“I played first, catcher and third. It sounds crazy, but I was actually better at baseball. I played travel ball and really enjoyed it,” Roach told The Post. “I was a power hitter.”

He still is. He has simply replaced a bat with shoulder pads and a helmet.

Roach is a big reason why the Broncos went from being unable to stop a candidate from running for city council to becoming one of the best rush defenses in the NFL.

Denver ranked third in yards allowed and second in yards per carry last season.

“We had to stop the run better. How were we going to do that? We had some pieces in place,” general manager George Paton said. “But signing Malcolm Roach was a huge addition – it could’ve been our best addition in the offseason in free agency.”

Roach, 27, is not well known to fans, but he is impossible to miss inside the locker room or at practice. He has an easy smile, infectious sense of humor and a willingness to dispense justice.

“He brings leadership,” coach Sean Payton said. “And one of his great traits is that he doesn’t have bad days.”

Do the math in your head, hit the plus sign twice for inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga, and it is easy to see why it adds up to the Broncos having the NFL’s best defense.

Roach isn’t buying it. That title must be earned not given.

“At the end of the day it’s still about having a beginner’s mentality from Day One,” Roach said. “I felt like last year we put in a lot of work to become a good defense. I won’t say great yet. But, we have talent at every level.”

So how do they go from most improved to top of class? It starts off the field. The way Roach sees it, players don’t have to like each other. They have to love each other. It creates ownership, accountability and honest communication.

“You have to really know your teammates. I know there are certain things I can tell D.J. (Jones). We can yell at each other all day like brothers, but the job is going to get done and we will be good. But I know I can’t just go to JFM (John Franklin-Myers) yelling all the time or Zach (Allen) yelling all the time,” Roach said. “You have to put in time to be able to talk to them that way. That is the special thing about this group. We knew that from Day One. We felt that vibe.”

Humility and confidence exist because of defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. He allows personalities to blossom, but stresses the importance of players knowing their roles. Taking his cue from CU legend Bill McCartney, Joseph views “camaraderie as four times more important than the physical traits.”

But can we be honest? This group has eye-opening talent, the most since 2015. It starts with Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain, and includes Allen, and edge rushers Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper, whom Roach considers “the best tandem in the league.”

Roach believes this group can “get really scary” if they can consistently generate pressure without blitzing, allowing the secondary to mix in zone coverage. That should translate to more takeaways, forcing quarterbacks to ignore the Do Not Disturb sign Surtain II places on one side of the field.

The Broncos set a franchise-record with 63 sacks last season.

And what happens next could be better? Really?

“Yes, because we are still hungry. We have a lot of young guys who are still unproven,” Roach said. “We have another level we can get to. We know what we can be. But it’s like Coach Payton tells us, ‘Keep your head down and carry a lunch pail.’ If we do that, the results will take care of themselves.”

Roach, who will be a free agent at season’s end, remains a critical component. While most defensive tackles are built like something you have to defrost every two months, Roach plays at 6-foot-3, 290 pounds, his athleticism a reminder of how he once ran the 200-meter dash in high school.

His agility is unique. He dropped into coverage once last season, and he is strong enough to make it difficult for one man to block him. He finished last season with career-highs in tackles (43), tackles for loss (five), sacks (2.5) and quarterback hits (eight).

“I know when I first got here, we had a talk about what had happened (in 2023), and I was like that was unacceptable. I can’t be a part of a group like that,” Roach said. “We were able to talk openly to each other because there is so much respect. We all want each other to be our best.”

Life cannot get much better for Roach. While he recently returned to Baton Rouge, La., to host his Elite Football Camp, he has established roots in Colorado. He stayed here this offseason to train, stressing “that is the culture that has been created.” He also attended Nuggets, Avs and Rockies games, leaving a lasting impression.

“The city supports you, you really feel they are behind you. You can tell they want winners around here,” Roach said. “You have (Nikola) Jokic in basketball, Pat Surtain and Bo Nix in football, (Nate) MacKinnon with the Avs and Ezequiel Tovar is an up-and-coming star for the Rockies. I love it here. I sit home and call my parents and tell them, ‘I don’t want to leave Denver.'”

There is unfinished business for Roach and this defense. Getting good was never the goal.

“We are really motivated because last year showed us that we can do this. We’ve got a good squad together. Like coach said, ‘We are entering the start of our window.’ We’ve seen what we have in 10 (Bo Nix). He’s one of the best in the league and only going to get better. And we know what we’ve got upfront,” Roach said. “But we haven’t done anything yet. We have to keep putting in that work.”

