With the first 14 games of the 2025-26 season schedule already in the books, now is the time we look at and evaluate how the Colorado Avalanche have fared this season thus far.
First, thoughts on Martin Necas’ $92 million contract extension?
Matthew: Let’s address the elephant in the room on this first. Martin Nečas and Mikko Rantanen will never escape comparison to each other. Whether it’s individual accolades, team accomplishments, overall on-ice performance, and now, contract comparisons, both players will never be able to escape that type of scrutiny. In some ways, those comparisons almost seem a bit unfair, as Rantanen firmly established himself as a top-flight right wing in the League, and also had top-flight talent surrounding him. Nečas, on the other hand, has yet to reach those heights, but didn’t have the supporting cast with Carolina that Rantanen benefited from in Colorado. Rantanen cashed in on that established pedigree in addition to his soon-to-be UFA status (after three tries), and deserved every single dime of his new contract. Nečas has been handed the opportunity by Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland to take his game to another level. While time will tell if this investment by the Avalanche front office will pay off for the duration of contract, Nečas has certainly turned in an impressive performance thus far: he ranks second in goals scored (9) and total points (18). Only Nathan MacKinnon has more in both categories. If Nečas can average a point per game pace throughout this year, his contract will immediately feel like a bargain. If Nečas can produce with a consistency similar to that of Rantanen’s final years with Colorado, the contract will feel less like a bargain and more like an absolute steal. Should be fun to watch!
Jackie: Make no mistake, the Avalanche caved and it was the right call. There wasn’t much negotiation but when Colorado said the magic number, common ground was finally reached. A market value deal keeping Nečas from testing the market in unrestricted free agency wasn’t getting any cheaper by the minute and the front office saw writing on the wall. It was reported by The Athletic that Colorado upped their offer to Nečas from $10.5 million per year to $11.5 million per after Utah’s Logan Cooley signed his eight-year deal worth $10 million per year. The two are not direct comparables but when a player signs for that kind of money out of his Entry Level deal the Avalanche weren’t going to get something done in the same universe with a pending UFA. Colorado had no means of replacing Nečas so getting him locked up was the right move even if it took longer and ended up costing more than they expected.
Jess: All parties involved actually communicated and got something done, and I could not be happier. It’s a lot of money still, no doubt, but like Jackie alluded to, once Logan Cooley inked his extension, it felt like Colorado had to get something done before the AAV ask got to a place that they were wildly uncomfortable with, which they did. Obviously, this deal was done with Makar in mind, as he’s due for an extension starting this upcoming summer; there’s no way it doesn’t get done at that number without thinking about him. Knowing where the cap is going, it seems like these $10 million or $11 million AAVs are going to become the new $8 million, so while it’s a lot of money now, it likely won’t feel like that in a few months. Overall, I’m happy with the extension, and I’m excited to have him stick around in Colorado long-term.
What has been the biggest surprise of the season so far?
Jackie: With the lineup staying consistent for the most part really now it feels the schedule is the biggest adjustment the team has dealt with experiencing so many matinee games and weekend back-to-backs. We haven’t really entered the compressed months so it’s been mostly daytime hockey, which is a shock to the system. The schedule oddities will also continue through the next couple of months, too,
Matthew: The biggest surprise in my eyes has been the play of Scott Wedgewood between the pipes. Being asked to step into the starter’s role while Mackenzie Blackwood recovers from injury seemed like a tall order on the eve of the season. He’s done more than been a serviceable fill-in: he currently ranks first in games played (12), wins (8), and has turned in a .929 sv % and a 2.49 GAA. While it’s easy to dismiss these stats as victories over weaker opponents across the League, it’s important to remember that Alexandar Georgiev’s performance in the early going last year cost the Avalanche valuable points in the Central Division. Wedgewood’s early season performance has all but assured that these early victories can only be a benefit when the postseason picture begins to take shape. Wedgewood’s impressive run has given the Avs some much-needed confidence in its goaltending that it was so desperate to have only one year ago.
