The NHL is TERRIFIED of the Colorado Avalanche....

Nathan McKinnon has just reached an absolutely amazing career milestone. The goalie tandem for the Colorado Avalanche is finally starting to look like what Jared Bednar wanted from the beginning of the season. And as we get closer to the end of the regular 2025 season, this Colorado Avalanche team is a force to be reckoned with. Coming off of a very busy 2025 trade deadline, this team is on an absolute tear right now. I'm trying to make a statement and snag a strong spot in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. We're going to break all the latest in Colorado Avalanche news today right here on Avalanche Digest. But before we do so, make sure you're subscribed. And if you're not hit that subscribe button, make sure that you're going to be able to stay up to date on all the latest in Colorado Avalanche news and updates right here on Avalanche Digest. Let's start and dive right into this amazing career milestone that Nathan McKinnon has recently reached. Two games ago in a home game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Nathan McKinnon scored point number 1,000 of his NHL career. An amazing milestone for Nathan McKinnon. He actually scored 1,000 and 1,001. And for him to be able to get to that point mark is it just continues to speak to how skilled, how amazing of a player he is, just how much he offers to this Colorado Avalanche roster. He is by far one of the best players in the National Hockey League. Obviously, a Stanley Cup champion coming off of two seasons ago and a Ted Lindsey Award winner and Hart Memorial Trophy winner last season. And boy, is he making a statement to potentially run that back and win that award again. Let's take a look at some of his stats this season. 65 games, only 27 goals, but 75 assists. He got points on the season number 101 and 102 in the contest against the Blackhawks the other night where the Avs won 3-0 over the division rival team at home. McKinnon has just had an absolutely amazing season, obviously leading the team in points, which shows how, excuse me, leading the league in points, which just shows how much skill he has and how much he's able to make a statement on just this whole entire league. And there's obviously so much respect for him all around the other teams and other players who really understand and recognize that he is one of the greats and is really going to do his best to propel this team into the deepest playoff run that they can possibly make. On the topic of McKinnon doing so well so far this season, the front office for the Colorado Avalanche is basically in a cup or bust mentality and having an elite skill level like McKinnon on the ice, basically leading this team right now with the captain Gabriel Landeskog off of the roster on long-term injury reserve. He's essentially one of the biggest names, one of the biggest voices in this locker room, and he has the skill to back it up. So a really big milestone for Nathan McKinnon, 1,001 points, and I think that that's only going to motivate him more as we continue the regular season and the Avs try to snag the best possible Western Conference playoff spot that they can heading into the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. Let's talk a little bit about the goalie tandem that was reworked way earlier in the season in trading for Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgwood. Now both of these goalies, Mackenzie Blackwood, the starting goalie for Colorado, followed by Scott Wedgwood, the backup goalie, have been absolutely amazing. So in the 2024-2025 season, Mackenzie Blackwood, 47 games played, 24 wins, 3 shutouts, 2.5 goals against, and a 9-1-5 save percentage. Now keep in mind that 2024-2025 season stats does apply to some of the games that he played with the San Jose Sharks early in the season, but regardless, the stats that he's put up this season just goes to show how amazing he's been for this Colorado team. He's been an absolutely amazing goalie, a brick wall if you will, making a lot of phenomenal saves and playing a lot of really good hockey in the crease for the Colorado Avalanche. That was one of the best trade moves that this team made, reworking that goalie tandem and really adding on to the defensive side of what this team is able to do. And I mean, I think we've really seen it translate as far as this team improving throughout the season, getting more wins, and having a goalie that they can trust, that they know is going to make the saves that need to be made and kind of do his job in that goalie position. And that's exactly what Alexander Georgiev was not. He had a really rough start to the season, and we ended up trading him away to San Jose, and I think that the team has felt really strong about that decision after we saw Georgiev go and Mackenzie Blackwood come in. And now Mackenzie Blackwood is not the only goalie strong suit that we have right now on this Colorado Avalanche team. Scott Wedgwood, the backup veteran goalie for the Avs, who was also sent in a trade via when we traded Eustace Anunen to the Nashville Predators way, way back early, early in the 2024-25 NHL season. And his season stats are also very strong, especially considering he is a backup goalie. 