We’re all here for a Colorado Avalanche Vs. Vegas Golden Knights slugfest
We could be about to witness a true showdown for the ages between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Colorado Avalanche.
While we are waiting on a concrete start date for the 2020-21 NHL season, it looks like we could be about to witness the start of a new and special rivalry between the Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights.
As we’ve covered a lot here at Puck Prose over the last couple of weeks, it looks almost certain that realignment will enter the NHL in 2020-21 in order to reduce travel as much as possible due to the ongoing complications caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
We know that there will be an All-Canadian Division due to the border issues, and that has the potential to be a lot of fun in itself.
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Certain Divisions will be absolutely stacked too, which is good news for some teams and bad news for others as we covered here, but there’s one potential captivating storyline that has really caught our eye.
Going on the realignment model first reported by Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, and seemingly confirmed by other sources, the West Division will pit the Vegas Golden Knights against the Colorado Avalanche.
Wow.
Now, what adds another layer of intrigue to this is the fact that, according to reports, it is likely that teams will play up to eight or nine games against other teams in their own division with the league wanting to cut down on travel as much as possible.
Therefore, that means we will get eight or nine tantalizing showdowns between two true heavyweights in the Avalanche and the Golden Knights, and we are all in for all of it.
I mean, both teams were going to be top of the class in the Western Conference in normal circumstances anyway, but the fact that they will now pit their wits against each other in the same Division for the Division crown and Playoff seeding is just mouthwatering.
With the rebuilding Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild and the Los Angeles Kings also set to be in the West, along with the San Jose Sharks and the Arizona Coyotes who are both far from the peak of their powers, it leaves the Golden Knights and the Avs to slug it out for the Division Title with the well-built St. Louis Blues for company.
But there is no doubt that Vegas and Colorado will be a class above the rest of the teams in the Division, with both franchises built to win right now and for the foreseeable future.
Take the Golden Knights for example who, after losing to the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final in the 2019-20 Stanley Cup Playoffs, approached the offseason with revenge on their minds and proceeded to win Free Agency by signing elite defenseman Alex Pietrangelo to a blockbuster seven-year, $61,600,000 contract.
Pietrangelo now gives Vegas a lethal one-two punch on the backend with Shea Theodore, who is well on his way to becoming a Norris Trophy-caliber defenseman, and the former will be the horse on the blueline that this team has long craved.
Throw into the melting pot the fact that the Golden Knights will enter the 2020-21 season with one of the best goalie tandems in the NHL in Robin Lehner and future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury, which will be crucial in a congested schedule, then this Vegas team is absolutely loaded.
And we haven’t even mentioned their stacked and loaded offense yet, which is headlined by elite two-way forward Mark Stone, veteran Max Pacioretty and center William Karlsson, while they boast a couple of intriguing and high-end prospects in Cody Glass and Peyton Krebs that could really break out this year.
Basically, the Vegas Golden Knights are as loaded and talented a team as you can wish for in the National Hockey League and, after suffering postseason disappointment in consecutive years now compared to lofty expectations, they will be motivated to get the job done in 2020-21.
Standing in their way, however, is the Colorado Avalanche who could put forward a strong argument that they boast an even more talented roster than the Golden Knights.
After all, they are spearheaded by one of the best players in the game in Nathan MacKinnon, who now has three straight seasons of recording 90 plus points, while he went on an absolute tear in the 2019-20 Stanley Cup Playoffs with 25 points (9 G, 16 A) in 15 games.
MacKinnon is just the tip of a very talented iceberg, though, given that he is surrounded by a wealth of elite weapons that are all game-changers in their own way.
From Captain Gabriel Landeskog to winger Mikko Rantanen to Nazem Kadri to Andre Burakovsky to Brandon Saad, who was acquired in a trade from the Chicago Blackhawks this offseason, the Avalanche are absolutely stacked in both talent and depth.
It also helps that they boast one of the most exciting young talents in the entire NHL on the blueline in Cale Makar, who put up 12 goals and 38 assists for 50 points in 57 games to win the Calder Trophy in 2019-20.
With newly-acquired Devon Toews, Erik Johnson, Ryan Graves and Samuel Girard also on the backend, the Avs boast one of the most dynamic and explosive defensive units in the league, and they also have a very solid goaltending tandem with Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz.
The scary news for the rest of the NHL is that the Avalanche can also lay claim to having one of the richest and deepest farm systems in hockey, with the likes of Martin Kaut, Alex Newhook, Bowen Byram and Conor Timmins all being on the cusp of making a real impact in the major leagues.
As a result, the Colorado Avalanche aren’t only built to win right now, but they are also constructed to perhaps become the next great dynasty in the National Hockey League.
Standing in their way in the West will be the Vegas Golden Knights, however, and that’s why the prospect of watching these two true heavyweights slug it out and land crushing blow after crushing blow over eight or nine games is so exciting and mouthwatering.
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They both have star power, they both have depth, they both have goaltending, they both can win in different ways and the titanic tussle between two of the best teams in the entire NHL in a new-look West Division could very quickly become the main storyline of the 2020-21 season.
And we are here for all of it. Bring it on!