What Could Next Years Colorado Avalanche Roster Look Like? A Lot Like This Years.

What Could Next Years Colorado Avalanche Roster Look Like? A Lot Like This Years.

On today’s episode of Locked on Avalanche, while no moves have been made and contracts have been signed, we kind of have a good idea of what next year’s Avalanche roster will look like. So, let’s talk about that. New episode of Locked on Avalanche coming at you. Your Locked On avalanche, your daily podcast on the Colorado Avalanche, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. All right, everybody. Welcome to the Lockdown Avalanche Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I’m your host, Chris Meli, and with me as always, Mr. Shaggy Von Doom, Kyle Sullivan. Thank you for tuning in, making this your first listen of the day. Always appreciated. If you want to get in on the conversation, definitely join our subtext. Link is in the show notes below. chat with Kyle and I one-on-one. We get your opinion, everything Avalanche related and share it on this very podcast. All right, we will uh hear from our we didn’t get to our subtext people uh at the last episode just because uh we we hoarded that whole show that last episode, the first one following the ABS uh exit from the uh from the postseason. So, we’ll let uh some of our subtext people chime in on that and how they’re feeling and really how we are still feeling because that that that it’s still a loss that is just still sticking with you and and all losses to end your season do, but this one is just hitting differently. So, we’ll get to that. Uh definitely going to want to tune in to tomorrow’s episode. uh you’re gonna have Joe Sackic and Chris McFarland do their end of the year press conference. If you remember last year Sack wasn’t a part of that. It was Landiskog and Chris McFarland. Uh this year they didn’t say Landisk was going to be there. So they just said Sackic and McFarland. So they will be addressing the media um like they do at the end of every season. But people are going to have questions and uh I’m looking forward to the responses uh from the two of them. one of which I am fully expecting we have the full support or Jared Bedar has our full support. Um and and for the people who were wanting that to be uh a change, well, you got news that uh DU head coach David Carl is signed an extension. So, uh he’s not your option. I think a lot of people were wanting that wanting wanting just hey, keep it in the state. Uh, I’ve had it with Bedar and bring in him, but that will not happen. Yeah. And again, it’s the playoffs are still ongoing. It’s just everybody, it’s a lot of weight. I I anticipate the press conference tomorrow not being too loud. Um, and read between the lines. I think your real noise is going to be made as soon as that cup is handed to the new champion. And then you really take a look at what’s available, what will be available, and what you want this team to do. I think that’s where you start really dissecting sound bites. I think tomorrow is just going to be a I’m sorry things didn’t happen. We’re disappointed, very proud of yada yada yada. Yeah, I think you’ll get that. I don’t really anticipate any uh like oh my god moments. I can’t believe he said that type of moments. But um we’ll see. We’ll see how it all goes. And um we’ll get into uh you know it’s going to be a long offseason. So we’ll get into uh free agents and and unrestricteds and all that stuff uh in the the days and weeks to come. We will get into what we think is missing from this team and what they need to look for or go after. Not player specific yet. I haven’t even looked at the free agents like like the long list of free agents yet. I haven’t even done that yet. But as far as what this team is is going to look like next year in terms of what’s signed, um I I if people might not want to hear this, but it might look very similar to what was was on the ice this year. Yes, there’s going to be change. There’s going to be some guys that you know the the the restricteds or excuse me, the unrestricteds. Uh there’s going to be some that they don’t resign. So, you’re going to have movement like that. But as far as contracts signed, a lot of these guys are locked up for next year. So, here’s your unrestricted free agents for the Colorado Avalanche. Brock Nelson, who likely won’t be back. Uh Jonathan Drew, can talk about him. Uh Jimmy VC, I I can’t imagine they would. I mean, they barely used him, so why would you bring back a guy you you hardly used? Uh, Kivy Rant, I would hope he comes back. We’ll see. Uh, Lingren, talk about him in a minute. Uh, technically Tucker Pulman is never played a a millisecond for the team, was just involved in a trade for LTIR purposes. He won’t be there. And Eric Johnson is also a unrestricted free agent. And you can have the convers. I mean, he’s going to be 38 years old. Do you want to bring him back at a very cheap deal? Who knows? And then, so that’s all your unrestricted. do have a singular restricted free agent for next year and that is Sam Malinsky. So he is definitely coming back. Um he’s restricted, he’s got arbitration rights, whatever. So he’s going to come back but that’s it. So you have four forwards and three well technically with four with the RFA. Four forwards, four defenseman and two of those defensemen in Pulman and Johnson didn’t play. I Pman play didn’t play at all. Johnson didn’t play a lot. Everybody