Fans were expecting big things from the Colorado Avalanche when they began their first match in the NHL 2024-2025 season. Injuries and constant losing streaks fizzled that candle.

The Avalanche originally looked to win the Stanley Cup for the second time after their triumph in the 2021-2022 season. However, not only the fans but also coach Bednar expressed their frustrations.

Even the team’s pre-season matches were unimpressive, considering they lost four consecutive matches there.

Bettors on various crypto gambling sites are wondering whether they should bet on Avalanche this season. Well, here is the honest short answer: they probably shouldn’t and wait first. Let us explain why in this article.

Colorado Avalanche’s Rocky Start in NHL

As we said, after four consecutive losses in the pre-season phase, the Avalanche was looking to change the tides toward their favor in the finals. They won against the Golden Knights on October 4, which was a good sign.

However, the direness started following that match. First, the team lost against the Hockey Club. Then, during their initial match of the season, the Golden Knights answered their first defeat with an 8-4 win against the Avalanche.

Following this match, Avalanche had three more consecutive losses, resulting in a 0-4-0 record. They suffered an out-scoring of 25-13. While things were not looking good for the team, they had their first win against the Anaheim Ducks (4-3) when the match ran into overtime.

Luckily, they started a winning streak that continued for five games. The team returned to their playoff position by successfully outsourcing its opponents by 22-11.

Sadly, people’s rising hopes dropped again when the Avalanche started another losing streak, which continues as of the time of writing. Their losing matches against the Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Nashville Predators ended with a 5-2 score each.

They are currently in the bottom half of the league-wide standing (6th position) with a record of 5-7-0.

When you look at other teams, they also suffered losing streaks during this season, but not as badly as the Avalanche. For example, the Dallas Stars are on a two-game losing streak now. However, their record is 7-4-0, proving that they are still up for the cup.

Reasons Behind the Upsetting Performance of the Colorado Avalanche

Various factors can be behind a team’s poor performance during a season. However, with careful observation, people can find the core weakness. According to the experts, Avalanche’s issues are as clear as water.

People did not see the Avalanche’s first losing streak in the season as a harbinger of their dire situation later. It happened once in the past, too, which was literally the season when they won their first Stanley Cup. Despite that factor, coach Jared Badner was frustrated by the situation.

“Yeah, every year, multiple times. I just don’t like it because it’s at the start of the year.”- Bednar said.

Here are the core reasons behind the team’s struggles to end their losing streaks constantly-

Poor Goaltending

Looking at the team’s losing matches this season, you can notice that most of them ended with high goal counts against the Avalanche. The team seems to lack defense and goaltending.

The team’s goaltender, Alexandar Georgiev, allowed eight goals on 25 shots during their first two games. Note that Georgiev was one of the core parts of the team’s 38 wins in the last season.

After those first matches, the team’s defense felt weaker. Their loss against the New York Islanders had more to do with the play in front of Goergiev than him.

We can’t entirely blame all the deficiencies, though. The team’s leading players did try their best but couldn’t cover all the ends.

Here are the scores of the top players during 12 games-

• Cale Maker (defense)- 5 goals, 16 assists, and 21 points
• Nathan Mackinnon (center)- 6 goals, 14 assists, and 20 points
• Mikko Rantanen (right winger)- 4 goals, 11 assists, and 15 points

The team has allowed 51 goals in their 12 matches and scored 40 with no sign of its defense strengthening. Georgiev allowed 3 goals, Annunen allowed 3, and Kahkonen allowed 2 during their last three losing matches.

Injury Issues

Colorado has suffered constant surges of injuries, forcing several players out of the court. We think luck is not on their side, considering four of their top forwards were absent in their matches.

Even worse, the absent players are of the top caliber, which is proving their replacement-finding process as more challenging.

There is a concept called Cap Hit of Injured Players (CHIP), which indicates the per-game cap hit of a player’s absence during a match due to sickness or injury.

Regarding CHIP, the Avalanche currently ranks almost near the bottom, with only the San Jose Sharks below it. Not only are they missing so many players, but the absent ones are top-tier forwards.

Here is a list of players from Avalanche who haven’t played some of their games during this season-

• Gabriel Landeskog (12 games missed): Following his knee injury, Landeskog has been missing the team’s games since Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. No sign of his return is there.
• Valeri Nichushkin (12 games missed): A six-month suspension led to Nichushkin missing all games this season. The suspension period will end in mid-November. However, the right winger will require the NHL’s permission to re-enter.
• Artturi Lehkonen (12 games missed): While the left winger couldn’t be present in all of Avalanche’s matches till now due to a shoulder injury, he has clearance to return to their next face-off against the Seattle Kraken.
• Jonathan Drouin (11 games missed): Drouin sustained an upper-body injury after playing the season’s opening match. He probably won’t be back on the court for at least a few weeks.
• Devon Toews (5 games missed): Toews was absent from the season since the team’s match against the New York Islanders on October 15.

Lehkonen may return soon, but the team has two more players who will miss their next few games (starting from their game against the Predators). Ross Colton will miss at least six to eight weeks, and Miles Wood may miss around eight days. Both of them received injuries.

Not having Colton on the team is a significant problem, given he is a valuable asset with excellent feats in the league games.

Coach Jared Bednar’s Plan for the Team

With these many injured players off the roster, Jared Bednar is left with no choice but to play many young players and rookies. As you can guess, the result wasn’t satisfying for the Colorado Avalanche.

According to the team captain, Mikko Rantanen, they shouldn’t try too hard and find a way to simplify the games.

“Just try to find a way, maybe, to simplify the game a little bit and just not try too hard,” Rantanen said. “Because it seems like it’s not working for us now,”

Conclusion

It goes without saying that the Colorado Avalanche is currently in a position where it will be difficult for the team to make some comeback. Many constant injuries have painted them a bleak picture.

If you are a bettor thinking about who you should vote for, check their performance in the next game against the Seattle Kraken. If they suffer another loss, it will be wise to bet against them from the next game, unfortunately.