DENVER – The Colorado Avalanche hosted Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final here Wednesday night, and they're a prime example of how rebuilds don't have to take forever. Or at least, in terms we're all too familiar with, 11 years going on 12.
It was just five years ago that the Avs were a 48-point outfit – or 30 points behind a Sabres team that suffered crushing disappointment when Jack Eichel's ankle injury the day before the opener sabotaged their season.
That Buffalo team fired Tim Murray and Dan Bylsma after the final whistle. Colorado, meanwhile, was in its first year under Jared Bednar, who had just been promoted during the summer after winning a Calder Cup with the Lake Erie Monsters when coach Patrick Roy decided he could not stomach a rebuild.
It was a rough start. Colorado posted the worst season for any NHL team since the 2005 lockout. The final record was 22-56-4 – 60 losses in 82 games. The Avs scored just 165 goals and gave up 276.
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The amazing part was that Colorado started 9-9 and then won just 13 of the final 64 games, piling up six separate losing streaks of five games or more. Ownership believed in general manager Joe Sakic, and how could you not, given the way he captained the Avs to Stanley Cups in 1996 and 2001? And Sakic knew he could build his team around captain Gabriel Landeskog, center Nathan MacKinnon and burly winger Mikko Rantanen, who was taken eight picks after Eichel in 2015.
"Oh, it's a belief. It's a belief in your core," Sakic said prior to Game 1. "You have to learn, you have to grow. And over time, we kept getting a little bit better. And guys, especially this year, really competed and faced a lot of adversity and overcame it every single time. It's a group that definitely believes in each other, and we believe in them."
"Certainly a lot of lessons have been learned over the last 5-6 years," Bednar said. "Going through some heartbreak in the playoffs, even the last couple of years. I think it's made us a stronger group. As a team, it's been mentally tough the bulk of the season. And I guess the biggest one ... is just raising the bar and our standard of play. We had a focus on what it would take to win come playoff time, right from Day One of the training camp."
The Avs would quickly improve after the 2017 season, but not before more dark days. Despite their horrific season, they struck out in the 2017 Draft Lottery, slipping from No. 1 to No. 4 as Philadelphia jumped all the way from 11 to 2 and New Jersey got the top pick. So those two teams were left to battle over Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick, and Colorado waited for Dallas to take Miro Heiskanen at No. 3 before finally being able to make its pick.
Who did the Avs take to soften their disappointment? A kid from the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League named Cale Makar. How many Norris Trophies are going to be in his future?
"I think it's one of the luckiest moments, I guess, for our organization to get dropped to No. 4 and pick Cale," Rantanen said with a big laugh. "I don't know what we would have done if we got the first, second or third pick, if we still would have gotten him. It's great. I'm really happy that we did that."
"He's the best defenseman in the world, and I've been saying that for a couple years now," MacKinnon said. "I think a lot of people agree with me. He's so dynamic, and it makes it so easy. A lot of good entries from defenseman, which is pretty unique. Jumps into play, does everything so well. Very smart."
While still waiting for Makar to come from the University of Massachusetts – where he played in the NCAA Frozen Four in Buffalo in 2019 – the Avs were nearly doubling their point total from 48 to 95 in one year. They won 43 games in 2017-18, scored 92 more goals and gave up 41 fewer before losing in the first round of the playoffs to Nashville in six games.
MacKinnon went from 16 goals and 53 points to 39 and 97. Rantanen exploded, going from 38 points to 84, and Landeskog nearly doubled his output from 33 to 62. MacKinnon said it feels more like 15 years ago that the Avs were last in the league, not five.
"It really does," he said. "Just everything was different back then for sure. Lot of different players, just same organization. We learned a lot."
"Those of us who were here will never forget what a tough season we had," Rantanen said. "But they kept the core together, and Joe honestly believed that his core could take us here, take us deeper in the playoffs. So it happened pretty quick. We made the playoffs the next season after all that, and it's been upwards from there."
The Avs have 15 players drafted in the first or second round, but Sakic's deadline moves for Josh Manson, Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Cogliano finally helped push this team deeper into June.
After three straight second-round losses, including a four-game collapse last year against Vegas after taking a 2-0 lead, the Avalanche are playing for hockey's top prize in a year that saw them post franchise records in wins (56) and points (119).
"Not getting out of the second round, you've got to just put that in the past," Makar said. "Obviously, you learn from it, like everybody says you will. But for us as a team, I feel like we really got that resilient presence this year. That's kind of been the main driving factor through these rounds."
The Avs entered Game 1 of the final with a 12-2 record in the playoffs, and are coming off sweeps in two of the three rounds. They've hardly been challenged by their opponent, and dealt much more with the adversity of injuries to goalie Darcy Kuemper and center Nazem Kadri than anything thrown at them by Nashville, St. Louis or Edmonton.
"We're learning right now, and I think as a group, we have our keys of why we're here," MacKinnon said. "It's not an accident. We just didn't get a bunch of good bounces. It's awesome. This is what we live for. I don't think anyone would trade places with anyone else in the whole world."
Bednar said everything the Avalanche have endured since 2016 led to Wednesday's moment, the first final game in Denver since Sakic took the Cup and handed it to Ray Bourque to hold aloft after Game 7 against New Jersey in 2001.
"With the experiences we've gained over the last few years, I feel like our team is on an even keel right now," Bednar said. "We've got a lot of great leaders in there, guys that have spent a lot of time in this league. ... I don't think that we're going to shy away from the moment. I think our focus is good. (The Lightning) may have more experience, but we're here to try and prove that we're the best team in the league."