else is under contract. So, you’re gonna have a similar team than last year, Kyle. Yeah, that’s that’s where things get interesting because this is where you’re going to be really paying attention to that press conference on what do they really say? Are were they disappointed? Did they anticipate more? Did are they happy with how the roster looks? Are they signaling that, hey, we might have to go in a different direction? we have to shift our focus. We have to because if that’s the case, anticipate some of these pieces moving. But if they sound proud in this press conference of we liked our team, we liked our effort. Um it’s hard to win a game seven, you know, hockey speak. But if they sounded like it just wasn’t our it wasn’t our best, we didn’t get lucky, then you might. Yeah, it might be the same team next year. Yeah, I don’t anticipate Brock coming back to win. I don’t think comes back. I I do. I do. I think they I think they like him. I think they like what he can give them. And I think at the dollar amount like he hurt his dollar amount with his postseason. So I if they feel like, you know, uh you know, we bring him back because his regular seasons are fine. He’s just got to turn it up in in the postseason. Easier said than done. But if they’re confident that there a guy that they’re familiar with that’s been here now for two years to give him the opportunity to, you know, go prove yourself in the postseason because a lot of that a lot of what we’re talking about in the postseason is that is you have guys that you like that just didn’t didn’t perform how you want them to in the postseason. Do you give up on that or do you give them another opportunity to go prove themselves? And and I just feel like with Druen, they’re going to go down road B and give him that that another opportunity. Well, I I get what you’re saying. Yeah, that’s that’s I understand that. But also, at what point do you keep getting the band back together and getting the same amount of success? Like, is this what you want to keep committing to? Like, if we go back out, Duin’s thinking about leaving, bring him back. Kirto, bring him back. Everybody that’s about to leave goes somewhere else. You bring them back at the same dollar amount if not a little bit team friendlier and then it’s next year’s another first round bounce. Like what are you doing? Like do you not go out and experiment? Like are you sick and tired of being bounced in the first round? Um do you want to go make those bigger moves again? We’ve talked about the cap going up. Um that’s I get what you’re saying in a minute too. Yeah. Yeah. But yes, everybody likes Jonathan Join. We understand. But you just got bounced in the first round again. Like, do you want to keep doing that over and over and over for guys that you like? I mean, goodness gracious, like Eric Johnson, how many how many episodes have we done after a season about that we’ve done together where it’s, well, the abs have been bounced and is a great it’s great to see EJ out there, but I don’t know if he could do it again. We’re now in 2025 and we’re still having that conversation. So yeah, it’s how many times can you do this and expect the same result? You’ve got to start changing something. Well, and that’s that’s the question is like do you feel like making the change or a change anywhere? That’s always the question. Does that make your team better? Um, and it’s not just for the postseason, it’s for the regular season because you got to have a good regular season to get to the postseason. Shocking statement right there, but you do. And if you feel like, hey, we’re going to bring somebody in to replace Jonathan Druen and and it’s an unknown, look at look at the guys you’re bringing in that aren’t doing the job for you in in regular season and transferring over into the postseason. You know what I mean? Like people aren’t happy with with what Brock Nelson really got you. So, and I feel like the Avalanche are the type of of team and franchise to stick with what works in the regular season and then just get more out of those guys in the postseason. It’s not that far-fetched to say like it I know what you’re saying like keep doing the same thing over and over again, but the A probably have the mentality of we’ll take those law of averages that it will improve because he can’t he’s too good of a player for it to happen season after season, but it hasn’t happened season after season season with Jonathan Drew. If you look at his uh career stats for the postseason, like they’re not all that bad. uh total let’s see he’s so if you go back to uh 1516 when he played with Tampa Bay had 17 games played 14 points in 1920 with Montreal 10 games played seven points uh last year with the ABS he only played in three games and had three assists um and then this year he had seven games and only had three points total so this was by far like his most unproductive playoff this isn’t like a a yearly thing for him where he’s goes into the playoffs and just falls apart. He had a bad postseason, but do you give up on that or let him ride it out again next year? Well, I don’t also I don’t want to fall in the trap like let’s not kid ourselves either. We didn’t have a good regular season. This was it. It wasn’t a good They were sitting in they were sitting in the wildard spot for a while and they had to take the retooling to push to where they are, right? like you’re you’re you’re dancing around