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Hakstol has had two stints as an NHL head coach — first with the Philadelphia Flyers and most recently with the Seattle Kraken. His Kraken squad knocked the defending champion Avalanche out of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs in a first-round upset.

“Dave brings a wealth of knowledge and experience behind the bench and will be a great fit on Jared’s staff,” Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said in a team statement. “He has an extensive coaching background with a lot of success and will be a valuable addition to our team.”

Before three years with the Flyers, three with the Kraken and a two year-run as an assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Hakstol rose to fame in the coaching world at his alma mater, North Dakota. Hakstol was the head coach for 11 years and reached the Frozen Four seven times.

He was a Jack Adams Award finalist in 2023, helping the Kraken to the only playoff appearance in Seatte’s four-year history. That team defeated the Avs in seven games and then pushed the Dallas Stars to a seventh game before losing in the second round.

Hakstol replaces longtime Avs assistant Ray Bennett, who was fired after Colorado’s seven-game series loss to Dallas to end last season. Bennett, who coached the forwards and the power play, took the fall when the Avs faltered with the extra man against the Stars. They scored three times in 22 power-play opportunities.

Toronto’s power play finished tied for fifth and 16th in Hakstol’s two seasons as an assistant with the Maple Leafs. Seattle’s power play also improved in Hakstol’s second and third seasons, though never finished higher than 17th in the league.

He’ll have a significant upgrade in talent on Colorado’s power play, and an intriguing question entering training camp — will the Avs use free agent addition Brent Burns on the power play, and if so where and how? Burns was one of the best power-play defensemen in the league in his prime, but the Avs have Cale Makar and Devon Toews to run their two units, plus Samuel Girard in reserve or on the flank with Toews on PP2.

Hakstol has also coached on a pair of Team Canada staffs at the world championships, in 2017 (with Nathan MacKinnon on the team) and in 2019 (with Mackenzie Blackwood on the roster).

“I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity to join the Avalanche,” Hakstol said in a team statement. “This is a proud organization with a lot of talented players and a tremendous coaching staff led by Jared Bednar. I look forward to being a part of this special group and can’t wait to get to work and help the team in any way that I can. My family and I are also very much looking forward to being a part of this community and wonderful state of Colorado.”

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Well, the past couple of days removed a lot of the seasoning.

Fifteen players have signed contracts worth $5 million per season or more in the past week, while veteran players Jamie Benn, Patrick Kane, John Tavares and Jonathan Toews have all agreed to deals below that threshold as well. Several of the big deals went to pending restricted free agents, but the top of the UFA class disappeared when Mitch Marner, Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Brad Marchand and others took their names off the market.

The names might not be as big on Tuesday, but there are still plenty of teams with a lot of salary cap space as free agency opens in the NHL, so expect to see some not-elite players sign larger-than-expected contracts.

The Colorado Avalanche has a little bit of cap flexibility, but also several depth spots on the roster to fill. Don’t expect the Avs to get into a bidding war for any of the top names still available, but they could also make another trade to free up more cap space, fill one or more of those holes or both.

Colorado does have several players hitting the free agent market Tuesday, including forwards Jonathan Drouin, Joel Kiviranta and Jimmy Vesey, plus defensemen Ryan Lindgren and Erik Johnson.

NHL free agency updates

Day 1: July 1

1:05 p.m.: The Avs bolstered the blue line for the Eagles by signing Ronnie Attard to a one-year, two-way contract. Attard, 26, was a third-round pick in the 2019 NHL draft. The 6-foot-3, 208-pound defenseman split last season between the Philadelphia Flyers’ and Edmonton Oilers’ AHL affiliates. He has 29 games of NHL experience with the Flyers, spread across the previous three seasons.

12:55 p.m.: Jonathan Drouin is moving on.

Drouin signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the New York Islanders, becoming the second UFA to leave the Avs on the first day of free agency. Drouin had 30 goals and 93 points in 122 games across two seasons with the Avs.

He signed two one-year contracts with Colorado, and was one of the best bargains in the NHL both years. Drouin came to Denver to reunite with his friend Nathan MacKinnon and help rebuild his value. In doing so, the Avs got a productive forward on a cheap contract who also evolved in a much better two-way player during his tenure.

Drouin goes to the Islanders to play for Avs legend Patrick Roy. He’s also there in part because the Isles had some extra cap space they wouldn’t have if Brock Nelson had signed before the trade deadline last season and not ended up in Denver.

11:30 a.m.: The first of Colorado’s free agents has found a new home.

