Colorado Avalanche

Player: Conner Bleackley

Drafted By: Colorado Avalanche (23rd overall)

Position: Center

Final Central Scouting Ranking: No. 35 North American skater

Height/Weight: 5'11'', 195 lbs

DOB: February 7, 1996 (18 years old)

Most Recent Affiliation: WHL, Red Deer Rebels

Background

After having a strong career at the AAA midget and AAA bantam levels, Conner Bleackley was selected by the Red Deer Rebels with the 21st overall pick in the 2011 WHL Bantam draft. He appeared in 16 contests with the club as a 15-year-old but spent a majority of the 2011-12 campaign with the UFA Bisons midget AAA team.

By the 2012-13 season, Bleackley was able to work his way into a full-time role with the Rebels. He skated in 66 games that year, putting up 18 points across 66 contests. The High River, Alberta, native drastically improved during the 2013-14 campaign, more than tripling his offensive output, while leading the Rebels in scoring.

Full Scouting Report

Bleackley is considered a strong two-way center, and he's comfortable in all three zones regardless of puck possession. Brendan Ross of DobberProspects.com sees him as a potential team leader at the NHL level.

As per Ross' scouting report:

As Rebel’s Captain, Bleackley is a diligent attentive forward capable of contributing in all three zones. His strong character, trust-worthy defensive acumen and non-stop motor earn him plenty of opportunities. Producing at over a point-per-game pace, Bleackley has shown sound offensive skills but he’s fairly average in that department and his skating could stand to gain another gear. Bleackley projects as a versatile energy forward with admirable intangibles capable of playing in a top-six role.

While he may not have high-end skill, Bleackley's final CSS ranking indicates just how valuable of a player he could evolve into as a pro. He loves being hard to play against and molds his game after David Krejci, according to Kelly Friesen of Yahoo Sports.

TSN’s Craig Button analyzes Bleackley like this (h/t Alex Busch, BlueJackets.com):

"Conner is a determined, competitive player who doesn't take any shortcuts. He’s smart, gets to the right areas and is a catalyst for positive plays all over the ice. He doesn’t allow himself to be denied."

As a pick that falls out of the top 10 or 15 players available, Bleackley is still a quality prospect who could be comfortable in any number of roles in the NHL.

NHL Player Comparison

Bleackley might mold his game after Krejci, but he projects to be a bit more defensively sound than the current Boston Bruins forward. This is a high-character player who might fit more into the mold of a Ryan Callahan—willing to do whatever it takes to win, while contributing as a mid-range top-six forward.

NHL Timetable

Defense-first centers are typically more NHL-ready than forwards who need to use their bodies to get to the net or to beat defenders one-on-one. That said, it isn't like Bleackley crushed all comers at the junior level, and he could benefit from at least another year of seasoning before moving on to the next stage of his career.

Look for Bleackley to make the jump for the 2015-16 season at the earliest.

Top-End Potential

At his absolute best, Bleackley could be a Ryan Kesler-like presence for his team. He might not have the offensive instincts needed to reach that level, but he has shown rapid improvement in his game before. At worst, he projects cleanly as a responsible third-line center who can pitch in on offense from time to time.

In the end, the pointy-headed stat nerds were right about the Colorado Avalanche. All those bad Corsi numbers, all those putrid Fenwick Close figures, they actually meant something. They meant, in the end, that the #WhyNotUs Avs just weren’t good enough to win a Stanley Cup this year.

It’s like that scene in Twilight Zone, The Movie, when instead of a cuddly rabbit, Uncle Walt pulls out a demonic hare with five-inch, man-eating teeth. Patrick Roy was able to pull the nice furry rabbit out of his hat all season long in his first year as the Avs coach, to the point where many wondered whether he really did have magical qualities to him.

Despite a defensively challenged roster, one that allowed an average of 32.7 shots per game (25th in the league) and finished 27th in Fenwick Close, the Avs somehow won the brutally tough Central Division. Those fancy Corsi and Fenwick darlings, Chicago and St. Louis, both finished behind the Avalanche when the final standings were complete.