second and third in the central. It wasn’t you were not deep division deep division uh deep conference and they finished seventh overall with 49 different players. That’s not bad. Well, that you had the well again you had the win loss. You didn’t have an identity all year long. You had your win loss win loss win loss. It wasn’t a banner regular season like it was. No, I think that’s all the more impressive because it was just all over the place and you finished where you did. I’m impressed by that. Not being a homer at all in saying that. I I I think on if you just look on the surface like man, this team just uh completely retoled their roster and they did and you you and I watch every single game. It was just like there you’re right. There was no consistency in it. But to be in the position they were for no consistency is not bad. I But I think you’re looking at it wrong because that’s what you got bounced in the first round again. And I think that’s the some of the parts the some of the parts of the regular season like instead of despite I think it’s not you didn’t get to the playoffs despite of it. I think you’re out of the playoffs because of it. Yeah. No, it’s it’s two different things. It’s like if we’re talking about the regular season, we’re talking about the postseason. Two separate things. Yes. The regular season, I I will give them a lot of credit for finishing where they did in the regular season. It didn’t translate over into the postseason. And and that that is where you get graded is how far you get in the postseason. And it’s another first round exit. So, um, but but you know, with with this with this, uh, roster, um, the the the big questions the questions are coming back now, Kyle, of like 2C, where is that coming from? It’s likely not going to be Brock Nelson and the way that your cap is right now, um, it’s going to get dicey. So, let’s get, uh, a break in here and then, uh, we we’ll bring that up. Of course, the uh the elephant in the room is Gabe Landis contract coming back on the books. How’s all of this look? We’re going to talk about that next. An award-winning mattress can change your life. I speak from experience. It happened to me after years of uncomfortable sleeps. I recently switched to Bear Mattress and the results were instant. Bear mattress is designed with a focus on recovery, cooling, and pressure relief to upgrade your sleep and improve your overall quality of life. 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Um, there’s still going to be moves to be made obviously. uh you have I’m on Pedia right now for the remainder of this year you are um your projected cap space you are negative6.1 million and and change and that is uh uh a lot because of Gabe Lanniskog obviously doesn’t count in the postseason which is why he was able to play there is no cap in the postseason um we know the salary cap is going up what they say $8 million I to like 98 million or maybe it’s going up to $98 million. I I I believe is the number. Um 955. So it did go. Okay. And it was at 88. It was at 88. Okay. So it’s at 95 and a half. Um, so if you are negative 6.1 and Landiskog is going to soak up seven, the that math ain’t math for for the A like he’s basically uh taking up what the AB have in ABS have in surplus right now. You do have 4 and uh where’d it go? Where’d it go? From from from the Gorgiev deal. there’s $476,000 retained uh from his deal. So basically what using round numbers like basically what you have in excess right now uh is what the cap is going up to which is also what Gabe Landiskog’s contract will cost on the books. So, and you have you do have money coming off obviously with Nelson. Um, he costs you three million. Dru is 2 a.5 million and then VC’s only 800,000. Kyrant is 775,000. You have Lingren at 2.25. Uh, Pulman’s 2 million and Eric Johnson’s 1 million is coming off. So, basically like but Ryan Lindren is not a $2.25 $.25 million player, you know, he’s going to want more than that. I think 50% was retained by the Rangers, so he’s at four and a half. He’s going to want more than that for this contract. So, it’s not just like you can just re-up these guys for what they currently made and we’re all good. Uh Nelson did not make $3 million, you know, and he obviously didn’t stay in Long Island because he’s going to want more. What’s the deal with Jonathan Drew? Like, so it’s all a numbers game right now, but from what the ABS have coming off of the books, you can’t resign those guys for that same number in terms of Brock Nelson and Lingren. So, there’s going to have to be moves to be made and that’s where it’s going to be tough to bring in someone like a 2C because you don’t have the dollar amounts to go towards a 2C player right now. It’s it’s which makes me believe other moves are going to have to be made. So, who’s get who’s going out? This is where I’ve always said about Sam Gerard. I don’t feel like they’re ever going to trade him based on performance. I think they love how he plays within this system. I’ve always said if he’s on the way out, it’s because of this. It’s because of cap constraints and moves that they need to make. So, they ship him out to to free up some money somewhere or his $5 million. That’s in the range of a 2C uh maybe a little bit more and then you go that direction. That’s the things that could happen this offseason for the Ast. Yeah. You’re either going to have you’re going to have to really look