Ryan Lindgren has agreed to a four-year, $18 million contract with the Seattle Kraken, according to multiple reports. Lindgren just concluded a one-year deal at the same $4.5 million AAV. The Avs acquired Lindgren, along with Jimmy Vesey, from the New York Rangers before the trade deadline for Calvin de Haan, Juuso Parssinen plus second- and fourth-round picks.

Lindgren had two goals and an assist in 18 games for the Avs. He had played mostly on New York’s top pairing with Adam Fox, but settled into a No. 4/5 role with Colorado.

10:45 a.m.: Colorado retained two key players for the Eagles on one-year contracts.

T.J. Tynan, 33, and Jack Ahcan both signed one-year deals to remain with the organization. Tynan had eight goals and 49 points in 52 games for the Eagles last season. He also had one point in nine games for the Avalanche.

Ahcan, 28, had five goals and 41 points in 69 games for the Eagles. He also played in the Avs’ final two games of the regular season.

10:20 a.m.: The Avalanche signed one of its forwards with one year remaining on his current contract, but it wasn’t the one people might have been expecting.

Parker Kelly signed a four-year, $6.8 million extension Tuesday, a league source confirmed to The Denver Post. The deal will carry a $1.7 million cap hit. It doesn’t start until 2026-27 and runs through 2030.

Kelly, 26, joined the Avs a year ago on a two-year, $1.65 million deal. He had eight goals and 19 points in 80 games for the Avalanche, spending a large chunk of the season as the No. 3 center before settling in on the wing of the fourth line after the club revamped its roster.

This was the first day Kelly was eligible to sign a new contract. Martin Necas, Jack Drury, Josh Manson, Scott Wedgewood and Sam Malinski are all eligible for new deals that begin in 2026.

10:00 a.m.: Monday was the deadline to extend a qualifying offer to restricted free agents. The Avs did not qualify forwards Jean Luc-Foudy, William Dufour, defenseman John Ludvig and goaltender Kevin Mandolese, so they are all officially unrestricted free agents.

Avalanche depth chart

Here’s where the Avalanche depth chart stands the morning of July 1, before the free agent frenzy gets started:

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Gabe Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton – Jack Drury – Parker Kelly
??? – ??? – ???

Internal options: Ivan Ivan, Nikita Prischepov, Zakhar Bardakov, Matthew Stienburg, Jason Polin

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Samuel Girard – Josh Manson
??? – Sam Malinski

Internal options: Keaton Middleton, Wyatt Aamodt, Jacob MacDonald

Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
Trent Miner

Injured: Logan O’Connor (hip)

And here’s some reading material to get updated on the Avs’ offseason to date:

Avs sign RFA Sam Malinski

Avs have clarity, cap flexibility … and could be patient

Avs trade Charlie Coyle, Miles Wood to Columbus

Avs 2025 NHL draft tracker

Renck: Avs re-signing Brock Nelson puts Chris MacFarland, Jared Bednar on notice

Avs sign Brock Nelson, answer biggest offseason question

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The Avs made their second big move of the offseason Friday, trading Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to the Columbus Blue Jackets. It’s a move that weakens the team’s present depth at forward, but also allows the club more flexibility to fill out the edges of the roster.

Colorado received the No. 77 pick in the 2025 NHL draft, a second-round selection in 2027 and prospect Gavin Brindley in the trade, which also clears $7.75 million in salary cap for this coming season.

“We believed in (the 2024-25) group tremendously, and it still stings,” Avs general manager Chris MacFarland said. “Our cap was tight, right? It’s still tight for this year, and this was an opportunity to loosen it up a little bit. We’re really excited about that aspect of it, and obviously it comes at the expense of losing good hockey players and good people.”

By removing Coyle and Wood from the cap ledger, the Avalanche now has $9.725 million in space with 10 forwards, four defensemen and two goaltenders signed to one-way contracts. One of those forwards, Logan O’Connor, is expected to miss the start of the season after hip surgery, so Colorado could have an extra $2.5 million in space available until he’s ready to return.

A fifth defenseman, Sam Malinski, will still be under team control if he doesn’t have a new contract by July 1 and becomes a restricted free agent. MacFarland said the club will qualify Malinski in the coming days and hopes to get a deal done with him soon.

Brindley was the No. 34 selection in the 2023 NHL draft and instantly becomes one of the Avs’ top prospects, albeit in a thin system. He had six goals and 17 points in 52 games in the AHL last season, but the 20-year-old wing was one of the youngest players in the league.

He had 25 goals and 53 points in 40 games as a sophomore at Michigan the previous year.