Roy juggled his roster, playing rookie sensation Nathan MacKinnon at all three forward positions regularly and using defensemen as forwards at times. He even came up with innovations such as pulling his goalie much earlier than tradition held. In the first round of the playoffs, Roy had his team up three games to two on a Minnesota Wild team that was mostly healthy and had nearly $12 million more in payroll. This was despite him not having his leading scorer from the regular season (Matt Duchene), his best offensive defenseman (Tyson Barrie) and key third-line center (John Mitchell) for most or all of the series to that point.

So what happened? How did this seemingly charmed team lose the final two games, including a Game 7 at home in which it had four one-goal leads, the last one with under three minutes left in regulation? Where was the miracle finish in overtime, the kind that had already won two previous games at home in the series?

Even Roy, a pragmatic man who nonetheless has always believed miracles can occur, seemed a bit stunned his team’s run was over after Nino Niederreiter’s OT goal against Vezina Trophy finalist Semyon Varlamov.

“The toughest part is not going to be coming back tomorrow, preparing for Chicago,” Roy said quietly. “I’m sure tomorrow’s going to hurt more.”

The Avs were a team that lived in a kind of denial all year long. That’s not a knock on them at all. They knew they had some issues, but as the wins kept piling up, they were able to thumb their noses at all the stat geeks who said they didn’t play with the puck enough, weren’t good enough defensively and would be exposed in the playoffs.

They lived on the precipice all year but kept steering the car at the last second, always keeping it from going off the cliff. They won a league-high 28 one-goal games, always getting the big saves from Varlamov or J.S. Giguere or the big goal from a rotating cast of heroes in the end. But in Game 7, Varlamov couldn’t come up with the big saves. He was beaten by Jared Spurgeon with 2:27 left in regulation, the second time in the third period he couldn’t protect a one-goal lead.

In overtime, Gabe Landeskog and Paul Stastny had a two-on-one break-in on emergency fill-in goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. Everyone in the Pepsi Center waited for the puck to go in, the red light to come on and everybody in a burgundy red sweater to dance around and lift their sticks in salute to them.

Instead, Ryan Suter broke up the play, Dany Heatley forwarded a pass up ice and Niederreiter beat Varlamov high glove. Game over. Season over. #WhyNotUs now just #WhyUs.

Ryan O’Reilly didn’t want to hear any platitudes about the Cinderella regular season afterward. With mist in his eyes, O’Reilly said, “Who cares?” when talking about all those wonderful regular-season accomplishments.

“The only thing that matters is a Stanley Cup, winning playoff games,” O’Reilly said. “We failed.”

Most everyone else will still keep the #WhyNotUs moniker in their heads when remembering the 2013-14 Avalanche, not #WeFailed.

But for now, the unfortunate reality of their season is now #BetterLuckNextYear.

Adrian Dater has covered the NHL since 1995 for The Denver Post. Follow him on Twitter @Adater.

Four times they had the lead. Four times they lost it.

In the end, the Colorado Avalanche just didn’t have the experience to close out the game and the series.

It wasn’t for lack of effort. The Avalanche, fueled by their "Why Not Us" motto, were vigilant in establishing the advantage time after time during a wild Game 7 at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Wednesday night.

Nick Holden started the scoring on a power play in the first period.

Jamie McGinn made it 2-1 later in the frame.

Paul Stastny’s goal early in the third bumped it to 3-2, and when that lead failed to hold up, Erik Johnson’s wrist shot at 11:16 of the final frame gave them yet another opportunity to seal a victory and continue the amazing run they’ve had all season as an unexpected Stanley Cup contender.

It didn’t happen. A will to win only goes so far. Home-ice advantage means only so much. The things you need to do to lock down a victory in today’s NHL include strong team defense and clutch goaltending. The Avalanche only had one of those elements all season. Wednesday night in a gut-wrenching 5-4 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild, they got neither.

Leaving goaltender Semyon Varlamov hanging time after time, the Avalanche needed the Vezina Trophy finalist and potential Hart Trophy nominee to play his best game of the playoffs—likely of the entire season.

Instead, he played his worst.

