2015-16 record: 39-39-4 (82 points)
Missed the playoffs
Captain: Gabriel Landeskog
Despite the fact that the Colorado Avalanche have made the playoffs just twice since the turn of the decade (I'm counting the 2009-10 season), things are rarely dull in the Centennial State these days. As badly as the Avs fell apart towards the end of the season, that would just be the tip of the iceberg, as a rather underwhelming free-agency haul was punctuated by Patrick Roy leaving the head coaching spot about a month and a half later. New head coach Jared Bednar will be tasked with not only getting his system implemented with a little more than a month to go, but also get the team to buy into a defensive system that actually works.
Despite the talent up front, the Avs were not very good offensively. Matt Duchene did hit 30 goals, but as it was with the rest of the team, more was expected of him. Nathan MacKinnon will be in an Avs uniform for several years, but he has to stay healthy, as injuries have hit the last two seasons. Only Duchene, MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Jarome Iginla scored more than 20 goals, and all have their fair share of question marks heading into the season, with Duchene being perpetually on the trading block, MacKinnon's heatlh, Landeskog showing lack of discipline at times, and Iginla nearing the end of the road. Other than Carl Soderberg, Joe Colborne, and Mikko Rantanen, there isn't much scoring depth up front. Defense is just as bad, and it was that way the entire time Roy was head coach. Erik Johnson is solid, but appears to be miscast as a top pairing defender while Tyson Barrie is primarily an offense-first player. Francois Beauchemin was one of the better defenders on the team, which is a clear indictment on just how bad the Avs are on the blue line, and now, they're breaking in Nikita Zadorov and Chris Bigras into the mix, meaning two players that are just barely old enough to drink are going to be tasked with fairly significant minutes. That could be a problem, particularly since they only added Fedor Tyutin and Patrick Wiercioch for depth. In goal, someone has to pay the price for total team relapses on defense, and unfortunately for Semyon Varlamov, he's that guy. Yes, he hasn't played up to his Vezina finalist billing of 2014, but now that Calvin Pickard will at least stick as the backup, he will have someone breathing down his neck for what may possibly be a battle for the starting job in Colorado. Both sides of the special teams ledger were not very good, and if the power play is to get better, someone other than Iginla must step up.
Prediction: 7th in the Central Division
Unlike most teams, the Avs are basically having a cram session when it comes to breaking in a new head coach, and given the troubles on both sides of the puck, especially defensively, anything other than a last place finish in the division would be considered overachieving.
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