at Sam Gerard and that 5 million that he’s carrying for the next two years or Josh Manson for his 4.5 for another year. Um either one, you can look at those, kick the tires on those. But this comes down to what does your okay we again like I mentioned in the first segment talking about good job Eric Johnson I think this is it for him part four when it comes to wrapping it the season up and now we’re talking about the as needed a 2C and they don’t have the money to go get it part four. Yeah. Um, it’s it seems to be a never-ending problem for the Colorado Avalanche. And every 2C you get, you trade away because it just doesn’t work. And this goes back to I’m very curious on the nomenclature that they use in this press conference on if they are pleased with how this core is constructed because we’ve been talking about center depth all year long and center depth is now playing golf. So, what do they want in center depth? What is the 2C that works? I know everybody likes pointing to Nas, but it’s Nas isn’t walking through the door. So, you you’ve got to find something that works with this this roster and the wings as well. Um, you’ve got to find somebody that can pull their weight and really utilize the talent on both sides. It was too big of a task for Casey Middle. And Brock was okay. And you got Charlie Coyle for two more years. And just next year. He’s just next year. No, just Yeah, I thought you had him for two. But even still, but that’s that’s not really your answer. No, hang on. No, but all all of that to say is the ABS need to really get and figure out what they want at the center position because deep all-star all the way down didn’t get the job done. So, you have to figure out what is actually what what do you want and see what the price tag looks for what you want and then look at Sam Gerard and Josh Manson. see if that helps you get what you want because your other I mean as far as the center position goes uh you you feel good about the other you know one three and four um you I thought Charlie Coyle w was very good this year for them when he came over um you love what Jack Drury gives you obviously um but Coyle he’s not he’s not a second line center no like I’m not putting him up there consistently Um the defense I think is where it’s going to get really really interesting. Really interesting because yeah I mentioned Sam Gerard, you me mentioned Josh Manson. Yeah, Lingren is an unrestricted free agent, but I think they really liked what he offered them and he also gives you size. Gives you size and he gives you grit. Um and is that what’s missing from the Avalanche consistently over the course of a full season? if they feel like it is that I’m saying if Sam Gerard’s on his way out and you know you use his money for uh 2C, but they might want to use it to keep Lingren around. I I definitely could see that happening. That doesn’t solve you right back to square run with the 2C part, but you know, if they really liked what Lingren gave him, which I feel like they do, it could go that route. And the other part of it is Sam Molinsky. Molinsky is not gonna cost you a ton. And he has earned more time and and I shouldn’t say more time, a a a full-time role on this team. No more subbing in, subbing out for him. He’s part of this this roster and he’s part of a defensive pairing for the duration and you probably can sign him for relatively inexpensive. So you get him at a low number and do you have to ship out Sam Sam Gerard and use his money for a 2C or keep Lingren if you really liked him. That’s the direction you go. U if for the A on the defensive side, I think it’s going to be a really really interesting offseason for the ABS on defense. And then yeah, then what do you do with Eric Johnson? I mean he’s going to cost you next to nothing. [Music] Um, I mean, the cost of his contract is something, but at the cost of what? Like, he’s going to be 38 years old. We all love Eric Johnson, but 38-year-old defenseman, you’re asking a lot. And honestly, this might be the year, and we again, part four of us saying this, but it might be the year to check out the Eagles and see who’s ready to actually fly. Well, you know, Keat Middleton’s another one. Yep. Yep. They used him a ton this year and Jared Bedar always just went on and on about him, how I just loved his play and he’s big. Yeah. So, we could be could be seeing a change of how the Avalanche operate on the defensive end and use those guys. If if Molinsky and Middleton are more of your everyday players, that’s a different looking defense for the ABS. And just you mentioning that pairing, I really like how that sounds. Middleton and and Molinsky. Yeah, because they they liked putting Manson and and Lingren together a lot, too. Um, and then you you would have Eric Johnson in there if you wanted to keep him around as that seventh defenseman for the heck of it. Um, it doesn’t solve your forward position, though. Nope, it doesn’t. So, ABS are going to have to get creative once again uh to address that. But overall, like we said, like this is this what you saw this last year with minor tweaks here and there, you’re getting that again next year. Is that a playoff team? Definitely. Definitely a playoff team. But you don’t go into the playoffs like you did this year. You were confident with this team going in to the playoffs this year. If this is how it is with some some plugs here and there, yeah, it’s a playoff team, but it’s one of those teams that you have to hope they can just get some some run going in them for the playoffs and and and just have some luck because it’s going to be a grind and you know, you got Nathan McKinnon, you got Kale Mar, those guys are always your aces, but it’s going to be a different a different vibe I feel going into next year’s postseason. Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of. I don’t know. So, what do our subtext people think? How are they thinking? How are they feeling? Uh, we’re going to check in with them and ourselves. I think we need some therapy sessions, too. Uh, we’ll do that next. So, here from Wonderful Pistachios. 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I would all day long. So, uh, go check them out. They got them over at Wonderful Pistachios. So, get snacking and get cracking with these snacks that pack a protein punch. Visit wonderfulpostachios.com right now to learn more. All right. So, um, we’ll check in with our subtext people here because I mean, you know, and I wrote about this, but like how are you feeling 48 hours later? Like we we said at the time raw emotion right after the game was over. Um, it it this one still stings, man. It still stings. And it’s it’s the MO factor for me. The fact that, you know, the Duchine one, the fact that he ended your season, yeah, that stung, but he’s been around the block. He’s been he played with like four other teams before he got back to Dallas and and yeah, the history there that hurt. The Mik one is still fresh in people’s minds. Like that happened this season and that’s why I feel like this one is just going to stick around for a long long time. Yeah. You see, I get that and like as you can see if you’re watching on YouTube, I I shaved my entire playoff beard off. I I did some serious work on it. Like I did not handle it well. And I don’t the mo thing. Yeah, that’s a factor, but this is kind of like the the 2001 Seattle Mariners or um 2003 Atlanta Braves. Like super teams that you felt like could do no wrong. It did not do a thing. Like I felt really good about this team going into the playoffs. Like this team might have a chance to go all the way. And it was just a dud. It It really was. Besides the one game. I know. I know. I know. I was there. I seen it. Um there it just did not live up to the hype. And it’s just frustrating because you’re going to constantly look back and you’re like, “Man, that team was good.” in that regular season, you’re gonna get you’re gonna look back on your social media memories or you’re gonna watch back on those clips, the altitudes like on this day or remember when this season they had and you’re like, “Ah, that was a good team. Why did they get bounced in that round?” And that’s what’s going to that’s what’s bothering me the most is this team had so much potential and just did not rise to it. Yeah. and and you know the Mo thing and the fact that Dallas was down two of their best players. Yeah, their absolute best players and you still couldn’t find a way to do it. I wouldn’t say that I I do feel like this lived up to the hype going the full seven. Um you know, you had the two overtime games, the way that game seven ended, although as as fans, you absolutely hate it. Um, it it delivered in terms of uh wow factor, right? Like the way that it ended. Um, so I I I don’t know. I I do feel like it it lived up to the the hype personally, but um, how’s our subtext people feel? Um, we got Ethan here. I just asked him, I said, “How’s everybody feeling?” And he said, “Just as bad. The broken stick is going to haunt me. I generally don’t think it’s a loss if that stick doesn’t break.” Um, what he’s talking about is a Kale Mar broken stick where the abs were on the power play. He takes a shot from right at the point. Stick just shatters. He’s got a track back on defense and causes a tripping penalty, which the rest is history. He’s right. Y would we even be here if a Kale Mar stick does not break? Uh, you don’t 100% know the answer to that, but things would have definitely been different. We don’t know what that different would have been. Uh but would things have imploded the way that they did? Uh it’s it’s tough. It’s tough to say that they would have. Yeah, that definitely that that’s one of those turning points in the game and you you can’t hate it because it was just an avalanche past that point. You could have stopped it too at any point and you just didn’t. But yeah, that that was the moment that things started to shift. Um K says, “Let’s just say I’m glad you didn’t ask that last night.” Uh meaning the night before now. Uh if they had been down the whole game instead of letting a twogoal lead slip away slip away, I would be a lot less disappointed and disgusted. Stars are the new Red Wings. Uh I’ll be avoiding discussion of the team for a few days because it occurred to me that it’s straight up unhealthy to get so emotional about a hockey team. It’s okay to get emotional about a hockey team. It’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with that. Uh but yeah, I think like she said, you know, if they were, she’s right. they’re down the whole game and you’re the ones chasing and trying to get back into the game. Um, okay. You can kind of live with that a little bit more, but just the way that it went down is what’s just so difficult to swallow. I love that the the comment, the stars are the new Red Wings. You know who also was