The Colorado Avalanche may have exited the Stanley Cup playoffs earlier than expected following Saturday’s 4-2 Game 7 to the Dallas Stars, but no one is pointing the finger at star forward Nathan MacKinnon.
The 29-year-old center leads the NHL in playoff goals (seven) and he’s scored the second-most points (11), and he nearly willed an offensively depleted team to the second round of the playoffs against either the Winnipeg Jets or St. Louis Blues.
While Dallas and Colorado were pretty evenly matched and the Avalanche gave the second-seeded Stars all they could handle, the team seems to have regressed in the three seasons since their Stanley Cup win back in 2022.
Colorado was ousted in the first round in 2023 and this year, and the team bowed out in the second round of the postseason last year.
Head coach Jared Bednar seemingly had no answer for slowing down a high-powered Stars offense in this series, and now the front office has some tough questions it needs to ask itself.
And to make matters a little more tense, MacKinnon seemingly sent a subtle message to the Avalanche decision-makers as they kick start their offseason planning.
“Yeah [its] definitely [hard to feel like we can win the Cup after a first-round exit],” MacKinnon told reporters. “They were missing their best (defenseman) and maybe their best forward; we still couldn’t beat them. So, yeah, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Nathan MacKinnon following another Game 7 loss & a third-period collapse from the Avalanche pic.twitter.com/OTrZ3fq5j7
— DNVR Avalanche (@DNVR_Avalanche) May 4, 2025
With Mikko Rantanen now playing for the Stars, the Avalanche offense seemingly runs through two skaters: MacKinnon, who scored 32 goals and 116 points during the regular season, and defenseman Cale Makar, who logged 30 goals and 92 points.
Aside from that duo, no other Avalanche skater had more than 45 points this season. And now the team has to head back to the drawing board and figure out a way to revamp its roster to keep pace with a top-heavy Central Division.
Related: Postgame Handshake Between Mikko Rantanen-Gabriel Landeskog Turns Heads
Related: Matthew Tkachuk’s Cold-Blooded Message After Panthers End Lightning’s Season
The Colorado Avalanche may have exited the Stanley Cup playoffs earlier than expected following Saturday’s 4-2 Game 7 to the Dallas Stars, but no one is pointing the finger at star forward Nathan MacKinnon.
The 29-year-old center leads the NHL in playoff goals (seven) and he’s scored the second-most points (11), and he nearly willed an offensively depleted team to the second round of the playoffs against either the Winnipeg Jets or St. Louis Blues.
While Dallas and Colorado were pretty evenly matched and the Avalanche gave the second-seeded Stars all they could handle, the team seems to have regressed in the three seasons since their Stanley Cup win back in 2022.
Colorado was ousted in the first round in 2023 and this year, and the team bowed out in the second round of the postseason last year.
Head coach Jared Bednar seemingly had no answer for slowing down a high-powered Stars offense in this series, and now the front office has some tough questions it needs to ask itself.
And to make matters a little more tense, MacKinnon seemingly sent a subtle message to the Avalanche decision-makers as they kick start their offseason planning.
“Yeah [its] definitely [hard to feel like we can win the Cup after a first-round exit],” MacKinnon told reporters. “They were missing their best (defenseman) and maybe their best forward; we still couldn’t beat them. So, yeah, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Nathan MacKinnon following another Game 7 loss & a third-period collapse from the Avalanche pic.twitter.com/OTrZ3fq5j7
— DNVR Avalanche (@DNVR_Avalanche) May 4, 2025
With Mikko Rantanen now playing for the Stars, the Avalanche offense seemingly runs through two skaters: MacKinnon, who scored 32 goals and 116 points during the regular season, and defenseman Cale Makar, who logged 30 goals and 92 points.
Aside from that duo, no other Avalanche skater had more than 45 points this season. And now the team has to head back to the drawing board and figure out a way to revamp its roster to keep pace with a top-heavy Central Division.
Related: Postgame Handshake Between Mikko Rantanen-Gabriel Landeskog Turns Heads
Related: Matthew Tkachuk’s Cold-Blooded Message After Panthers End Lightning’s Season
