Colorado Avalanche 2020 NHL Season Analysis

The Colorado Avalanche were second in the NHL’s Central Division, two points behind the St. Louis Blues, when the 2019-20 season was suspended. Here’s a look at the Avs and their NHL odds to win the Stanley Cup. Let’s take a closer look at their season along with NHL Odds and Stanley Cup Odds.

Colorado Avalanche 2020 NHL Season Analysis

Season Recap

Colorado leads all teams in road wins (24) and points (50) this season. The 24 victories equal the second-most away wins in franchise history, two shy of the record set in 2013-14. Gabriel Landeskog had reached the 20-goal mark for seventh time in career. He trails only Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk (both 11) for the most 20-goal campaigns in Avalanche history (since the team relocated).

The Avs were playing well when the season was shut down, winning seven of 10. They beat the New York Rangers 3-2 in overtime in their final game on March 11. J.T Compher scored at 2:50 of overtime and Tyson Jost and Vladislav Namestnikov also had goals. Rookie star Cale Makar had three assists in his return to the lineup from an upper-body injury that kept him out for five games. Compher tipped in his shot from the top of the zone to give Colorado the win.

Colorado played without All-Star center Nathan MacKinnon, who missed his first game of the season. MacKinnon, who is fifth in the NHL in scoring with 93 points (35 goals, 58 assists), suffered a lower-body injury in the previous game. He was originally ruled out 1-2 weeks so in a way the break came at a good time for him.

This marks the third consecutive season that MacKinnon has topped the 90-point plateau. He is the first Avalanche player to post three consecutive seasons of 90 or more points since the team relocated to Denver. He and Peter Forsberg (1997-99) were the only ones to reach 90 in two straight campaigns. MacKinnon has set a career high with 29 multi-point games, the most by an Avalanche player since Forsberg had 29 in 2002-03. MacKinnon already joined Sakic (2003-07) as the only Colorado players to post three straight 30-goal campaigns.

The injury came when Avalanche already had forwards out of the lineup. Mikko Rantanen (upper body), Andre Burakovsky (lower body) and Nazem Kadri (lower body) are among those that were hurt. Rantanen has missed 28 games because of two long injury stints but has 41 points in 42 games.

As for Makar, the defenseman is second only to MacKinnon in scoring. He’s second only to Quinn Hughes for rookie scoring — by just three points. Due to injury, Makar has played 11 fewer games. He was the front runner for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.

Before this season, young netminder Pavel Francouz had appeared in two NHL games. The 29-year-old is now outplaying Philipp Grubauer. Francouz has won 20 of his 29 starts, with a .922 save percentage. Francouz is one of just five goaltenders to play at least one NHL game this season and catch with the right hand. There have been 87 goalies who have played in the NHL this season.

Only Francouz, Michael Hutchinson, Calvin Petersen, Louis Domingue and Charlie Lindgren have caught with their right hands during the 2019-20 campaign. The NHL averaged 139 starts by right-hand catching goalies during the past decade, which doesn’t include the shortened 2012-13 season. Francouz is tied for fifth in NHL save percentage (.923) and is seventh in goals-against average (2.41).

Colorado leads the NHL in goal chances off a rush and is third in the NHL for goals scored off a rush. The Avs have a rush scoring differential with a plus 160, with their nearest rival being the Vegas Golden Knights at 116.

Two Avs players tested positive for the coronavirus but both have recovered. The team hasn’t said who had the virus.