“Going back to his draft year, he’s a high-motor, tenacious player that plays with really good pace,” MacFarland said. “That book has traveled and just followed him to pro hockey.”

The 2025 third-round pick gives the Avs three selections in this week’s draft, along with fourth- and seventh-round picks. Both of the draft picks in this deal could become valuable trade chips, whether Colorado makes those selections or deals them ahead of time.

Colorado traded for Coyle just before the trade deadline last season in a deal that sent Casey Mittelstadt, prospect William Zellers and a 2025 second-round pick to the Boston Bruins. Coyle slotted in as the club’s No. 3 center for the stretch run and opening-round playoff series loss to the Dallas Stars.

When the Avs signed Nelson to a three-year, $22.5 million contract earlier this month, it left the team with little cap space and several depth spots on the roster still to fill. Coyle will cost $5.25 million against the cap in 2025-26, the final year of his current contract.

Coyle was an instant fit with the Avs. He had 13 points in 19 regular-season games, and coach Jared Bednar raved about his all-around game and versatility. But Coyle was also one of several key forwards who did not produce offensively against the Stars. He had one goal and no assists in the series.

The Avs signed Wood to a six-year contract with an average annual value of $2.5 million ahead of the 2023-24 season. Wood had four goals and eight points in 37 regular-season games this past season, missing a huge chunk of it with a lingering back injury. He appeared in only one playoff game after Colorado bolstered the forward group at the deadline.

Colorado still has Jack Drury, Parker Kelly, Ross Colton and Ivan Ivan as potential options to fill out the center depth chart behind Nathan MacKinnon and Nelson. Drury was the No. 4 center after Nelson and Coyle arrived at the deadline.

MacFarland also mentioned Zakhar Bardakov, a 24-year-old prospect the Avs acquired in March 2024 from the New Jersey Devils, as a player who could earn a job during training camp.

“We know what we’ve got in terms of cap space and roster holes. You do the math and try to figure it out,” MacFarland said. “We’ll look at anything we can to improve, including the back end. I think the only area that we’re probably set as we sit here tonight is in net.”

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It’s just not likely to be this weekend at the 2025 NHL draft, unless general manager Chris MacFarland has a trade or two up his sleeve. The Avs currently have only two picks in this draft: No. 118 in the fourth round and No. 214 in the seventh.

“The Avs’ pool might be the weakest in the NHL today,” Scott Wheeler, a staff writer who covers prospects and the draft for The Athletic, said. “They’ve either dealt their picks or their top prospects and the little that’s left will do more than nibble at the edges.”

There’s no secrecy about how the Avalanche reached this point. Colorado has been in win-now mode for years. A shallow collection of prospects is the cost of doing business as a perennial Stanley Cup contender — either by trading draft picks or using them and then dealing the prospects they produce.

The Avs have certainly emptied the cupboard over the past several seasons. Those trades helped the franchise win the Stanley Cup in 2022. It’s helped MacFarland load up at the deadline each of the past two seasons.

Just this past season alone, the Avs traded away top prospect Calum Ritchie, a 2024 pick amid a breakout season (William Zellers) and six selections in the first three rounds of future drafts.

“I think for the Avs system, the way to define it is that there are players, but there probably aren’t a ton of impact players,” Chris Peters, content manager and draft/prospects analyst at FloHockey, said. “I think there are players within the mix that will very likely play games, but there aren’t many, if any, game-breakers.

“The lack of a high-end player does make it one of the least exciting pools in the league, but this is the nature of most teams in win-now mode with legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations. Long-term, it does make things harder in terms of building up the next wave, as we’ve seen in Pittsburgh of late. Considering how long it took before the Penguins got to this stage, though, I think most teams would be comfortable with that.”

Not only are the Avs short on prospects with impact potential, they don’t currently own a pick in the first three rounds of either the 2025 or 2026 NHL draft. It could put them at a deficit when trying to make more win-now trades in the near future, so it is possible the Avs could make a move or two in the coming weeks to recoup some draft capital to give them more movable assets at the deadline.

Mikhail Gulyayev is the club’s top prospect now with Ritchie gone. The 2021 first-round pick has one more year on his KHL contract before the Avs will try to get him to come to North America.

Goaltender Ilya Nabokov, the club’s top pick in a deep 2024 class, is the No. 2 prospect. He’ll play this season on loan in the KHL and then join the Avs or Colorado Eagles after his season is over.

Beyond those two, it’s a lot of maybes and players have relatively low NHL ceilings.

