trades like they did the year before but the 2025-26 roster was largely set up with those moves. The Avs lost their soul and it showed when the going got tough. Not enough depth in the middle of the roster, both on the forward and defense side either. Bednar’s biggest flaw might be in leaning too heavy on his top guys and the lack of confidence in the rest of the roster is another indicator.
Where do the Avalanche go from here with a lack of assets and salary cap space?
Adrian: Do the best they can with what they can afford, and recommit to the team first and to championship resolve.
Jess: Do what you can. Truthfully, I don’t think they’ll be in a horrific spot next year. Your core players are pretty much all signed and locked up in your forward core; the only guy who might be leaving in the offseason is Jack Drury, as he’s set to become a restricted free agent at the moment, but everyone else is signed for next year. For defense, you’ll have to do some work to replace buys like Brent Burns, Nick Blankenburg, and Brett Kulak, but you should be able to find their replacements in free agency. If not, re-sign a couple of those guys if you feel so inclined to. While it’s not an immediate worry, Cale Makar becomes eligible for an extension on July 1st, which will be something I’m sure the Avs want to take care of as soon as possible when he becomes eligible.
Jackie: I can’t imagine management doesn’t believe in this roster so they’ll try to keep it intact even if they probably should shake things up. The defense needs to be rebuilt if it’s ever going to be a competitive advantage again and drive the offense. Cale Makar can only do so much himself and should be the only untouchable. But run it back seems to be Colorado’s mantra
What was the most disappointing part of the postseason run?
Adrian: For me, it’s that this era of the Avalanche still has yet to win an elimination game, and will more than likely be regarded as a team that couldn’t win in the postseason with their backs against the wall. Yes, they won in 2022 without facing elimination, which is very impressive. Still, surviving elimination is a test they’ve never passed.
Jackie: The Western Conference Finals is supposed to be hard but the complete swoon and utter collapse we just witnessed from the Avalanche was beyond disappointing. Yes, we know injuries started to mount but this team folded at the first hint of adversity they faced over the entire season. It simply got too hard to fight back. At no point in the series did Colorado ever take back a lead from Vegas — or even get the score back to a tie, foreshadowing that it was over even after Vegas won the first game. A 21 shot effort from the Avalanche, including a 22 minute stretch without a single shot, on the brink of elimination in Game 4 just punctuated their lack of resolve. In all the aggressive roster moves GM Chris MacFarland made and earned praise for, he forgot to do one thing — build a team.
Jess: The WCF for me. I don’t know what happened between Game 5 of Round 2 against the Wild and Game 1 against Vegas, but holy cow did that look like an entirely different team; the discrepancy was just so, so shocking to see in real time. Game 4 was disappointing in its own right, as they didn’t really show any fight or effort to keep their season alive during that game, which was disheartening to watch. On top of that, and this is a knit-picky thing all things considered, watching them try to play prevent defense in Game 3 when they had a 3-0 lead after the first period was just so baffling to me, especially after they tried to do it in Game 2 and lost the game, so we knew playing that way didn’t work already, and it obviously didn’t work in Game 3 either, so I was just so confused why they thought it would work in Game 3 when it didn’t work in Game 2, but that’s just me.
What was the best part of the 2025-26 season?
Jackie: The successful return of Gabe Landeskog should be the enduring storyline from the 2025-26 season. While he may not score at the same rate as he used to entering his mid-30s and after a three-year fight recovering from his knee injury, the consistent effort and leadership from the captain was certainly noticed. He was third on the team with 11 points in the postseason, with six goals, including three in the Vegas series and one was Colorado’s only power play tally. That’s three of the team’s seven goals when it mattered the most. It’s too bad nobody else showed up in the fight with him.
Adrian: Yeah, I’m with Jackie Kay. What Gabe Landeskog has done to come back and be a serviceable pro after sustaining an injury that no one ever recovered from is just incredible. Not to mention, I’d say he was Colorado’s most consistent and effective player in the postseason.
Jess: Watching Landeskog play a full regular season for the first time since my senior year of high school in 2022 (which is insane to think about) was a highlight for me as well. It’s incredible to watch him make a return after everything he went through with his knee injury. Being in the building for Game 5 against the Wild with my dad will remain a highlight for me, probably for the rest of my life. I’ve said it before, but that was probably the best hockey game I’ve ever been to in person, and I’ll remember that experience for forever. As much as the playoff exit hurts, and it will hurt for a good, long while, the regular season was still incredible to watch, as this team was just so good, setting records and whatnot, they were so fun to watch on a nighly basis.