the rival to the Avalanche during the Redwing days? The Dallas Stars. Mike Madano and Eddie the Eagle. Oh, those are some frustrating teams. Absolutely. Um, Adam says, “Can’t help but wonder what if we had taken the chance on Mo. Risked losing him for nothing and wrote it out to the end of the season. The trade for Natious made sense at the time. Get what you can when you can, but I just think maybe an ABS win this series. Uh, I I think just maybe the ABS win this series somewhat easily if Mo is still on our side and Nishas is in Raleigh. Now, maybe they can lose in subsequent rounds anyway, but I think they at least win this one. Um, that that’s what I said before the Miko train even happened. All leading all the whole season leading up to that, I was of the mind of they are better with him. And I I said that multiple times. So, I I thought they were going to take that risk of not being able to sign him because he gives them the best chance to win in the postseason. And then they went and did what they did. But it’s a valid question and you know it is a valid question and I get where you’re coming from especially after that performance. But you lost to the Dallas Stars last year with them. That is true. But they did not where they were not down uh Robo or or Hast. All valid points what you’re saying. All valid points. It that like every time you say that just makes me sick to my stomach like it it shouldn’t be that way. Like so yeah. I mean, you had Miko last year and Duchain put you out. So, man, h uh where’s her again? Oh, Koi. Uh I’ve calmed down a little bit. Still very disappointed, but that’s sports. Thank you, Koi. It is sports. It it it you you live and die with your sports team and uh you will you’ll get frustrated by it and it will it will sting for however long but um you you will overcome it. You’ll be okay in the long run. And then I grew up an fan. I I know all about this all too well. Um Heather just very simply said in denial. Uh, Brandon just said very simply, “Very sad.” Uh, and Craig said, “I have to admit, feel pretty awful. Miko was supposed to be the bad guy. He and his agent were the ones demanding the gigantic bump in pay, and they made it so he could choose his team for basically what the ads were offering.” Uh, once the game ended, I couldn’t finish watching. Did not see the end of the series line uh of the guys for the good game compliments. Saw a lot of posts with Mo talking about how the ABS players are still his brothers. Oh well, at least the Nuggets won their game seven. Who would have thought? What What are the Nuggets? Oh, that’s that’s NBA, which the Knicks won that game, Kyle. Yeah. Yeah, let’s They won that game. Go Knicks. All right. So, yeah, this one’s gonna just be on the mind for a long time. Like th this is one of those the way that this season ended. It’s one of those things where you are not going to fully get over it until games happen again. And unfortunately that’s not for five months. It’s going to be one of those we’re going to be outside mowing the grass in June. Yes. And you’re just you’re zoning off. You’re going to be like why in the world did Drury hold on that play in particular? Like you’re just going to think about it. You’re like a now I’m just frustrated about that series all over again. Yeah. mowing the lawn, uh, 4:00 in the morning, waking you up out of bed, uh, just, you know, random thoughts like in the shower, just like everything’s just going to pop up. That’s what this loss has done to the avalanche mindset. What brand stick does Kale McCarth have anyway? Class class action lawsuit against those people. So, uh, all right, that’s going to wrap it up for today, everybody. Yeah, tune in for tomorrow. We’ll see what uh Joe Sack and Chris McFarland have to say and anything else that’s going on in Avalanche Nation. We’ll be talking about it tomorrow. So, tune in for that. But for this, thank you for tuning in, making it your first listen of the day. Always appreciate it. He’s Mr. Shaggy Von Doom. Kyle Sullivan. I am Chris Meli. This is the Lockdown Avalanche podcast. We’ll see you guys tomorrow. Or you made it through another 24 hours if Crosby’s that much closer to being with the Colorado Avalanche. He’s on team Canada.

Can the Colorado Avalanche bounce back after their playoff heartbreak? With the recent loss to the Dallas Stars, the Avalanche face a pivotal offseason. How will they reshape their roster?

Explore the emotional aftermath of the Avalanche’s playoff exit and the potential roster changes that could redefine their future. We dissect the team’s performance, focusing on key figures like Gabe Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon. We analyze salary cap challenges and speculate on strategic moves involving players such as Sam Girard and Ryan Lindgren. The episode also features fan reactions, offering a glimpse into the passionate community surrounding the team.

Join the conversation and discover what lies ahead for the Colorado Avalanche as they aim to overcome their recent setbacks and prepare for a stronger season.

0:00 Intro: Discussing next year’s Avalanche roster
5:52 Analyzing Avalanche’s unrestricted free agents
13:38 Examining salary cap constraints for Avalanche
20:28 Defensive lineup changes and possibilities
27:46 Fan reactions and emotional impact of loss
34:01 Long-term effects of disappointing playoff exit

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