Avalanche Mailbag 3.0: Landeskog’s Return, MacKinnon’s Comments, Goaltending, & More

I’m still making my way through all the questions from last weekend’s Avalanche Mailbag.

This one had a nice range of questions that were fun to answer. Check it out and let me know what you agree or disagree with in the comments below. And if you haven’t yet, give the other two mailbags a read.

Read More: Avalanche Mailbag 1.0: Coaching, Management, & What Went Wrong in the Playoffs?

Read More: Avalanche Mailbag 2.0: Revisiting the Mikko Rantanen Saga

Question Tongue-n-Cheek

Does MacKinnon still believe in and stand by his statement that you can’t win with kids? Is that why the development system is non-existent, because MacK runs the show?

Aarif’s Response

I’ve learned over the years that Nathan MacKinnon tends to sometimes say things without completely meaning them. He’s an emotional guy and sometimes makes hyperbolic statements (see the next question for another example of this).

With that being said, I think this comment was somewhat misunderstood. I don’t think this was directed at guys like Casey Mittelstadt or the idea of adding players in their mid-20s. I believe it was more directed at trading picks and prospects like Calum Ritchie, Will Zellers, etc.

MacKinnon is basically saying that he couldn’t care less about the prospects and draft picks the Avs trade away. He’s not interested in the kids who enter the system and get developed. For example, I think a lot of people thought Peyton Krebs was going to be a star when the Golden Knights traded him, but the guy coming back was Jack Eichel. MacKinnon doesn’t care what Ritchie might eventually become. He’s more interested in what Brock Nelson can provide. Which, offensively, didn’t end up being much in the playoffs.

Basically, to me, MacKinnon was more or less saying that the team added Nelson, Charlie Coyle, and Erik Johnson while only subtracting Mittelstadt from the roster. That in itself was a positive at the time.

Also, no, I don’t think MacKinnon runs the show. They didn’t even tell him they were trading Rantanen.

Question from Chris Leeper

To quote MacKinnon: “I don’t know what we’re going to do.” I’ll simply ask you, what in the world are the Avs going to do?

Aarif’s Response

This offseason worries me. It really does. There are so many different routes the Avalanche can take and hopefully they go the right way.

The most important task for me is for Chris MacFarland to build a complete roster before the trade deadline. You can’t keep relying on Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar to drag this team to a second or third seed in the Central Division until the trade deadline.

Teams like Dallas were a complete roster that used the deadline to build off of that. That’s what the Avs did in 2022. Meanwhile, the last two years have been a repeated pattern of having no second line and little to no depth until March. And to me, that’s the reason why this team hasn’t won the division in the last two years.

Home-ice advantage matters. So does the No. 1 seed in this division.

No excuses this year. You have a healthy Gabe Landeskog, and you know where you stand with the salary cap. Figure things out and build a team that helps MacKinnon and Makar in October. Not March.

Question from Steve Carlander:

“The Cup window is closing” seems to be a common sentiment lately amongst Avs fans. I’m assuming this is based on MacKinnon and Makar being in their prime. Do you agree that there is a Cup window, and if so, how many more years do you see the Cup window as being open?

Aarif’s Response

It’s still very much open because this team is still very much loaded with talent — even if it’s hard to see that right now.

I don’t want to ignorantly say that any year with MacKinnon and Makar in their prime is a year where we can expect the Avs to make the playoffs and contend for the Stanley Cup. There’s a lot more that goes into having a playoff streak like the one Colorado has right now.

But this roster is loaded. I do believe they have an opportunity to have a deeper lineup for opening night than they did at any point last year before the trade deadline. And perhaps better given that they can use the entire regular season to build chemistry.

Question from Donald Cooley

If Makar’s stick doesn’t break, what would have been the result of the game?

Aarif’s Response

This one hurts, doesn’t it?

I’m not entirely sure if it changes the game. Maybe it does. But Dallas was pushing really hard, and it felt like tying the game up was inevitable. Momentum is a crazy thing.

If anything, I would’ve loved to see the Avs score on that power play well before Makar broke his stick. They were already on the man advantage for a little more than a minute before he broke his stick. That killer instinct could’ve sunk any hope Dallas had of mounting a comeback.

Question from Joseph Crotty

Aarif, great job this season. Thank you for your stellar coverage!

Having Landy back starting in Game 3 was a huge bonus for the end of the year. He had a tangible impact in nearly every game, save a poor Game 7. But I can’t help but feel that Game 2 could have been a win if Landy had played in place of Wood. I know the organization said Landy wasn’t ready until Game 3, but it was clearly a cat-and-mouse game Bednar played on his availability. Do you think he wasn’t yet ready, or was it rather a case of them wanting Landy’s return at home to capitalize on merch sales and the hoopla of his return?

Aarif’s Response

First off, I appreciate you following along all year, Joseph. Honestly, I appreciate all the readers. I know it can sometimes be toxic in the comments section, but we have an incredibly passionate community on this website. And honestly, this job wouldn’t be as fun without all the discussions we’ve had here throughout the year.

I honestly side with the Avs here. I don’t think it was a matter of saving Gabe Landeskog for Ball Arena or merch sales at home. But I do think that the playoffs starting a week after his conditioning stint was too soon for him to play. At least that’s what both he and the coaching staff felt. Both parties likely wanted him to get a certain amount of practices before playing, which wouldn’t have been possible until Game 3.

When Ross Colton got injured, the idea of rushing Landeskog probably wasn’t something they wanted to do. So I get it. They had depth with Miles Wood and Jimmy Vesey and chose to go that route instead. The fact that Wood directly impacted the Stars’ OT winner made this a bigger story than it should be.

I wonder how things would’ve played out in an alternate universe where Colton doesn’t get hurt. Who sits for Game 3? Who does Landeskog line up with?

Question from Jade

Can we help the goalie more? Mackenzie Blackwood was amazing during the series, except he needs to be inside the goal when the opponents are so close, so that we don’t have goals in the gap beside him. It feels like something was off with Makar. Do you agree?

Aarif’s Response

Makar was definitely off. But it doesn’t sound like it was injury-related. Either that or the organization is keeping that under wraps so it’s not blasted everywhere. But Makar was not that good for his standards in the postseason. That we can all agree on.

Blackwood looked solid to me. It was great to see him have a strong first four games and get a shutout in there. I also liked that when the Avs came out for the third period trailing by a goal with their backs against the wall in Game 6, he shut the door the rest of the way. I’m excited to see him grow over the next half decade.

Question from Matt Briggle

Have there been any updates on how Sean Behrens is doing? Is he still on track to be ready for camp in the fall?

Aarif’s Response

I wish I had seen this question beforehand so I could ask about him. But as far as I know, he should be ready to go for training camp in September. If anything changes, I’ll write something up about it.