That’s not to blame the loss of the game or the series on Varlamov. He’s been the team’s most valuable player all year. The Russian has had to deal with a porous defense all season long.

In the team’s most critical game of the campaign, it was certainly consistent in that regard.

Their most veteran rearguards, Jan Hejda and Johnson, were running around and looking lost after nearly colliding behind the net when Wild captain Mikko Koivu tied things up in the first period.

Yet to play a full NHL season, Holden turned his back to block a shot and the resulting carom off his pants wound up on veteran Wild sniper Dany Heatley’s stick for the next tying marker, with fellow defenseman Andre Benoit unable to tie up anyone in front of the net.

Ryan Wilson didn’t close the gap on Nino Niederreiter’s first goal of the night, and Varlamov overplayed the left side of his net to leave the top corner exposed over his blocker. Niederreiter took full advantage of both players.

The final goal of regulation was a nearly identical shot from Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who tucked the puck into the same corner off the crossbar when Niederreiter overpowered Hejda behind the net and Spurgeon patiently waited for rookie phenom Nathan MacKinnon to commit to a block and slide himself out of the play.

The overtime winner came on a two-on-one rush created when Matt Duchene failed to recognize the developing play, leaving Benoit alone with Johnson caught deep and no one to cover for him.

Varlamov’s glove hand failed him on that one.

So Varly hasn't exactly been, how you say, in Game 7 tonight.

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) May 1, 2014

The goalie came up short. The kids came up short.

The line of Gabriel Landeskog, MacKinnon and Stastny came up with one goal and a minus-seven rating in the biggest game of their careers so far.

Meanwhile, the Niederreiter line—bolstered by veterans Heatley and Kyle Brodziak—came through with a massive evening. Heatley had a goal and two assists, Brodziak had three helpers, and the Swiss sniper had a pair of goals and an assist to give the trio nine points and a plus-eight rating with seven shots.

While Niederreiter is only 21 years old himself, coach Mike Yeo should be credited for lining him up with a couple of journeymen to keep him calm and confident at crunch time.

The Avalanche didn’t have the same sort of mentorship.

As a result, the Wild move on the face the Chicago Blackhawks in a second-round series.

“Relief,” Wild vet Zach Parise told the NHL Network after the game. “We haven’t had a lot of luck in this building in this series. We lost a couple of overtime games we felt like we should have won. But we felt good going into the overtime tonight and we were able to pull it off.

“We finally put some in on Varlamov.”

The Avalanche, meanwhile, reflect on a season that was stunning yet incredibly disappointing.

"All of the hopes you had come crashing down in a matter of milliseconds. Definitely a very empty feeling." - Avs Nate MacKinnon

— Rob Tychkowski (@Sun_Tychkowski) May 1, 2014

“It’s an emptiness. You don’t even know how to handle it. All of a sudden, it all just ends. I don’t know how to describe it,” Landeskog told reporters, via the Avalanche website. “It’s one of those games where we feel like it’s ours, it should have been ours. We worked so hard to get that lead over and over again.”

The hardest part is keeping it. To do that, you have to know what it takes. Perhaps the Avs know it now. Maybe next season, they’ll apply the knowledge. Another year older. Another year wiser.

"There's a side of me that's disappointed -- I thought we could have won that game," Coach #Roy

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) May 1, 2014

"But I don't have enough words to describe how proud I am of this team," Coach #Roy

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) May 1, 2014

"One quality we had all year is we were never satisfied, and we're certainly not going to start tonight," Coach #Roy

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) May 1, 2014

Steve Macfarlane has been covering the NHL for more than a decade, including seven seasons for the Calgary Sun. You can follow him on Twitter @MacfarlaneHKY.

He is not old enough to drink legally in the state of Colorado, nor to gamble in a casino. Pot is legal in Colorado, but Nathan MacKinnon is three years away from being able to do that too. Don’t expect the Avalanche rookie to ever partake in the wacky weed, though.

MacKinnon, by all accounts, is as likely to engage in risky off-ice behavior as Opie Taylor. MacKinnon’s life is hockey, and he’s pretty good at it.

