A PGP Guide to the Colorado Avalanche

A PGP Guide to the Colorado Avalanche

The Basics

Team: Colorado Avalanche

Conference: Western

Division: Central

Arena: Ball Arena

Location: Denver, Colorado

Franchise Founded: 1979 as the Quebec Nordiques

Moved: 1995 to Colorado

Team Colors: Burgundy, blue, silver & black

Stanley Cups: 3 – 1996, 2001, 2022

Biggest Rivals: Detroit Red Wings & Minnesota Wild

The Colorado Avalanche have only technically existed in Denver since 1995, but somehow managed to fit an absolutely ridiculous amount of history into those three decades. The Avs have 3 Stanley Cups, multiple generations of superstars, one of the greatest rivalries hockey has ever seen and a current roster that is still very much expected to compete for championships. Also, they won the Stanley Cup in their first season in Colorado!

The Origin Story

Before there was the Colorado Avalanche, there were the Quebec Nordiques. The Nordiques began playing in the World Hockey Association(“WHA”) in 1972 and joined the NHL in 1979 when four WHA teams were absorbed into the league. They spent 16 NHL seasons in Quebec City and developed stars including Michel Goulet, Peter Stastny and eventually Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg.

Things changed in 1995 when financial issues ultimately led to the Nordiques being sold and relocated to Denver, where they became the Colorado Avalanche. Several extremely important Quebec players made the move with them, including Sakic, Forsberg and Adam Foote, meaning Colorado did not exactly arrive as your average brand new hockey team. When they arrived, they had the bones of a contender, and just a few months into the Avs first season, Colorado traded for Canadiens superstar goalie Patrick Roy after his infamous final game in Montreal. Suddenly this newly relocated franchise was absolutely terrifying.

Colorado won the Stanley Cup in its first season in Denver, becoming the first major professional sports team based in Denver to win a championship! The Avalanche entered Colorado sports culture and immediately changed it, but they still stick to their roots. The Quebec connection is still part of the franchise's identity today as seen during the Avalanche's 30th anniversary season in 2025-26, when Colorado wore Nordiques heritage uniforms to acknowledge the franchise's roots.

The Vibe Check

The Colorado Avalanche is a team that’s a little too fast, a little too ridiculously skilled and some part of them will forever operate under championship expectations. Colorado is NOT in a rebuild, they’re not waiting for their prospects to mature, they’re definitely not praying and hoping to make the playoffs. This is a team that has Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, they got Gabriel Landeskog back. They have Martin Necas, Brock Nelson, Nazem Kadri and one of the deepest defensive groups in hockey. This team, on paper and on the ice, is a team with far more expectations than many others (I would throw Edmonton in that bucket, too). This makes the current era very fun and simultaneously extremely stressful because this team can look almost unbeatable for six months and then suddenly be standing in a handshake line wondering what happened.

Last season,  Colorado won the Presidents' Trophy with the best record in hockey, set a franchise record with 121 points, swept Los Angeles in Round One, beat Minnesota in five games… and then got swept by Vegas in the Western Conference Final. So if Avalanche fans seem like they're constantly alternating between “we are the best team in hockey” and “I have seen horrors beyond human comprehension”, that’s why. 

The History You Need to Know

The Avalanche's history begins with one of the most absurd opening acts a franchise could possibly have. Colorado arrived in Denver for the 1995-96 season with Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote and a talented roster inherited from Quebec. A few months later, they added Patrick Roy, and by June, they were Stanley Cup champions. Colorado defeated Vancouver, Chicago and Detroit before sweeping the Florida Panthers in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final. Uwe Krupp scored the triple-overtime Cup-winning goal in Game 4, Patrick Roy won another championship and Joe Sakic won the Conn Smythe Trophy after scoring 18 playoff goals.

Funny enough, the biggest storyline coming out of that postseason wasn't even necessarily the Cup, it was Detroit.

During the 1996 Western Conference Final, Colorado's Claude Lemieux hit Detroit's Kris Draper from behind into the boards, leaving Draper with severe facial injuries. Detroit never forgot it.On March 26, 1997, a year later, the teams met in one of the most famous regular season games in NHL history, now known as Fight Night at the Joe. Fights broke out everywhere, including Darren McCarty attacking Lemieux, Patrick Roy fighting Detroit goalie Mike Vernon, and basically every piece of unresolved anger between the teams exploding onto the ice.

Colorado and Detroit spent the next several seasons battling for control of the Western Conference. From 1996 through 2002, the Avalanche and Red Wings combined for five Stanley Cups and met in the playoffs five times. For several years, Colorado vs. Detroit essentially decided who was going to rule hockey. These two teams transcended what the term “rivalry” meant.

By 2001, Colorado had added one of the greatest defensemen ever, Ray Bourque, who had spent 21 seasons in Boston without winning the Stanley Cup. The Avalanche reached the Final against the defending champion New Jersey Devils and forced a Game 7 in Denver where Colorado won 3-1. Joe Sakic accepted the Stanley Cup and immediately handed it to Bourque. If you've ever seen the famous clip of Ray Bourque finally lifting the Stanley Cup, this is that team. That moment is also one of the most emotional moments in hockey history, so much so that until today, my dad talks about it (although, I think he just has a man crush on Sakic).

The powerhouse eventually aged out and Colorado went through some significantly less glamorous years before building another superstar core around Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar. After years of really good Avalanche teams repeatedly losing earlier than expected in the playoffs, everything finally came together in 2022. Colorado swept Edmonton in the Western Conference Final and faced the two time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Avalanche won the series in six games with Cale Makar winning the Conn Smythe Trophy and Gabriel Landeskog lifting the Stanley Cup (before leaving for years due to injury), and Colorado finally completed the transition from a team that should win a cup to Stanley Cup champion. Most of the important pieces from that era are still here, and as long as MacKinnon and Makar are playing at this level, Colorado knows its championship window is still open.

The Icons

Joe Sakic

Sakic was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in 1987, moved with the franchise to Colorado and became the defining player of the Avalanche's first great era. He captained Colorado to the Stanley Cup in 1996 and 2001, won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1996 and the Hart Trophy in 2001. Then eventually moved into Colorado's front office and helped build the 2022 Stanley Cup team. Sakic is now the Avalanche's President of Hockey Operations.

Peter Forsberg

One of the most talented players of his generation and one of the most beloved players in Avalanche history. Forsberg was incredibly skilled but also played with a physical edge that made him miserable to play against. He won two Stanley Cups with Colorado, the Hart Trophy in 2003 and became one of the central figures of the franchise's first decade in Denver.

Patrick Roy

One of the greatest goalies in hockey history and the trade that helped turn Colorado into an immediate champion. Roy arrived from Montreal during Colorado's first season and helped the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup months later. He won another with Colorado in 2001 and became the first player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy three times across his career. His intensity also fit perfectly into the Detroit rivalry. This man was fighting other goalies at center ice...

Ray Bourque

Bourque's Avalanche career wasn't long, but it produced one of the most famous moments in NHL history. After spending more than two decades chasing a championship in Boston, Bourque joined Colorado in 2000. The following season, the Avalanche won the 2001 Stanley Cup, and Joe Sakic immediately handed the Cup to Bourque. Bourque finally raising it over his head remains one of hockey's most emotional championship moments. Colorado retired his No. 77 despite Bourque playing fewer than two full seasons for the team, which tells you how meaningful that run was.

Adam Foote

One of the foundational defensemen of the Avalanche era. Foote came over from Quebec with the franchise and was part of both the 1996 and 2001 championship teams. He played a physical, defensive game and eventually served as captain later in his career.

Milan Hejduk

One of the quieter stars of Colorado's first great era but one Avalanche fans absolutely know. Hejduk spent his entire NHL career with Colorado, won the Stanley Cup in 2001 and scored 50 goals in 2002-03 to win the Rocket Richard Trophy. His No. 23 is retired, and for more than two decades, he was the only Avalanche player to win the Rocket until Nathan MacKinnon joined him in 2026.

The Current Era

Colorado won the Stanley Cup in 2022 and has continued to build around the MacKinnon-Makar core ever since. The problem is that being one of the best teams in hockey has not automatically translated into another Cup. The 2025-26 season is probably the perfect example. Colorado went 55-16-11, won the Presidents' Trophy, set a franchise record with 121 points and led the NHL in wins, goals, goals against and penalty-kill percentage. Nathan MacKinnon won the Rocket Richard Trophy with 53 goals. Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood won the Jennings Trophy. Gabriel Landeskog played his first full season back after the knee injury that cost him nearly three years of NHL hockey.

Then the Avalanche reached the Western Conference Final and Vegas swept them in four games, so management made changes. At the 2026 trade deadline, Colorado had already made a giant win-now move by bringing Nazem Kadri back from Calgary. They also added Nicolas Roy, Brett Kulak and Nick Blankenburg. They traded Ross Colton to Nashville, along with Jack Drury and prospect Chase Bradley who were traded to Nashville for Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L'Heureux. Valeri Nichushkin was traded to Columbus for three draft picks, moving the final four years of his contract off Colorado's books. The Avalanche acquired former first-round pick Fabian Lysell from Boston. They signed veteran forward Jaden Schwartz for three years. They also kept their defense largely together, re-signing Brett Kulak for five years and bringing Brent Burns back for another season.

Colorado's core hasn't changed. MacKinnon, Makar, Landeskog, Necas, Toews, Nelson and the rest of the established group are still trying to win another Stanley Cup, but there is now a deliberate attempt to inject some younger players around them rather than simply running the exact same roster back. And just a couple days ago, Cale Makar cemented himself with an 8 year contract averaging over $20 million dollars a year!

The Players You Need to Know

Nathan MacKinnon

The engine.

MacKinnon is the player everything runs through. Colorado drafted him first overall in 2013, and after taking a few years to fully become Nathan MacKinnon, he developed into one of the best hockey players on the planet. He's ridiculously fast, ridiculously competitive and has spent this era casually attacking the Avalanche record book. MacKinnon won the Hart Trophy in 2024 and followed that by winning his first Rocket Richard Trophy in 2025-26, scoring a career-high 53 goals and finishing with 127 points. During the 2025-26 season, he also passed Joe Sakic to become the Avalanche's all-time points leader specifically since the franchise moved to Colorado. 

Cale Makar

The superstar defenseman.

Cale Makar is simply not human. Colorado drafted him fourth overall in 2017. He made his NHL debut during the 2019 playoffs and scored a goal in his very first game because apparently normal introductions are boring. Since then, Makar has won the Calder Trophy, multiple Norris Trophies and the 2022 Conn Smythe Trophy while helping Colorado win the Stanley Cup. He scored 20 goals and recorded 79 points in 75 games during 2025-26 and finished second in Norris voting. He and Devon Toews form one of the best defensive pairings in hockey.

Gabriel Landeskog

The captain & comeback story.

Landeskog's story has become one of the defining pieces of modern Avalanche history. Colorado drafted him second overall in 2011 and named him captain in 2012 when he was just 19 years old. He eventually became the leader of the core that grew from a rebuilding team into the 2022 Stanley Cup champions. Then, after winning the Cup, his career essentially stopped. A serious knee injury and multiple surgeries kept Landeskog out of NHL action for nearly three full years. He didn't play at all during the 2022-23, 2023-24 or 2024-25 regular seasons before finally making his return during the 2025 playoffs. Then in October 2025, Landeskog played his first regular-season NHL game since March 10, 2022, remaining Colorado's captain through all of it. Landeskog went on to play an important role for the Presidents' Trophy winning Avalanche in 2025-26 and won both the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy and Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award. There aren't many current NHL players whose relationship with their fanbase is quite like Landeskog's.

Martin Necas

The other offensive weapon.

Colorado originally acquired Necas from Carolina in the 2025 trade that sent Mikko Rantanen out of Denver, which meant he arrived under some extremely weird circumstances, but he has become a major part of this team's offense. Necas signed an 8-year extension with Colorado in October 2025 and immediately backed it up with the best season of his career. He's fast, creative and exactly the type of player who fits the way Colorado wants to play. The Rantanen trade initially made people wonder what Colorado's long term top six would look like. At this point, Necas is very clearly part of the answer.

Nazem Kadri

The fan favorite who came back.

Yes, he's back! Kadri was an enormous part of Colorado's 2022 championship team and produced one of the most iconic moments of that run when he returned from a thumb injury and scored the overtime winner in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. Then he left in free agency and signed with Calgary. For almost four years, that looked like the end of his Avalanche story until the 2026 trade deadline. Colorado reacquired Kadri from the Flames along with a 2027 draft pick and now, one of the heroes of the 2022 Cup run is back in Denver during another championship window!

Mackenzie Blackwood

The goalie.

Blackwood arrived during the 2024-25 season and forms a tandem with Scott Wedgewood. Together, they helped Colorado allow the fewest goals in the NHL in 2025-26, earning the William M. Jennings Trophy. Wedgewood actually led qualified NHL goalies in save percentage and goals-against average during the regular season, so this isn't necessarily a traditional starter-and-backup situation where one guy does everything.

The Rivalries

Detroit Red Wings

This is one of the most famous rivalries in modern NHL history. Colorado and Detroit absolutely hated each other during the late 1990s and early 2000s, when both teams were loaded with Hall of Fame talent and competing for Stanley Cups every season. The Claude Lemieux hit on Kris Draper during the 1996 Western Conference Final turned an already competitive matchup into something genuinely personal. Then came Fight Night at the Joe in March 1997, more playoff series’, more fights, and more hatred. From 1996 through 2002, the teams met five times in the postseason while combining to win five Stanley Cups.

The rivalry obviously isn't anywhere near that intense today. Detroit moved to the Eastern Conference in 2013, the players from that era are long gone and the teams only see each other a couple times per season.

Minnesota Wild

The Wild and Avalanche have shared a division since Minnesota entered the NHL in 2000, and they've met several times in the playoffs. Minnesota also owns one of the most painful moments in Avalanche history: Game 7 in 2003, when Andrew Brunette scored in overtime to eliminate Colorado in what became Patrick Roy's final NHL game. Then the Wild did it again in 2014, beating Colorado in another Game 7 overtime. The Avalanche got a little revenge in 2026, eliminating Minnesota in five games in the second round on Brett Kulak's overtime goal.

They're divisional opponents, the games get physical and there is enough playoff trauma between these two fanbases that nobody needs to manufacture reasons to dislike each other.

Dallas Stars

Dallas is another team Avalanche fans have developed a real dislike for, especially because the two franchises keep finding themselves in each other’s way when the stakes are high. The history goes back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Dallas eliminated Colorado in back-to-back Western Conference Finals in 1999 and 2000, but the rivalry has picked up again in the modern era. They’ve had multiple recent playoff meetings, including Dallas knocking Colorado out in 2020 and again in 2024, and the combination of postseason history, Central Division competition and two teams that expect to contend has made the matchup increasingly heated. It may not have the pure hatred or nostalgia of Detroit, but when the Avs and Stars meet — especially in the playoffs — there is plenty of bad blood.

The Fanbase

Avalanche fans have lived a genuinely spoiled hockey existence compared with a lot of NHL fanbases. The team moved to Denver and immediately won a Stanley Cup, then they spent years watching Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy when they won another one. Then eventually Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar showed up, and they won another one. I don’t really know how else to emphasize the standard attached to Avalanche hockey, except for saying that being good isn't particularly impressive anymore. Colorado fans expect this team to be competing for the Stanley Cup. 

They also LOVE their guys. Joe Sakic is basically Avalanche royalty, Peter Forsberg remains adored, Gabriel Landeskog's return was one of the most emotional events I’ve ever witnessed and I’m not even an Avalanche fan, Nathan MacKinnon is now rewriting franchise records that once belonged to Sakic. And because Colorado's first great era happened during one of the nastiest rivalries the NHL has ever seen, older Avalanche fans carry a level of Detroit hatred that younger fans may genuinely need explained to them. Basically, if an Avs fan suddenly starts passionately explaining something that happened at Joe Louis Arena in 1997, just let them finish, they've been waiting for someone to ask.

The Retired Numbers

Colorado has retired six numbers honoring some of the biggest names in Avalanche history:

No. 19 — Joe Sakic

No. 21 — Peter Forsberg

No. 23 — Milan Hejduk

No. 33 — Patrick Roy

No. 52 — Adam Foote

No. 77 — Ray Bourque

Why You Should Watch Them

Very few teams can make hockey look as fast as the Colorado Avalanche. Nathan MacKinnon flying through the neutral zone is worth watching by itself, but then you remember Cale Makar is somehow a defenseman, and also you remember that Martin Necas just had a 100 point season. Somewhere along the way you’re reminded that Nazem Kadri is back, and most importantly, you’re reminded that Gabriel Landeskog, the youngest captain when he was named, somehow made it all the way back after almost three years away due to an injury. This is a team entering another season knowing anything short of a deep playoff run is going to feel disappointing.

There are also so many different layers of Avalanche history happening at once. Joe Sakic, the captain of the 1996 and 2001 championship teams, is now running hockey operations while trying to build another champion. Kadri, one of the heroes of 2022, has returned. As said before, Landeskog is playing again. MacKinnon is passing records set by the legends who came before him. Finally, Makar is building a resume that may likely put him alongside the greatest defensemen the sport has ever seen.

Colorado isn't a team you're watching because they're already one of the NHL's heavyweights, the championship window is open right now, and every season feels like another chance to see whether this generation can put one more banner in Ball Arena. Colorado is one of the most fascinating teams in the NHL for me. They’ve been exceptional, and if not that, then decent, for my entire life. It’s rare for a team to be that way, but this team knows what it’s doing.