“I think Nabokov could be a decent backup,” Steven Ellis, associate editor and prospects analyst for Daily Faceoff, said. “Sean Behrens might have enough to be a third-pairing defender. But beyond that, it’s a barren wasteland. I’m not sure there’s another prospect in the system who would have a realistic shot at becoming a full-time NHLer.

“Nikita Prishchepov is intriguing because nobody could have expected a seventh-rounder to play in the NHL the following season but we’ll see if he has any sustained success up there.”

Colorado’s recent history with draft picks after the first round has not helped, but there is some hope with the 2024 class. Zellers, a third-round pick, helped bring Charlie Coyle to Denver. Nabokov could be one of the club’s best second-round selections in 15 years. Prishchepov played 10 NHL games, more than everyone in his class beyond the top two guys in the draft.

Others later in the draft, like University of Denver sophomores-to-be Jake Fisher and Tory Pitner, plus Czechia native Max Curran, could help add a little bit of depth to the Avs’ prospect pool.

And there are the two picks in the 2025 NHL draft, though both will be long shots to make the league.

To be clear, this isn’t a major problem in the near future, outside of possibly missing out on a trade target or two if other teams with more young assets and picks outbid them. It is something that Colorado will need to improve, eventually.

“The only guy I think is probably an NHL player is a 5-10 Russian defenseman (Gulyayev) who isn’t even that special offensively,” Corey Pronman, senior prospects writer for The Athletic, said. “Nabokov, Behrens and Curran have a chance, but none of them are top prospects for me.

“(Nathan MacKinnon’s) contract saves their window. They can go external for the next 4-5 years before this catches up with them.”

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Since winning the Stanley Cup in 2009, the Penguins had a postseason derailed by injuries (2011), multiple years where they looked like one of the favorites but didn’t get close (2012 and 2013) and one that ended with a shocking collapse (2014).

It’s not exactly apples to apples, but a lot of that sure sounds familiar for the present-day Colorado Avalanche. Just like the Penguins in 2009, when the Avs won the Stanley Cup in 2022, it appeared a burgeoning dynasty had announced its arrival. But, just like the initial core for Crosby’s club, these Avs have not been the superpower that was promised, at least in the postseason.

While the Penguins survived a career-threatening injury to their captain and had plenty of regular-season success, there was plenty of angst about the franchise’s playoff failures. What everyone didn’t know in hindsight was that the groundwork for two more championships had already been laid.

Pittsburgh drafted Bryan Rust in 2010, Matt Murray in 2011 and Jake Guentzel in 2013. All were under-the-radar picks in the third round. And all three became critical components of a Penguins championship run when Crosby and Co. sealed their legacy with titles in 2016 and ’17.

The Avs need to find players like that in the later rounds of the draft to help extend the championship window for Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Co. The issue is Colorado’s draft record beyond the first round has left a lot to be desired.

Colorado built a championship team through the first round of the draft. The 2022 Avalanche was one of the best rosters of the salary cap era, and it was fueled by homegrown stars who were selected high in the NHL draft.

They also used a recent first-round pick (Justin Barron) and the club’s best second-round pick in years (Drew Helleson) to add the final pieces through trades — Artturi Lehkonen and Josh Manson. Textbook work from the front office, both at the draft table and the deadline, helped deliver a championship.

But winning more than one is really hard, as MacKinnon has learned both from watching his famous friend struggle for years to claim a second and now through his club’s journey.

Even a franchise oozing with homegrown star power still needs to replenish the ecosystem through the draft. Those picks can become players on cheap contracts who help the pending salary cap squeeze, or they can be trade chips to further buttress the NHL roster.

Helleson could have a long NHL career and should count as a draft success for the Avalanche if he does. But Colorado hasn’t drafted a player who has played 300 games in the NHL after the first round since 2009, when Ryan O’Reilly (second round) and Tyson Barrie (third) joined Matt Duchene (first) in the franchise’s best draft class since moving to Denver.

The three guys Colorado has selected after the first round who have played at least 175 NHL games are Will Butcher (275 games), A.J. Greer (248) and Calvin Pickard (175). Butcher didn’t sign with the Avs out of college, Greer played 37 games for Colorado before getting traded for a guy who played five times for the Avalanche (Kyle Burroughs) and Pickard appeared in 86 games before going to Vegas in the expansion draft.

Players who are drafted after the first round have long odds of making the NHL. Not every team is good at finding NHL regulars in the middle rounds of the draft. A lot of the guys taken in the late rounds who make it are late bloomers and there is obviously some luck involved for the NHL club.

