The 3 Ontario Players On The Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche may not have repeated as Presidents’ Trophy winners, but one can argue that this year’s group is deeper than the 2020-21 squad that fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round of the postseason.

Led by superstars Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, the Avalanche surpassed the 110-point mark for just the third time in franchise history. As such, the road to the Stanley Cup Final on the Western Conference side will run through the Mile High City.

Though much of Ontario will be rooting for the Maple Leafs during the 2022 postseason, the Avalanche should garner some support from Canada’s most populated province as well. After all, three active Colorado players were born in Ontario.

The Ontario sports betting industry launched earlier this month, and customers can play through popular sportsbooks like BetMGM, BetRivers and bet365. Customers in Ontario can bet on Toronto’s prominent sports franchises in the Maple Leafs, Blue Jays, Argonauts, Raptors and Toronto FC.

With that all said, let’s take a dive into the three Avalanche players who were born in Ontario.

Nazem Kadri

Kadri was born in London, Ontario, but he actually grew up as a fan of the Maple Leafs’ archrivals, the Montreal Canadiens.

Toronto drafted Kadri seventh overall in 2009, and he would make his debut less than a year later against the San Jose Sharks in a Feb. 8 game against the San Jose Sharks. Kadri became a full-time NHLer in the 2012-13 season, leading the Leafs to their first playoff appearance in nine years.

Kadri would develop into a superb two-way center for the Maple Leafs from there, recording a pair of 30-goal seasons as well as three 50-point campaigns. 

In the 2019 offseason, the Leafs traded Kadri to the Colorado Avalanche in a blockbuster deal that brought defenseman Tyson Barrie and forward Alex Kerfoot over to Toronto.

Kadri is finishing up a career year with the Avalanche, having crossed the 80-point mark for the first time in his career. The 31-year-old is a free agent after this season, and it’ll be interesting to see if the cap-strapped Avalanche manage to find a way to keep him long-term.

Andrew Cogliano 

The Avalanche acquired the Toronto, Ontario native from the Sharks in exchange for a 2024 fifth-round pick ahead of the trade deadline.

The 34-year-old Cogliano was drafted 25th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2005. The former University of Michigan standout was an instrumental part of the 2006 and 2007 Canadian World Juniors gold medal-winning teams.

He never became the star that many envisioned following the World Juniors tournaments, but Cogliano has been a quality middle-six forward throughout his career. He has hit double-digit goals in 10 different seasons, including a career-high 21 in the 2013-14 season with the Anaheim Ducks.

The Toronto product played his first four seasons with Edmonton. In the 2011 offseason, however, he was traded to the Ducks for a 2013 second-round pick. 

Cogliano would spend the next eight seasons in Anaheim, helping them to five straight Pacific Division titles (2013 to 2017) and a pair of Western Conference Finals appearances (2017 and 2019). 

In Jan. 2019, Cogliano was traded to the Dallas Stars for forward Devin Shore. Cogliano helped the Stars reach the 2020 Stanley Cup Final in the bubble, but they were ousted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.

Cogliano will get another shot at the Cup with a Colorado team that has already clinched the No. 1 in the Western Conference.

Kurtis MacDermid

The 6-foot-5 defenseman and undrafted product has made a name for himself as one of the league’s top enforcers.

MacDermid spent his first four seasons with the Los Angeles Kings (2017-18 to 2020-21). He was taken by the Seattle Expansion in last year’s Expansion Draft, but the 32nd NHL franchise soon flipped him to the Avalanche.

The 28-year-old is renowned for his physicality and toughness more than his scoring ways. In his first year with Colorado, MacDermid has already set career-highs in both penalty minutes and hits.

Colorado is built largely around skill and speed. That said, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a player of MacDermid’s caliber in the postseason, when the games get tighter and extra physical.