I’ve covered the Avalanche for all 19 years of their existence in Denver. I literally have shirts older than Nathan MacKinnon (he's 18). Only one other player has made me almost—almost, mind you; gotta be professional in the press box—want to jump out of my seat and yell “Did you just see that?”

A lot of Avs fans, and hockey fans in general, may have wanted to do that in recent days. Through the first five games of the Avalanche’s first-round series with the Minnesota Wild, MacKinnon has two goals and 10 points. He scored the overtime winner in Saturday's Game 5 at the Pepsi Center, which put Colorado up three games to two.

That other player, by the way, was Peter Forsberg. While I covered another brilliant player all those years ago, Joe Sakic, it was more like getting excited at an IBM earnings sheet with him. He was button-down excellent, while Forsberg was Jim Morrison on acid, just unpredictably out of this world with whatever he might choose to do next on skates with a puck on his stick.

MacKinnon reminds me of Forsberg, but not quite in their style of game. Forsberg held on to the puck like a mother with her cub. He never wanted to get rid of it, and anybody who dared try to take it away got a fearsome response from the passive-aggressive Swede.

As a result, Forsberg got injured a lot toward the end of his career. All that defiant protection of the puck made his body a battering ram for Dead Puck Era defensemen, who got away with more liberty than a sailor on leave.

MacKinnon is more a give-and-go guy. He literally has kind of a Road Runner start to his skating. He kind of spins his wheels for a revolution or two, then boom...he's gone.

It’s a bit soon for this comparison (Forsberg was shocking enough), but MacKinnon has some of that Gretzky-esque ability to create room for himself by either curling back against the traffic he’s caused—the rest go skidding, but MacKinnon holds up, with all that new room created—or he can speed ahead, bring everybody toward him, then slip a little side or back pass to an open teammates.

That’s how he created a go-ahead goal against the Wild in the second period of Game 5, blazing a path up the middle of the Wild zone before slipping the pill back to Andre Benoit, who shot the puck on net. Nick Holden tipped it in from there.

On the OT winner, MacKinnon was more of the sniper than Forsberg ever was. The puck was loose just for a second, so MacKinnon ripped a shot past Marco Scandella, which then slid past the left glove of Darcy Kuemper in the mesh of the far post.

MacKinnon’s helmet was ripped off by his jubilant teammates, exposing his bushy tufts of hair. Just another night at the office for a player barely able to legally work in this state.

“When we draft him, we knew what kind of player we were getting,” Avs coach Patrick Roy said.

It was Roy who most pressed for his team to take MacKinnon at the draft in New Jersey last summer. He’d faced him several times as a coach in the QMJHL and knew the kind of talent he had.

“He’s explosive, but he also knows how to play the game,” Roy said of MacKinnon.

According to Elias Sports: "At 18 years, 237 days, MacKinnon is the second-youngest player in Stanley Cup playoff history to score an overtime goal…Don Gallinger was 17 years, 339 days when he scored an OT winner for Boston on March 21, 1943 against Montreal.”

MacKinnon was 17 at the start of the season, which…17? Seventeen? It is guilt-inducing young. Don’t we all feel as if any 17-year-old should be in some easy, swan-song stay at his home before heading off to college and the real future of his life to be discovered? Do we really feel good about him having to go to work for a living every day at 18, to make money for a major corporate entity?

OK, I’ll shut up. MacKinnon is livin’ the dream we all wish we were. Despite living in Jean-Sebastien Giguere's basement all season, he figures to get his own place next year and, in a year or two, he should sign a major, rich, new contract with the Avs.

“This first season was pretty much everything I could have hoped for,” MacKinnon said. “It’s a great organization, a great city. We had a real good season, but we’re in the playoffs now, and we don’t want to have it stop.”

 Adrian Dater has covered the NHL since 1995 for The Denver Post. Follow him on Twitter @Adater.

Updates from Tuesday, April 22

Patrick Roy announced a roster move to replace the injured Tyson Barrie (via the Avalanche):

Original Text

One of the heroes from a Game 1 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild, Tyson Barrie wasn't able to finish Game 3 on Monday night. 

The Wild's Matt Cooke stepped into the Colorado Avalanche's 22-year-old defenseman as he was releasing a pass, and a nasty knee-on-knee collision ensued. Barrie left the game in the second period, and as the team's Twitter feed later noted, he wouldn't return:

Here's a look at the dangerous hit, which earned Cooke a two-minute penalty:

After the Wild's 1-0 overtime win, Marc Moser of the Altitude Radio Network spoke with coach Patrick Roy about how long Barrie will be out:

It's a play that will undoubtedly be discussed in the coming days, and the severity of Barrie's injury may help determine how the league eventually handles it. 

Joe Sakic gave his thoughts on the matter to The Denver Post's Adrian Dater:

Hockey analyst and former referee Kerry Fraser believes it was a dirty hit, suggesting Cooke will receive a significant suspension: 

While Avs fans will certainly want to see some sort of punishment for Cooke, getting Barrie back healthy will be more important. 

Playing in just his third season, the young defenseman got off to a rough start this year and was eventually sent to the AHL by Roy. He played tremendously upon his return, though, and finished with 38 points (13 goals and 25 assists) in 64 games. In the Avs' 5-4 win last Thursday, he tallied two more assists, including one on Paul Stastny's game-winner. 

With two home wins to start the series, Colorado is in good shape to advance past the first round of the playoffs. But if the Avs are going to make a deep run at the Stanley Cup, getting their top blue-line scorer and power-play anchor back will be crucial. 

As far as performances by 18-year-olds in the NHL go, Colorado Avalanche rookie Nathan MacKinnon is setting himself apart from some of the game's all-time greats.

With seven points in two games, he's already accomplished more in the postseason as an 18-year-old than Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Jarome Iginla and Mike Modano did as 18-year-olds. The 2014 postseason is less than a week old, and MacKinnon looks as if he will have every opportunity to produce the highest-scoring postseason for an 18-year-old in NHL history.

Per Elias, Nathan MacKinnon’s 7 points ties record for most in 1st 2 career playoff games w/ Odie Cleghorn (1919) and Barry Pederson (1982)

— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) April 20, 2014

The all-time leader in that category is Jaromir Jagr, who had 13 points in 24 games as the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 1991.

If the Avalanche win their first-round series against the Minnesota Wild, one they lead 2-0 after a 4-2 victory Saturday, that guarantees MacKinnon at least four more games in the second round against either the St. Louis Blues or the Chicago Blackhawks.

It's not only possible for MacKinnon to pass Jagr for the best postseason in NHL history as an 18-year-old, but there's a chance he could do it in half as many series.

A factor to consider is not all of the greatest 18-year-olds get to experience the postseason as rookies. Usually those players are top draft picks by moribund franchises that aren't anywhere close to reaching the playoffs, never mind lasting long enough in the postseason to rack up double-digit points.

Sidney Crosby, who had the second-most prolific season for an 18-year-old, with 102 points in 81 games in 2005-06, wasn't surrounded by the talent MacKinnon has in Colorado and didn't reach the postseason. Circumstances outside the player's control have just as big an influence on his performance, and MacKinnon is on a far superior team than Crosby had as a rookie.

That's why Crosby should still be considered untouchable in regards to regular season performances by 18-year-olds despite what NBC's Jeremy Roenick would have you believe.

According to Jeremy Roenick, Avs' Nathan MacKinnnon is more dominant at age 18 than Sidney Crosby was. http://t.co/fgVXzMmB4T

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) April 20, 2014

That's categorically not true. MacKinnon's 63 points in 82 regular-season games are 39 fewer than what Crosby produced in 2005-06 and rank ninth on the all-time list.

Don't believe everything you hear on television.

That still shouldn't take away from what MacKinnon is pulling off this season, and it says a lot that he's even in the same conversation as Crosby, as ridiculous as that conversation may be.

MacKinnon's production is tied with Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes for the second-most points by an 18-year-old in a regular season since 1986-87 and will net him the Calder Trophy after the season. A few of the players behind MacKinnon on that list include Steven Stamkos, Ilya Kovalchuk, Rick Nash and Marian Gaborik.