But the Avs’ issues after the first round go beyond just not taking guys who can play 300 NHL games. They’ve selected a bunch of guys who didn’t even become AHL regulars. Those players never even had a chance to become interesting trade chips.

In 2016, the Avs selected guys in the second and third rounds who combined to play 13 AHL games for them. In 2017, they had a pair of fourth-round picks. One never played a full season with the Eagles. One never played a game in North America.

Justus Annunen made it to the NHL as a third-round pick in 2018 and helped the Avs land Scott Wedgewood. But fellow third-rounder Sampo Ranta is back in Europe after 16 NHL games, and the 2018 fourth-round pick is playing for someone else’s ECHL club.

One or two more good selections in that group could have helped the Avs, either in games or via trade, in the past few years. Recently, one of the issues is that Colorado has traded a lot of picks away as it chases another Stanley Cup.

That’s normal, but some of the recent middle-round picks haven’t worked out, either. Matthew Stienburg (2019) and Jean-Luc Foudy (2020) were both third-round picks and might top as fourth-line depth guys at best. Alex Beaucage (2019) is out of the organization and Andrei Buyalski (2021) is back in Russia after three years at Vermont.

There is some hope. Sean Behrens has to overcome a major knee injury and his size as a defense-first guy, but the 2021 second-round pick can still be an NHL regular.

The 2024 draft class was flush with interesting prospects, and the Avs need some hits. William Zellers had a big year in the USHL, and the Avs put him in the deal for Charlie Coyle.

Colorado has made a few good picks recently, but not nearly enough. And the Avs don’t currently have any picks in the first three rounds of the 2025 or 2026 drafts. They could add some in a trade, but the Avs also desperately need to hit on a late pick or two in the coming years as well.

The current roster will keep the contention window open for the next couple of seasons, but the Avalanche must find guys like Rust and Guentzel through the draft if they are going to continue to compete for the Stanley Cup through the end of this decade.

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They might get that chance next February at the 2026 Winter Olympics. MacKinnon and Makar were two of the six players named to the Canadian Olympic team on Monday. All 12 participating nations announced their first six players for the Olympics, which will be held Feb. 6-22 in Milan and Cortina, Italy.

MacKinnon and Makar, two of the three finalists for the Ted Lindsay Award this season and two of the top-six finishers in the Hart Trophy voting, were not a surprise. Same for Martin Necas being named to Czechia’s roster after being the second-highest scoring Czech player in the NHL this season.

The one surprise was Avs captain Gabe Landeskog, who is one of the first six selected to play for Sweden. Landeskog missed the past three regular seasons with right knee issues. At the time of the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, there was no clarity on when he might return to practice, let alone actual games.

Landeskog did return to action after 1,020 days away — first in two games with the Colorado Eagles and then for the final five games of the Avs’ first-round series with the Dallas Stars. Landeskog’s comeback was remarkable, as he quickly settled in as one of Colorado’s better players in the series.

This will be the first Winter Olympics for many of the world’s best players, including MacKinnon, Makar and Necas. Landeskog won a silver medal for Sweden at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Canada has won the past four best-on-best events with NHL players, dating back to the 2010 Olympics.

“Gold medal, we hope,” Canada general manager Doug Armstrong said, when asked what his team is capable of in Italy. “The floor is so much closer to the ceiling now in international events than ever before.”

The NHL did not participate in the 2018 or 2022 Games. Russia and Belarus remain ineligible due to the ongoing war with Ukraine.

Canada and Czechia are in Group A, along with Switzerland and France. Sweden is in Group B, along with rival Finland, Slovakia and Italy. Group C features the United States, Germany, Latvia and Denmark.

This quartet of Avs should be joined by Artturi Lehkonen, who wasn’t one of Finland’s first six but is a lock to play for his country, assuming good health. Devon Toews is a solid bet to join MacKinnon and Makar.

Brock Nelson played for the Americans at Four Nations, but could need a strong start to next season to keep his spot. Mackenzie Blackwood might have made Canada’s roster had he started last year with the Avalanche and could play his way into the Olympics next season.

Connor McDavid scored in overtime to help the Canadians defeat the Americans to win the Four Nations tournament. MacKinnon was named tournament MVP after scoring four times in four games, including the opening goal of the final.

Canada went 3-0 in the games that Makar dressed for, losing the one (United States) that he missed because of an illness.

That game, which began with three fights in the first minute, was a cultural flash point for hockey and brought significantly more interest in the tournament than expected. The final game drew an ESPN record for hockey audience of 9.3 million viewers, while more than 10 million watched on Sportsnet in Canada.

