Recently in a series of press conferences, Colorado Avalanche GM Joe Sakic set up his offseason message to the fanbase and managed expectations about heading into the 2026-27 season with a worse roster on paper. The salary cap was blamed, naturally, but this year’s buzz words given in an attempt to soothe any worries were centered around an incoming youth movement to fill the gaps.
“If we’ve got to start out with some kids this year to see what they got, what they can do, we’re perfectly happy with that as well.”
— Joe Sakic
The youth movement concept is great in theory. A rapidly aging roster is in need of an infusion of new faces, competitive energy and cheap contracts which will outperform their cost. Colorado would benefit from some younger players under their control in the short term even if they are starting with a group of kids that are closer to unrestricted free agency than drafted prospects would be. The Avalanche have also been missing the spark young players can provide plus the possible benefit of untapped upside.
Who are the possibilities?
It is interesting the youths Sakic mentions as having a chance to fill their roster holes at forward are all new to the organization which contain three players (Fedor Svechkov, Zach L’Heureux and Gavin Brindley) they acquired via trade within the last year (four if we include recently signed Fabian Lysell who is also in the mix), two recent college free agent signings (TJ Hughes and Matt DiMarsico) and one with obvious familial connections (Taylor Makar). The Avalanche have an uncanny ability to cycle through their options every two years, which is why last year’s crop of budding NHL forwards need not apply to the current opportunity at hand. Those who previously saw NHL action with the Avalanche include Ivan Ivan, Zakhar Bardakov, Chase Bradley, Jason Polin and Matt Stienburg, who all were not retained and signed elsewhere this summer.
Those departures make sense as a player gets two years at most to hold the organization’s attention before their window of opportunity shuts, which is why a bunch of new options were needed for the next season’s experiment. Taylor Makar could be an exception if he makes the jump to the NHL permanently because he was drafted in 2021, though has only played one year of pro hockey so far. Since the Joe Sakic management era began in 2013 there hasn’t been an acquired player who was property of the organization longer than two years that developed internally and then went on to complete a full NHL season in Colorado. It is understood that the NHL is unforgiving and moves at a rapid pace but that timeline is a tough ask for development, especially in draft picks.
What does giving opportunity really mean?
This decade Logan O’Connor is the only developed forward who broke through to the Avalanche roster and the last of such graduation up front from the system since Mikko Rantanen in 2016. After signing as an undrafted college free agent his first year of pro hockey, O’Connor got the typical cup of coffee the Avalanche consider opportunity with the five game call-up treatment in early 2019 where he averaged less than six minutes time on ice. Then in his second season he played 16 games, scored two points and upped his average to over eight minutes a game. Usually at that point justifications that he didn’t make enough impact in those 21 games would crop up but in year three O’Connor saw his waiver exemption expire and the Avalanche chose to keep him full-time in the pandemic shortened year of 2020-21. That season a 22 game, five point campaign where he averaged near 11 minutes a game got O’Connor a three-year contract extension and the rest is history as the Avalanche were then committed and the right winger had solidified his place on the team.
If O’Connor represents a repeatable path to the Avalanche, at some point a commitment is required and none of the youth options cycled through the team in 2025-26 stuck when it came to staying in the lineup. Gavin Brindley offered a glimmer of hope in his 54 NHL games and saw the most time on ice given by Jared Bednar to a developing player at an average of 9:33 per game but he was then sent to the minors after the trade deadline passed. All other experiments barely eclipsed seven minutes per game including those with a half a season or more of NHL experience such as Ivan Ivan and Zakhar Bardakov.
In Nashville, both Fedor Svechkov and Zach L’Heureux averaged over 12 minutes of ice time in each of their NHL seasons, which sets up the expectation that if Colorado wants these two, or any of their other youth movement options, to continue growing their games in this new opportunity then that’s the level of usage they need to be seeing at minimum. This also means no exclusive fourth line roles, especially multiple young players put together and then marginalized together as the bench gets shortened after the first period of games.
What’s on the horizon?
Unless there are surprise injuries when training camp rolls around in September or Colorado signs another veteran by then, currently it stands that two forward positions on the fourth line are open for these young guns to grab. Waiver exemption can’t save everyone this time, however, as it means several of mentioned above inexperienced options are going to get cut from the opening night lineup. With the exception of Brindley, DiMarsico and Hughes all others need to pass through waivers if they are sent down to the Colorado Eagles. The two-year pacts and one-way price tag in the second years for Svechkov, L’Heureux and Makar act as basically waivers insurance as another team is unlikely to pick up the financial commitment on those contracts. Still, the Avalanche likely want to satisfy the optics for players they just acquired will be given the first chance to play in the NHL. Brindley and his aforementioned 54 games of experience with the Avalanche last season should have the inside track in the competition for an open roster spot but as the youngest at 21-years-old, is still waivers exempt and was recently demoted adds up to he’s the easiest to pass over.
Sakic already threw out the idea that the roster isn’t set because Colorado can just accrue cap space for the trade deadline and get in new players at a later time. Admitting it out loud before the youth movement process has even begun feels like a halfhearted attempt when a full organizational buy-in and commitment is required for the monumental task of getting a developing player across to the Avalanche finish line. The expectation always is for playoff teams to made additions to strengthen their roster at the trade deadline. But it should be just that: adding, not replacing.