Only six players have scored more goals as an 18-year-old than MacKinnon, who had 24 this season. 

MacKinnon is blessed with every tool necessary to become one of the sport's elite players—speed, hands and intelligence—and his 6'0", 182-pound frame should only become sturdier as he ages.

The Halifax, Nova Scotia, native's wondrous abilities have been on display against the Wild.

His calmness and passing ability helped set up the Avalanche's late tying goal in regulation and winning score in overtime in Game 1.

In Game 2, he used his speed to break the ankles and perhaps the spirit of defenseman Jared Spurgeon to score, then once again showed off his passing ability on two other goals before assisting on an empty netter.

MacKinnon has partnered with Gabriel Landeskog and Paul Stastny to form quite the dynamic trio in Colorado, and his ability is helping the Avalanche defy their dreadful possession numbers that are usually a sign of bad things to come.

The Avalanche finished 27th in score close Fenwick differential this season but finished second in the West behind the strength of goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who deserves some votes for the Hart Trophy, and the second-best shooting percentage (8.6) in the NHL. Their PDO of 102.2 was the third-highest and screams regression, but it never happened and is most certainly not happening through two postseason games.

Is MacKinnon good enough to be a Corsi and Fenwick buster?

Four teams finished in the bottom-third of score close Fenwick differential this season yet made the playoffs—Montreal, Philadelphia, Minnesota and Colorado. While goaltending is almost always the answer to how teams like this defy the odds, that's not really the case with the Flyers, who had Steve Mason deliver a .909 save percentage over the final four months of the season.

Claude Giroux, however, was a possession beast who had 28 goals and 79 points over his final 67 games to push the Flyers into the playoffs.

Jonathan Bernier was a big reason the Maple Leafs were contenders before their three-week collapse to conclude the season, but Phil Kessel having a positive Corsi relative on one of the all-time worst possession teams along with 37 goals and 80 points certainly helped matters.

Maybe MacKinnon can be that player as he gets older, as his possession numbers in the regular season this year aren't all that overwhelming—he broke just about even in Corsi and Fenwick relative to his teammates—but he's off to a scintillating start this postseason.

MacKinnon's postseason numbers are off the charts in what is an extremely tiny sample size against a team that's a possession mess of its own, but coach Patrick Roy likes the teenager's two-way game (h/t ESPN):

You know what? I'm different than you guys. You guys are looking at points. I'm looking at how he performed on both sides of the ice. He's been playing well offensively, yes. He also played well defensively. That's what I want to see from him.

MacKinnon's Corsi and Fenwick are both plus-seven and he's yet to be on the ice for an even-strength goal-against this postseason, but it's his offensive abilities that are putting him in rarified air very quickly. He is one more great game away from moving into third all time in points among 18-year-olds, but when the scope is widened, his numbers are still impressive.

Hockey-Reference lacks the functionality that allows sorting for rookie playoff numbers in a single postseason, but MacKinnon ranks tied for 27th all time in points among 18- or 19-year-olds with only two games under his belt; since 1990, he is tied for eighth.

The first pick in the 2013 draft has lived up to the billing and is in the midst of one of the best seasons an 18-year-old has ever had. MacKinnon has the potential to make history this postseason, and after two games, he looks like he's on his way to doing just that.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLozo.

"Some guys are more worried about their Vegas trip at the end of the season than playing the games. Quite frankly, I don't care about your Vegas trip right now... It's embarrassing. I'm embarrassed to be here right now. It's not even funny."

-Jean-Sebastien Giguere after loss to Calgary Flames on April 9, 2013.

I had to double-check the date upon finding that quote. April 9, 2013, was not long ago, even though it feels like ages (eons, even) in the past. At that time the Avalanche hit the basement of the NHL with such a deafening THUD it nearly drowned out the relentless sighs and boos at Pepsi Center. The “It’s All About Commitment” slogan in the Avs locker room had likely peeled off of the walls and was swept away with the lifelessness and discontent of a fractured locker room.

Even head coach Patrick Roy, who I believe arrived in Denver on a gold-plated carriage pulled by the finest Arabian horses, realized plenty of work was to be done. “We may not win the Stanley Cup,” said Roy in his introductory press conference. “But we will have a Stanley Cup mentality.”