“I think it’s going to be fantastic,” Armstrong said. “The Four Nations, we all went in hoping it would be a great event and it ended up being better than anyone expected.

“I think hockey is the big winner. … The players are so excited to be part of this.”

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The Avs made a significant commitment ahead of offseason shopping season, retaining center Brock Nelson on a three-year contract with an annual $7.5 million cap hit. The move gives the Avalanche the most stability it’s had at a key spot in the depth chart in years. But that doesn’t mean the deal doesn’t also come with some risk.

First, the stability. Colorado’s quest to find a consistent No. 2 center to deploy behind Nathan MacKinnon has been one of the defining roster storylines of the past three seasons. General manager Chris MacFarland and his staff have done some strong work to keep the Avalanche among the league’s Stanley Cup contenders despite losing Nazem Kadri to Calgary, captain Gabe Landeskog to a defective right knee and several depth players from the 2022 run to one of the NHL’s universal truths — secondary guys who win the Cup get paid, typically elsewhere.

That said, how the Avs have navigated replacing Kadri has had some hiccups along the way. Ryan Johansen was a miss and cost Colorado an upgraded draft pick to include him in the trade for Sean Walker at the 2024 trade deadline.

The Avs used another premium asset, defenseman Bo Byram, to replace him with Casey Mittelstadt. He looked like a solid long-term solution and earned a three-year contract after a nice end to the regular season and a solid playoff run.

Then Mittelstadt went into a huge funk this past season, and the Avs had to trade a second-round pick and a decent prospect to swap him for Charlie Coyle, who had far less production and slots in as the third center. And then there’s the price Colorado paid for Nelson, which was significant.

The end result is Nelson for the next three years on a market-rate contract. Eight centers will be 31 or older next season with a salary cap hit that starts at $6 million to $7 million. Nelson was more productive last season than five of the other seven (one of the two who had better numbers was Kadri).

The process from Kadri to Nelson might cost the asset-thin Avs in a future trade, but they have a productive veteran who can excel in this role. Assuming Landeskog can stay healthy and Valeri Nichushkin’s off-ice troubles are far in the rear-view mirror, the Avs could have the best top-six in the NHL next year.

Now, about the risk.

First, there is Nelson’s age. He turns 34 years old in October. There is plenty of age-curve-related data out there. We know that players at this stage of their career are in some level of decline. The best ones minimize it, but even guys like Sidney Crosby and Jaromir Jagr weren’t quite as good at 34, 35 and 36 as they were earlier in their careers.

The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn had a list of comparable players right after the signing that didn’t inspire confidence. There’s also another player who will be 34 next season who’s been in the news this past week. New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider also just had his best seasons at age 30, 31 and 32, but his age-33 year was a precipitous fall from grace and he now plays for Anaheim because of it.

There are a few reasons to believe Nelson is a guy who can mitigate some of the age-related decline. He just had the three best seasons of his career at ages 30, 31 and 32. Last year, his age-33 season, was his fourth-best in total production.

It also seems reasonable that more players are going to soften the landing at the end of their careers thanks to modern fitness and recovery regimens. Nelson has trained with some of MacKinnon’s people in recent offseasons, and now he’s going to have year-round, VIP access.

There’s also the surrounding context. No disrespect to the Islanders, but skating alongside two of Artturi Lehkonen, Martin Necas, Nichushkin or a healthy Landeskog could be one of the best lines he’s ever played on. And he’s never had a player like MacKinnon to absorb the attention of an opposing team’s top defensive players. Or a player like Cale Makar to get him the puck in open ice.

The Avs have to expect some attrition from Nelson’s overall game in the coming seasons, but he might be able to keep it to a minimum.

There’s also some risk in what the Avalanche gave up to get Nelson. The contract and the trade aren’t part of the same transaction, but had Nelson signed with another team next month, giving up Calum Ritchie and a future first-round pick for 26 games of the veteran center had the potential to be one of the worst trades in franchise history.

Moving forward? It can be a win-win for both sides. Ritchie was the club’s top prospect, but players of his pedigree don’t often have a slight dip in production in their post-draft seasons or end up as the fourth-most productive forward on a CHL team during an extended playoff run.

Ritchie did. Whether or not he could become the Avs’ No. 2 center in the next season or three was not a certainty.

What happens next with Ritchie or the likely 2026 first-round pick isn’t of the Avs’ concern, but the club is likely to hear less external noise about it if Nelson has a healthy, productive few years in Denver. Nelson gives the Avs a better chance to win the Stanley Cup in 2026 than Ritchie would have. Likely in 2027 and maybe 2028, as well.

