The Colorado Avalanche narrowly missed out on the top seed in the West, while the Arizona Coyotes took down the Nashville Predators in the Qualifiers. Now they are set for a battle in the first round of the playoffs.
For the first time since the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Colorado Avalanche and the Arizona Coyotes are due to face off in the postseason, and the two teams took very different paths to get to this first-round matchup.
The Colorado Avalanche won two out of three round-robin games to earn the second seed in the Western Conference. In the regular season, the Avs finished tied for third in the NHL in points after qualifying for the playoffs as a wild card team in 2019.
The story of the offseason was the addition of several key depth players to complement the stars in Colorado. Now, after making steady progress over the last few seasons, this team seems poised to contend for the Stanley Cup.
More from Puck Prose
- Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
- This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
- 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
- 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
- This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings
For the Coyotes, the regular season saw them finish 23rd in points, 18 points behind their first round opponent. In this way, and in so many others, they could not be more different than the Avalanche.
Arizona’s key additions came in the form of star power, it had to survive the qualifying round to get here, and while the Avs had recent success in the playoffs, the Coyotes just ended a drought that dated back to the 2012 Western Conference Final.
The Matchup
The Coyotes and the Avalanche play two different brands of hockey. Colorado scored the fourth most goals in the regular season, while Arizona allowed the third fewest (tied) goals. The high powered Avalanche offense goes through Nathan MacKinnon, who was fifth in the NHL in points and is an MVP candidate, while the Yotes are led by Darcy Kuemper who ranked third among goalies in the regular season in goals against average and save percentage.
For the Avs, there is no shortage of offensive ability behind MacKinnon. Players like Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen have been contributors for several season, but in the offseason the team acquired Andre Burakovsky, Nazem Kadri, and Joonas Donskoi, all of whom recorded at least 33 points in the abbreviated 2019-20 campaign.
On the blue line, Colorado is anchored by rookie Cale Makar, who tallied 50 points this season, Ryan Graves, Samuel Girard, and Stanley Cup champion Ian Cole. In goal, Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz offer two solid options.
For Arizona, recently acquired stars like Phil Kessel and Taylor Hall will join Kuemper in leading the team through the playoffs. At forward, players like Nick Schmaltz, Clayton Keller, and others are more than capable of contributing to the offense as well.
Defense, though, is where the Coyotes shine. Kuemper was fantastic in the regular season (when healthy) and was lights out against the Nashville Predators in the Qualifiers. In front of him, the Coyotes are led on and off the ice by captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Stanley Cup champions Alex Goligoski and Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Key Players
Obviously, the players listed above will play significant roles in this series, and they will be the ones that attract the bulk of the attention. With that said, I prefer to zero in on depth players, because when the playoffs roll around, those are the guys that can make the difference.
When I looked ahead at the Coyotes’ last series, I pointed to Michael Grabner and Derek Stepan, and they did not disappoint. The postseason experience and the penalty killing attributes that both players bring to the table have been, and will continue to be, huge for Arizona. In this series, I would also watch for Carl Soderberg, as he spent the previous three seasons in Colorado and may have the inside information to give the Coyotes a boost.
On the Avalanche side, I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the offseason additions that have provided balance throughout the lineup. Several were key players that I listed already, but others to look for are Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Erik Johnson.
Bellemare can be a difference-maker on the PK, Namestnikov is a newer addition that could be important if he can settle in and establish some chemistry, and Johnson, who has spent ten seasons in Colorado, is a leader for this team that logs a lot of ice time.
Prediction
I think Arizona is trending in the right direction, and Darcy Kuemper proved last week that he can steal games for his team. Unfortunately, the Avalanche might be the worst matchup for the Coyotes, because they are so talented. Avalanche in six games.