DATER: Thoughts On What Comes Next for Avalanche After Kadri Departure (+)

Let’s not be in denial about this: The Colorado Avalanche aren’t as good a team today as they were 35 days ago. Two-thirds of their normal, regular second line for most of the last, Stanley Cup-winning season, are now on other teams in the Western Conference. Andre Burakovsky is a Seattle Kraken and, now, Nazem Kadri is a Calgary Flame.

The Avalanche have lost 148 points from their lineup of a season ago (87 from Kadri, 61 from Burakovsky) and, as of yet, have not replaced them with anyone new. That is a big loss, no matter how burgundy-colored your glasses are.

Maybe I should distill this further: The Avs aren’t as good of an offensive team, on paper anyway and almost certainly not on the ice when the games start up again, as they were not long ago. Two of the team’s top five scorers are now gone.

Here’s the thing – and why I’m not too panicked about this: