Coming out of the break toting six Olympic medalists, the Avalanche played three games in four days and ended the week with a 2-1 record.
Starting the week off, the Avs beat the Utah Mammoth 4-2 on the road, scoring all four of their goals in the second period on Feb. 25 After something of a nightmare outing against the Minnesota Wild on Feb. 26, losing 5-2 and giving the opposition six power play opportunities, the Avs were able to get back in the win column with a 3-1 drubbing of the Chicago Blackhawks on the eve of March 1.
On the move
In addition to their three games this week, the Avalanche also completed a trade to hopefully help solidify the back end of their roster as they head into the playoffs. Colorado parted ways with Sam Girard, the final piece they had retained from the Matt Duchene trade, and a 2028 second round pick to bring in Brett Kulak from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kulak played in all three games for the Avs since the trade occurred, with his highest time on ice occurring during his debut with his new team in their game against the Mammoth.
Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland is reportedly still sniffing around the league for more depth pieces for the forward corps as the final days before the trade deadline on March 6 approach. The Avs have been connected with names like Nazem Kadri or X for a potential reunion, but as of the time of this writing on March 1, no new trades have taken place.
The move for Kulak cleared enough cap space by shedding Girard's 5.5 million dollar cap hit this year for a more manageable sum of 2.75 million. Young Avs forward Logan O'Connor, who'd been placed on LTIR on since after the 2024'25 playoffs, has recently been spotted skating with the team in practice, and his 2.5 million dollar cap hit lines up nicely for the space the team cleared earlier this week as they saddle up for the home stretch of the regular season.
Still here
The Avalanche are still struggling to score on the power play, which is especially frustrating given that the organization had brought in Dave Hakstol this past offseason in order to fix the power play. Despite some of their players' individual success with the man advantage while playing with their countrymen at the Olympics, the Avs are still unable to put it all together in crimson and blue. However, they're still one the best team at 5v5 hockey in the league with a goal differential of +74 this year when playing at even strength. That number drops to +17 when they have the power play.
The Minnesota Wild, meanwhile, have a goal differential of +6 at even strength and +41 on the power play. They scored Two power play goals just in their game against the Avalanche.
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