It’s not a slam-dunk, team-friendly deal, but bringing Nelson back on this contract offers stability the club craved at a key spot and there’s sound logic behind the decision.

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MacKinnon and Makar were both selected to the 2024-25 First All-Star team, which is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. It’s the first time two members of the Avs have been named to the first team together since Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic in 2001-02.

It was the second first-team nod  in MacKinnon’s career, along with 2024, and his fourth all-star team overall. That’s now three first-team selections for Makar, along with 2021 and 2022, and five overall.

Makar was named to the first team on 189 of 190 ballots, while the vote for first-team center between MacKinnon and Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl was close.

MacKinnon finished fourth in the Hart Trophy voting, which was also revealed Thursday night. Makar was sixth. Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck was the winner, officially ending MacKinnon’s run as the reigning league MVP.

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While the NHL creeps toward crowning its champion for the 2024-25 season and prepares for its annual spending spree three weeks from Tuesday, MacFarland and the Colorado Avalanche crossed the No. 1 item off the offseason list this past week by signing center Brock Nelson to a three-year, $22.5 million contract.

The No. 2 center behind Nathan MacKinnon has been an ongoing issue since Nazem Kadri left for Calgary after the 2022 Stanley Cup run. Nelson, who turns 34 years old in October, should give the Avs the most stability at that spot than the club has had in four years.

“We were able to work something out, and we’re very excited about that,” Nelson said Tuesday on Altitude Sports Radio. “I’ve enjoyed my time here. I think it’s a special group with a lot of special players and talent that has the opportunity to do something special.”

The other big piece of Avs roster news came two days later. Key depth forward Logan O’Connor is expected to miss the start of next season after undergoing a second hip surgery in 15 months. The official timeline is 5-6 months, which would set a potential return for mid-November or December.

That timeline means the Avalanche could put O’Connor on long-term injured reserve to start the season. As Avs fans are familiar with by now after the past three seasons with captain Gabe Landeskog, that means Colorado could begin the season with a roster that is more expensive than the salary cap ceiling, which is set at $95.5 million for 2025-26.

Signing Nelson to a contract with a $7.5 million annual price tag ate into nearly all of the club’s available cap space, but the O’Connor surgery could give MacFarland and his staff a little more time and a little more flexibility to put the final pieces of the roster puzzle together before opening night in early October.

Here’s where the depth chart stands right now, with salary cap figures in millions (click here to view in mobile):

The Avs currently have $1.975 million in cap space available, according to CapWages. That includes O’Connor’s $2.5 million, but does not include the two-way contracts of Ivan Ivan and Keaton Middleton.

Someone from the current roster was going to have to leave town before the O’Connor surgery news, because Sam Malinski still needs a new contract at minimum. If O’Connor’s cap hit is moved to LTIR, that would up the available space to $4.475 million, with 3-5 roster spots to fill.

AFP Analytics projects a two-year pact for Malinski at just shy of $1.8 million per season. That would leave room for three guys who combined to cost less than $900,000 each.

To create more space, the Avs would still need to move one or more of the 17 guys signed to one-way contracts for next season. All of them have some level of trade protection except for Cale Makar and Martin Necas. The former is going nowhere, obviously.

Necas has one more year left on his current deal and is eligible to sign an extension July 1. He could be both the most valuable trade chip the Avs have outside their established core, but also one of the best values in the NHL this season if he produces another year with 85-plus points.

Moving Necas or any of the other guys in the top half of the roster, including a different top-six forward or one of the second-pairing defensemen (Samuel Girard or Josh Manson) would create a big hole to fill, and likely with a contract that offers less bang for the buck.

Ross Colton currently has a full no-trade clause, but that shifts to a modified no-trade clause July 1. The simplest way to create a little more space would be to buy out Miles Wood, who has four years left on his deal.

When he’s healthy, Wood is a valuable bottom-six player, but he’s missed one and a half of the past four seasons with injuries and played only once in the playoffs after the club got fully healthy.

A buyout would save the Avs just shy of $1.8 million for next season and just short of $1.3 million for the next three years. It would also be $708,000 in dead cap space for the following four years, but the cap ceiling will likely be approaching $120 million by then.

That would push Colorado’s cap flexibility to nearly $6.3 million immediately, or about $3.8 million plus O’Connor when he’s ready to return.

The Avs got a big piece of their business out of the way. If Colorado still wants to do anything else beyond filling out the roster with some bargain bin shopping, trading a significant player looks like the only avenue.

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