Remember that bottom-feeding team? Well they just won the Central Division over the defending Cup champion Blackhawks and the trendy St. Louis Blues. That guy they picked over Seth Jones is a front-runner for the Calder Trophy, that all-skill-no-substance goaltender is a candidate for the Vezina, and that bust of a defenseman they traded the house for in 2011 may be the league’s most improved player.

This season has left me in disbelief. I, like many, was expecting a turnaround, but the Avs blew away the expectations of even the most optimistic fans. So for the droves flocking to the Avs bandwagon, a) WELCOME BACK! And b) you’ve missed a lot, because this year has been incredible. Cliff notes of my thoughts are listed below, in sequential order.

• June 30. Nathan MacKinnon donning an Avs jersey next to Sakic and Roy is beautiful. Nothing makes you feel old and worthless like seeing a 17-year-old draftee shaking hands with your idols.
• August 28. Well that’s settled. Miley Cyrus has gone insane.
• October 3. Wow, that video screen is the real deal. And they have ice girls! Coincidence? Doubtful.
• October 30. Semyon Varlamov has the coolest mug shot since Frank Sinatra.
• November 2. Adam Foote’s number sure looks good up in the rafters. And that MacKinnon kid is the real deal.
• November 10. Are the Avs really 14-2??
• November 29. Duchene better get named to Team Canada.
• December 11. Oh look, Miley is coming to Denver in March…
• December 22. Max Talbot is starting to look like a good addition. Plus his Fu Manchu is unrivaled.
• January 8. Tyson Barrie is clutch.
• January 14. Tyson Barrie is CLUTCH.
• February 2. (Day erased from memory)
• February 9. Wow, the Avs are third in the division. That would be cool if they caught the Blackhawks. But the Avs haven’t made the playoffs since 2010, and the Hawks have won, well, two Cups since then. Don’t get your hopes up.
• March 3. Hmm should I go to the Miley Cyrus concert tonight? Tickets are cheap, and it’s not every day you get to witness a train wreck in person.
• March 4. Avalanche beat Chicago and move into 2nd! Man am I glad I went to the game instead of the Miley show last night. I bet she did unforgivable things to that video screen. I can still hear the screams.
• March 19. That would be something else if they caught the Blues, but that would require a complete meltdown on their end. Something along the lines of losing six straight and getting outscored 22-5 in the process.
• March 29. Playoffs! Var-ly! Var-ly!
• April 11. They caught up to the Blues?!?!
• April 13. THEY WON THE DIVISION? Time to write an article.

Clearly, the cliff notes don’t do the season justice, but a full description would take days.

Long story short: The Avalanche, one year removed from finishing last in the Western Conference, not only won the division but garnered the third-most points in the entire NHL. At the start of the year, the Avalanche were 50 to 1 long shots to win the Stanley Cup. Today, they’re 10 to 1. Are there are still hockey experts out there who believe Patrick Roy isn’t a lock for the Jack Adams?

In addition, this isn’t a fluke occurrence. The Avs have a glistening future ahead of them, but let’s be honest—the Avalanche grossly overachieved this season.

Don’t let the brilliance of Semyon Varlamov fool you because the Avs’ back end consists of about three AHL defensemen. Its special teams, particularly on the penalty kill, is subpar. However, its shortcomings have been overcome through a combination of will and determination. This Avalanche team has finally gained something that eluded them for years.

Confidence.

Joe Sacco’s Avalanche would have crumbled under the first signs of adversity (and Sacco would have reminded us in the postgame show, as he was one to do). This year’s team is nothing of the sort.

Think of Gabe Landeskog walking around Alex Ovechkin to seal the game on November 10. Remember when the Avs pulled their goalie with five minutes left in New Jersey on February 3, only to tie the game and win it in overtime? Or when the Avs shut out both Boston and Pittsburgh in October as part of an early season road trip? Confidence has no limits, and its effectiveness can lead to another asset.

Fire.