17 games played, eight wins, two shutouts, 2-4-9 goals against average, and a 9-0-8 save percentage. Let's remember that one of those two shutouts came the other night when he put up an absolutely ridiculous performance in the division rivalry win, where Nathan McKinnon also snagged point number 1,000 in a 3-0 shutout win against the division rival Chicago Blackhawks. Scott Wedgwood got the call from Jared Bednar to come up and play as the backup goalie for that night, and he proved himself to continue to be the backup goalie that this team needs as we continue through the rest of the season. Now, Scott Wedgwood, if he were to play in the playoffs, obviously Mackenzie Blackwood is going to be the number one goalie for this team throughout the playoffs when the Avs are trying to make that run for another Stanley Cup. But in the event that Mackenzie Blackwood somehow, God forbid, gets injured or is unable to play, Scott Wedgwood is an amazing person to fall back on as far as goalie needs and the ability to make really strong saves and do exactly what a backup goalie would need to do in kind of a scenario where they're needed to step in for the playoffs. So, really amazing things going for this Colorado Avalanche team right now, specifically Nathan McKinnon reaching that 1,000 point mark, and of course, the goalie tandem, which it's never been, it hasn't been seen in the league in a very long time where a team essentially reworks their entire goalie tandem, but it was done this season by the front office for the Colorado Avalanche, and boy has it been working. And on the topic of things that have been working for the Colorado Avalanche, as we move into kind of this time where the season's wrapping up and the playoffs are approaching, a lot of media critics and people are talking about kind of playoff predictions and what people are thinking is going to happen. Now, if the playoffs started today, the Avs would face the Dallas Stars in the first round. I'm not exactly sure who would have home ice if it started today, but regardless, the Avs would play the Dallas Stars, who not only they lost to last season in the second round of the playoffs in a double overtime heartbreaker in game six, but it's now where Avalanche veteran Mikko Rantmann resides. Now, an interesting quote from Paul Bizinet, or Biz as he's mostly known by, I'm taking Colorado over Dallas in a seven game series. Biz is very confident in this Colorado Avalanche team. He talked about how much depth they have, how much up and down skill they have throughout their roster. To have those two centers, those two forwards, even the three centers and forwards, the trades that the Colorado Avalanche made and the depth and the skill level that they added to this team, as I said earlier, it makes them a force to be reckoned with. I think it's going to be very concerning for a lot of these teams in the Central Division who are, or excuse me, in just the whole Pacific Division who are looking to potentially play the Avs in the playoffs. I think that the Avs are going to be real, a real problem as the playoffs get nearer and we're going to start to actually get a good idea of what teams will potentially see Colorado playing in the first round. And on the topic of Biz talking about how good this roster is and how much depth we now have after the trade deadline, let's take a look one more time at just this new roster as far as forwards and centers go that the head coach Jared Bednar is putting out on the ice on an average day for the remainder of the season. Obviously at the first line, we have Arturi Lekin and Nathan McKinnon and Marty Natchez. Second line, Jonathan Druan, Valeri Nichushkin, who came back from injury. And another thing that Biz said that I thought was interesting was getting Val back from injury right around this time is essentially kind of like another strong deal at the end of the deadline. Getting a massive body and a huge skill level player like Val back in the lineup right around the trade deadline, it makes you that much scarier to teams in the league and the remainder of the games that you have to play. And then of course that 2C Brock Nelson, it was talked about how Colorado needed to fill that 2C spot and they were able to do so with the vet Brock Nelson. And we've already seen him fitting in quite nicely with this ABS team. He already has a few points racked up since the trade occurred. On the three-line, UL Kiviranta, Ross Colton, and in the middle there is Charlie Coyle. Casey Middlestat wasn't really doing it as far as what this ABS team needed for a 3C. Charlie Coyle has come in, already gotten a point after the deadline as well and seems to be fitting in quite nicely with this team. Dan Powers, the host of the Empty Netters podcast, a few weeks prior to the trade deadline, he sent out a tweet that said, Charlie Coyle to the ABS just makes perfect sense. And we're starting to see that take from Dan Powers absolutely come to fruition. He's fitting in quite nicely and I think he's that perfect center role that this ABS need. And of course on that last line, Parker Kelly, Jack Drury, who came in the first rant and deal, and Logan O'Connor. And this lineup here, the depth, the skill level, it's absolutely ridiculous and it just goes to show that Paul Biznett and a lot of other critics and opinions in the league, they're confident in this Colorado Avalanche team and the NHL is terrified of what this team is going to be able to do in the 2025 NHL playoffs as they look to finish the season strong, climb up in the Central Division. They currently sit in the number three spot. They're trying to take Dallas out of that number two spot. It's highly unlikely, but there's even a chance they could catch the number one in the Central Winnipeg Jets and really land themselves a strong spot in the playoffs as they get ready to really make some noise in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs and chase yet another Stanley Cup for the Colorado Avalanche.