Jess: For me, Victor Olofsson has been a very pleasant surprise through the season so far. While his goal-scoring certainly took a bit to get going, he can’t seem to stop scoring now, after scoring a hat trick against the New Jersey Devils and putting up another two-goal night the other night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s picked up a fair amount of assists as well, and looking at his season stats in total, he’s sneakily gotten 12 points in 14 games so far this season. To quote one of my coworkers at my student job when we were talking about Olofsson, “not bad at all for a $1 million, not bad at all”.
What has been the biggest disappointment?
Matthew: The power play. In their only postseason press conference, both Chris MacFarland and Joe Sakic pointed to the Avs power play as a major flaw in their first round exit against Dallas. They dismissed longtime assistant head coach Ray Bennett, and installed former Seattle Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol as his successor. While there has been some different looks in the power play scheme to start the season, the end result has been an even worse outcome than what the power play showed under Bennett. Currently, the Avalanche power play is ranked 22nd (17.0%) in the League. If not for the five power play goals the Avs scored across their second game against the New Jersey Devils and their most recent game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, they would be a lot closer to the League basement than this ranking. Seeing this power play unit underachieve even more than it had previously is a major disappointment, especially after how pointed Sakic and MacFarland were in their comments to address it during the offseason.
Jess: Oh, the power play, no doubt. I know they’ve kind of figured it out as of late and have scored on it quite a few times, but for a stretch there, the power play was very hard to watch. They still seem to get extremely pass-happy at times and want to be unselfish with the puck and snap it around the zone, which is fine, especially when it works, as they’re a good passing team. But at the same time, to use one of my favorite lines from Ted Lasso: be a prick. It’s perfectly ok to shoot the puck when you have it instead of being unselfish and passing it on the power play. In fact, I’d argue that that’s exactly what you should be doing, put everything towards the net, and see what goes. Not every power play goal is going to look pretty after you snap the puck around a million times, and they don’t all need to look pretty. After all, they don’t ask how, they just ask how many.
Jackie: The power play deserves criticism but we know it will find its way bounce back to some degree of success. I anticipated that the Avalanche wouldn’t quite get what they expected in the role they were putting Brock Nelson in but early returns have been even worse than I imagined. Nelson just recorded his second assist on the year against the Lightning, his first since opening night and his first all year at even strength — both were also secondary assists. That’s not exactly what you are paying your second line center $7.5 million for. He at least has a good enough goal scoring aptitude to provide a few individual effort tallies and he has with three goals on the board but five points in 14 games isn’t going to cut it. With Colorado’s analytics off the charts early everyone looks good analytically but Nelson still lags as one of the lowest ranked forwards on this squad in that department, too. I wish Bednar would ease back Nelson’s work load and maybe elevate the responsibility of Jack Drury, who also has crafted five points on the year.
Which upcoming game or matchup are you looking forward to the most?
Jackie: Is it crazy to say I’m actually curious to see how the game versus the Chicago Blackhawks goes in a couple weeks? The Avs seem to drop a strange game against them every year and with Chicago being more competitive this season thus far I’m interested to see how the match between the two teams looks this time around. Also, a meeting with old friend Andre Burakovsky is always a treat. It’s fun to get a look at young teams with strong starts such as are the Anaheim Ducks actually good? We’ll find out next week.
Matthew: I am curious to see how the remainder of their season series against the Utah Mammoth will play out. With both teams currently splitting the season series to this point, and with Utah enjoying some early season success, I will be interested to see if the changes that Utah has made to their roster will keep them in contention for a playoff spot. As someone who followed the former Arizona Coyotes through their time in the desert, I’m not entirely convinced that this strong start will sustain itself through the new year. However, if there is a surprise to come out of the West for a wild card spot, Utah can certainly make a case should they remain healthy and its roster can create some separation from the other teams aspiring to get their foot in the door to the postseason.
Jess: I’ll go with their matchup against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, for no other reason than I’ve seen some of Evan Bouchard’s lowlights from this season so far, and I need to watch a full game of Oilers hockey to watch them for myself, as I cannot believe that he’s truly made some of the errors I’ve seen so far. On a more serious note, though, I’m always excited to see how those two teams match up against one another, as they always seem to go blow-for-blow on the scoresheet, and those games very quickly turn into some very entertaining hockey games.