Fire is Patrick Roy trying to crush Bruce Boudreau with a glass partition on opening night. Fire is watching your best player go down with a scary-looking knee injury against San Jose, only to rally among your teammates and clinch a playoff spot. Fire is standing up to the St. Louis Blues on April 5 by beating up and embarrassing a team that had rag-dolled you all season, followed shortly by stealing their divisional crown. Fire can lead to another thing.

Desire.

When a first-ballot Hall of Famer gives you a guest pregame speech, you listen. When Ray Bourque spoke to the Avs before their contest with the powerhouse Bruins in October, the legendary defenseman offered up a simple but matter of fact question: Why not us?

The three words have transformed into the team’s slogan throughout its remarkable campaign and resulted in different heroes on different nights. The Avalanche finished the season with five players amassing more than 20 goals and 60 points. Several fringe NHLers who could hardly find a job are now a part of one of the NHL’s elite teams. But they wouldn’t have reached this point without…

Attention to detail.

Whatever Patrick Roy and his staff did, it worked. Maybe it was slight tweaks in players’ games or it was simply providing the psychological boost needed to succeed. Whatever happened, it either resurrected or spurred the potentially remarkable careers of countless young players.

Some skaters, on the other hand, just take it upon themselves. Ryan O’Reilly, a notorious rink rat, is well-known to stay after practices and refine little parts of his game. His dedication allowed him to lead the team in goals, despite switching from center to wing.

The Avalanche surely deserve to celebrate such a tremendous turnaround, but the real heroes are remembered in the second season. Regardless of the outcome, the Stanley Cup Playoffs banner adorning the ice at Pepsi Center is a heartwarming, welcome sight for Avalanche fans.

NHL games played in late Spring and into early summer hold an aura that cannot be matched. On a personal note, I have sorely missed wearing my Avalanche jersey in May. Now that the Avalanche rebuilding phase is complete, I believe I’ll be able to live out my small victory for the next several of years.

But, for now, the Avs have the Minnesota Wild. Both teams enter the postseason on hot streaks, and the Wild have a healthy, experienced team backstopped by the Ilya Bryzgalov of old.

Looming in the second round lies either the internally combusting Blues or the hardened Blackhawks. If Colorado were to face Chicago, Gabe Landeskog and company hold a combined record of 8-1-1 of the two teams standing in front of their march to the Western Conference Finals.

Do I believe the inexperienced Avs can knock off the defending champs in Round 2? No. But I’ve been wrong many, many times this year, and each time has been better than the last.

I never know what to expect in the NHL playoffs. All I know is I can’t wait to see the Pepsi Center, my favorite place on earth, booming with playoff fever once again.

Thank you, Patrick Roy. And thank you, Colorado Avalanche. It’s great to have you back.

With his 4-0 blanking of the St. Louis Blues Saturday, Semyon Varlamov notched his 40th victory this season. The win ties the Colorado Avalanche franchise record in that category, a mark previously held by Patrick Roy, per the team's official website.

Roy, who now serves as Varlamov's head coach, turned in his 40-win season for the team in 2000-01, a campaign that ended with the Avalanche earning a Stanley Cup Championship.

In addition to being one triumph away from sole possession of the team's overall win record, Varlamov, who is 24-9-3 at home this season, needs just one more victory at the Pepsi Center to pass Roy's franchise-best mark in the home-ice win department. Roy set the previous standard by going 24-6-4 at home in 2000-01.

Varlamov's first shot to overtake Roy in both categories is slated to come Sunday night in Denver, as he is in line to get the start in net for Colorado against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who will be without the services of Sidney Crosby, Chris Kunitz, Brooks Orpik and Olli Maatta, per Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

While the Avs still have five games left on their 2013-14 regular-season slate, Sunday's contest marks the team's home finale, thus giving Varlamov just one chance to capture win No. 25 at the Pepsi Center.

In the process, he'll try to extend the 50-21-6 Avs' six-game roll, which equals a season high.

As well as making Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history with Saturday's win, Varlamov's season mark of 40-14-5 places him atop the NHL's leaderboard in wins, and his 1,799 saves are also a league high.

Stats via NHL.com unless otherwise noted.