Sometimes a simple question is one of the hardest to answer.
Sometimes a great story idea comes from an unlikely source.
There is no shortage of ways to describe the historic dominance of the Colorado Avalanche so far this season. The Avs secured the most points before the holiday break (which began in 1972), starting the season with a ludicrous 27-2-7 record.
Everyone in the hockey world has tried to assess who or what is most responsible for this freight train on ice. The options are plenty. The dominance has been thorough.
But who or what deserves more credit than they or it has been getting for this incredible Avalanche season? That is a tougher question to answer. Recently, a high school student posed that question to this writer during an interview for a school capstone project.
This writer stumbled through a few options before realizing, hey … that is a great question to pose to everyone on the team. So, shout out to Matthew at the Jeffco Remote Learning Program.
We posed this question to nearly everyone on the Avs roster, and to coach Jared Bednar. The answers are many and varied. Given how comprehensive Colorado’s success has been, that feels about right.
“Well, I know what is causing our success,” Bednar said. “It is the focus and the determination of the group. And I’ll take that a step further and put it on leadership, because whatever message they are sending before games, during games on the bench, it is the right one. That, to me, is the most important thing, and it has spread throughout our room. You could narrow it down a little bit to our leadership group, the guys that have been here and been through some heartbreak and are leading the charge, but so are some new guys. It’s hard to give credit to any individual on a team like this.”
Here’s what the players had to say:
Mackenzie Blackwood: 62. He’s always good. He’s always the same guy. No one ever talks about (Artturi Lehkonen).
Gavin Brindley: I think everyone has been contributing. It’s never just been one guy. Different guys contributing at different times, finding different ways to win. It’s been a lot of fun.
Brent Burns: Every night is different, and I think there are a lot of guys who do. A guy like Jack (Drury), he does so many little things, little details on faceoffs that help the other guys out. (Parker Kelly) with his energy and his laughter, but he also creates a lot of space for guys on the ice. Jack (Drury) and (Parker Kelly) and (Joel Kiviranta) do the hard things.
Ross Colton: I feel like the leadership this year has been so much better. (Gabe Landeskog) obviously helps out. I think (Burns), having (Brock Nelson) back. Just the feeling in the room is so much better than it’s been the last couple of years that I’ve been here. I just feel like we’re so much tighter this year as a group off the ice. It makes coming to the rink more enjoyable. It’s definitely translating to the ice that we enjoy being here and want to battle for each other on the ice.
Jack Drury: Our superstars have been so good. It’s hard not to say them. I said this before, but Josh Manson is a really underrated player for us. He brings physicality, so good defensively and he’s got a lot of talent offensively too.
Parker Kelly: I’ll give you three answers. I think one is probably (Landeskog). I know he probably gets a lot of recognition, but sometimes I don’t think people know all the details in the game, and man, he just does it right every night. Hard on pucks, so huge in the room. It’s been awesome to have him back and just learn from him. The next guy is Burns. Just great for the room, revamped the d-core a little bit. Another guy who does all the little things and is so hard to play against. And then someone who is definitely under the radar a little bit? I’d say Sam Malinski. We have a lot of great D, but he’s having a hell of a year and is so good at moving pucks. I don’t think it’s talked enough about how good he is.
Joel Kiviranta: I feel like everybody is playing so good, it would be hard to pick. Maybe the goalies. They’ve been so good this year. When you have good goalies, it just helps you automatically. So I’d say the goalies. Both of them.
Gabe Landeskog: It truly feels like everyone, to be honest. (Scott Wedgewood) was huge for us that first month and still is. (Burns) has been a really good addition for us. (Josh Manson) has been playing really, really good hockey. I look up and down our lineup. I don’t even like calling them “depth,” but all these guys are the guys when we talk about being hard to play against. They make us hard to play against.
Artturi Lehkonen: Our goalies have been unreal for us. They are a big reason why we are winning so many games.
Nathan MacKinnon: I don’t think anyone deserves any credit, except for everybody, I guess. Everyone is pulling in the same direction this year, and we’re healthy. I think (Alexi Pianosi) doesn’t get a lot of credit, but I think we have the best strength coach in the league. He gets guys ready to play. I think we’ve had a lot of good starts because of how you get your body ready. We don’t have guys taking 10 minutes to get warm or get activated. Alexei has been amazing, and everyone has bought into his stuff, which is great. It’s been a huge, huge help.
Cale Makar: That is a great question. Who is not getting enough credit? I don’t know if there is just one guy. I’ll go with … maybe Sam Malinski, maybe Parker Kelly.
Sam Malinski: A lot of credit goes to the core group of guys for the culture they’ve built. I give a lot of credit to (general manager Chris MacFarland) for assembling this team and finding a group of guys that’s all very committed to winning. But also, it’s a team game, and I think a lot of our success comes from everyone showing up every night.
Josh Manson: I feel like everybody is contributing. Maybe I would say (Landeskog). Is he putting up like a point a game right now? No, but the way he’s come back and how handles himself in the room. Everyone is on the same page. He’s a big part of that.
Martin Necas: Everybody talks about Landy, and that is well deserved. I will say C-Mac (MacFarland). I don’t know if he’s talked about as much. I don’t really follow the media, but I think he really did a great job in the summer. The guys that he has locked in, the guys like (Burns) that he brought. They have been great additions not just on the ice, but in the locker room as well.
Brock Nelson: There are a lot of really good answers for that one. I’m sure you’ve heard Landy’s presence, the goaltending. I’ll go with Nate and Cale. You always knew they were like the top of the top, but now I see the ins and outs every day. I know Nate gets a lot of credit, but he probably doesn’t get enough, honestly. He’s playing a different level of game than everybody else.
Victor Olofsson: I’ve been playing with Jack Drury for most of the games. I think he is a very, very underrated player. He’s so responsible out there and very good defensively. I think he also has really good upside in his offense, as well that people maybe don’t see as much. He’s a very smart player, sees the ice really well on the penalty kill. He’s one guy that maybe doesn’t get a lot of headlines, but brings a lot to this team.
Devon Toews: First off, (Brendan McNicholas, vice president of media relations). Not Joe (Sakic). Definitely not Joe. He hasn’t done anything.
Editor’s note: McNicholas may have been standing next to Toews, and Sakic may have walked by while he considered his answer.
I think we’ve had relatively good health for the most part this year. Obviously, the training staff helps with that, the equipment staff helps with that. All of the people behind the scenes that allow us to do what we do don’t get enough recognition, so they deserve a shout-out.
Scott Wedgewood: I would just say our detail. You watch the game, and we score a lot, and we don’t give up much. What does that mean? It means when we come back on an odd-man rush, and we’re backchecking, we sort it out, and we don’t give up a high-danger chance. A goal that sticks out in my mind was in Edmonton. (Connor) McDavid and (Matthias) Ekholm get back on a rush, they chase one guy, we feed the middle, and they get scored on. We are sorting that stuff out. It’s our d-zone faceoff assignments, o-zone faceoff plays. We have a high-powered offense. Well, why? If we have numbers, we attack. If the fourth man has a step, he jumps in, and we get him the puck. It’s the finer details of our puck play and our decisions. That’s an elite thing that this team does. We give up chances, but what are we giving up? We’re able to give up the type of chances that (Blackwood) and I want. These are playoff details, and we’ve had them since Game 1.
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