{"id":666679,"date":"2026-09-20T00:51:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T00:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/666679\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T00:51:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T00:51:26","slug":"sam-malinski-looking-to-grow-in-third-year-with-avalanche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/666679\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Malinski looking to grow in third year with Avalanche"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n Sports <\/a><\/p>\n

\n Published September 19, 2026 3:17pm\n <\/p>\n

CENTENNIAL \u2014 Last year was nearly perfect for Sam Malinski.<\/p>\n

Nearly.<\/p>\n

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\n \u25b6\n <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of good things in the year, but obviously didn\u2019t want to end it the way that we did,\u201d Malinski told The Denver Gazette.<\/p>\n

The Avalanche were not at their best against Vegas. Not even close. The margins were relatively thin in the first three games, but in the end, a sweep is a sweep. The Avalanche also were not completely healthy, which is what can happen to a team the deeper you get in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Malinski was one of the players banged up in the postseason. He missed Games 4 and 5 against the Minnesota Wild before returning against the Golden Knights. He played, but he clearly was not the Malinski everyone had watched all year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter. I had some head stuff going on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In the four games against the Golden Knights, the Avalanche were outscored 5-1 with Malinski on the ice at even strength, who failed to pick up a point in the series. Compare that to the regular season, where the Avalanche dominated teams with the Minnesota native on the ice, outscoring them 73-31 at 5-on-5.<\/p>\n

But last year is last year, and like the rest of the Avalanche, Malinski is looking to turn the page. Despite the way things ended, he has a lot of positives to build on, including displaying the ability to play a little further up the lineup against better players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a harder game playing against top-six guys,\u201d he said. \u201cJust a lot more skill, and I guess maybe not as much structure, more creativity. So it\u2019s difficult, but a good challenge for me. That helps me grow as a player too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old didn\u2019t just surpass the numbers he posted during his first full season in the NHL. He obliterated them. His 40 points were more than double what he put up the previous season, and he more than tripled his assist totals. He finished the year with an eye-popping +43, and when Malinski was on the ice, the Avalanche controlled nearly 59% of the shot attempts, the most of anybody on the team.<\/p>\n

So, yeah. Pretty good. And the Avalanche believe he can do more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Sam, for me, did a really good job in all areas of his game in growing,\u201d Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. \u201cI think that you can always get a little bit more consistent, a little better offensively, a little bit better defensively in all areas. If you see incremental growth in all areas, he\u2019s going to be better yet and he\u2019ll be comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ColoradoColorado Avalanche defenseman Sam Malinski (70) celebrates with center Martin Necas (88) after scoring against the Minnesota Wild during the first period in Game 1 of the second round of the NHL Playoffs Sunday, May 3, 2026, at Ball Arena in Denver. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be comfortable, as will all the Avalanche defensemen, because they\u2019re bringing back the same defensive core. Bednar said that Malinski will spend a lot of time with Brett Kulak, who was his main partner after the veteran was acquired prior to the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Malinski doesn\u2019t believe that type of continuity is overrated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really helpful,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all went through a lot of heartbreak last year, and we have the chemistry already built from the last half and most of the year with the core group, but I think it\u2019s going to help us a ton, especially at the start of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notes from day three of training camp<\/p>\n

Cale Makar did not skate on Saturday, as Bednar said it was a scheduled day off for him. He\u2019ll skate on Sunday but won\u2019t play in either of the first two preseason games.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s roster at home against Utah will be a mostly veteran group with younger players sprinkled in. T.J. Hughes is expected to skate on a line with Brock Nelson and Jaden Schwartz, while Gavin Brindley will get a look with Nazem Kadri and Gabriel Landeskog. Ilya Nabokov<\/a>, Alex Gagne<\/a>, Taylor Makar and Nikita Prishchepov were all given a mandated day off by the CBA because they will play on both Sunday and Monday.<\/p>\n

The Avalanche will make a few minor cuts ahead of this weekend\u2019s games, likely younger players who will be sent back to their junior teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sports Published September 19, 2026 3:17pm CENTENNIAL \u2014 Last year was nearly perfect for Sam Malinski. Nearly. Recommended…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5114],"tags":[193,5092,1772,25470,1116,191,144,5,5608,1117,19989,1848,19117,4,4520,190,109,5222],"class_list":["post-666679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-capitals","tag-avalanche","tag-bednar","tag-brent-burns","tag-brindley","tag-cale-makar","tag-capitals","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-hockey","tag-hughes","tag-jared-bednar","tag-kadri","tag-landeskog","tag-malinski","tag-nhl","tag-sam-malinski","tag-washington","tag-washington-capitals","tag-washingtoncapitals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117300630925966501","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}