The Colorado Avalanche may still be celebrating last season's Stanley Cup championship, but the question will soon turn toward whether they can do it again.
One reason for optimism is the fact that Colorado was able to retain of number of key pieces this offseason, including re-signing forwards Valeri Nichushkin (eight-year contract on July 11), Artturi Lehkonen (five-year contract on July 13), Andrew Cogliano (one-year contract on July 5), and Darren Helm (one-year contract on July 13), and defenseman Josh Manson (four-year contract on July 13).
"That was always part of the plan," said Chris MacFarland, who was promoted to general manager on July 11, when Joe Sakic was named president of hockey operations. "Josh played big minutes for us in a top-four role. He gives us that right-handed shot component that's important with Erik (Johnson) and Cale (Makar), and Artturi fits our age bracket (27), obviously. We paid a steep price for both (at the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline), so it was important to try and get those guys done.
"Those were all key parts for us to try and remain, obviously, competitive and build out our roster while keeping an eye on the cap, which obviously is crucial."
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That cap space did force the Avalanche to let some players walk in free agency, most notably forwards Andre Burakovsky, who signed a five-year contract with the Seattle Kraken on July 13, and Nazem Kadri, who is still an unrestricted free agent.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper also found a new home this offseason, signing a five-year contract with the Washington Capitals on July 13, five days after he was told by Sakic that Colorado would be "moving on" in the wake of the trade for Alexandar Georgiev from the New York Rangers.
Georgiev signed a three-year contract on July 11.
"I was hoping to land in a great spot, and when I heard it's the Colorado Avalanche, it's just as good as I could've hoped for," Georgiev said on July 12. "The team is unreal. They just won the Cup. They have the same goal for the next few years, and I just wanted to be a part of that group."
Despite that group, which still includes forwards Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog, and defenseman Cale Makar, who won the Norris Trophy last season, Colorado will be forced to address the holes that Burakovsky, Kadri and Kuemper left.
In net, Sakic has said that Georgiev will be the starter ahead of Pavel Francouz, but the 26-year-old has never been a No. 1 before. In 33 games (28 starts) with the Rangers last season, he was 15-10-2 with a 2.92 goals-against average, .898 save percentage and two shutouts.
"I've been dreaming about that for quite a few years now, and I've been hoping for an opportunity to play for this kind of a team," Georgiev said. "It's a big boost and something that I needed pretty much. The last couple of seasons, I did not get as much of an opportunity to play so many consecutive games in a row, and hearing that the Stanley Cup champions believe in you and believe you are the guy, that's all I wanted. It's awesome to hear this team has confidence in me. I'm working hard to prove them right."
