Once the Avalanche and San Jose Sharks complete Wednesday night’s matchup at Ball Arena, both teams will be two-thirds of the way through the regular season heading into the Olympic break.
The Avs will enter the break as the No. 1 seed in the NHL, albeit with several teams inching closer to catching them. And the Sharks, who haven’t made the postseason since 2019, will remain among the teams battling for a wildcard spot. For some of them, even an opportunity to climb into the top three in the Pacific Division.
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Led by young superstar center Macklin Celebrini, San Jose is exceeding expectations this year. It didn’t seem like they would be a team battling for a playoff spot when the season began in October. And especially not through 55 games
But Celebrini, Will Smith, Yaroslav Askarov, and other key young pieces have all taken that next step. Mix in veterans like Tyler Toffoli, John Klingberg, and Dmitry Orlov, and you have an up-and-coming team ready to take that leap.
It’s reminiscent of the squad the Avs had in 2017-18 when their playoff streak began.
“They’ve got the star power,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “They’ve got guys coming into their own not only on the offensive side of things, but like rounding out their game to be more complete 200-foot players.”
The Sharks already traded for Kiefer Sherwood, throwing their name is as a buyer for the first time since their playoff drought began. Sherwood will finally make his debut for the Sharks at Ball Arena.
If San Jose can sneak into the playoffs, and if they wind up in a wildcard spot, there’s a really good chance that they’d be Colorado’s first-round opponent.
“Their results are a little hit and miss, because the consistency in their game is still coming,” Bednar said. “But they’re in almost every game that they play now because they’re determined, young, hungry, having fun, and they have that high-end superstar talent now.”
Nathan MacKinnon is in the prime of his career. Celebrini is the future of the league. The two will be teammates for Team Canada in a week and could very well end up as top two for the Hart Trophy when all is said and done.
Having these teams go up against each other would be exciting. Colorado is the veteran group with a Stanley Cup or bust mindset. The Sharks are just looking to gain that experience. Perhaps even spoil a strong season for one of the higher seeded teams in the Western Conference.
That, too, is the Avs were in back in 2018 when they snuck into the playoffs and faced the Nashville Predators. Colorado won two games before falling to the Preds in six. At the time, Nashville was coming off a Stanley Cup Final appearance and had just won the Presidents’ Trophy.
Against the Sharks, Colorado is going with Mackenzie Blackwood. He’ll make his third consecutive start. He recorded a shutout against San Jose in November.
