There will be nights this season when some NHL teams won’t be able to roll out a power play as talented as one that features Gabe Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen, Victor Olofsson, Devon Toews and…
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon celebrates after scoring a power-play goal during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. There will be nights this season when some NHL teams won’t be able to roll out a power play as talented as one that features Gabe Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen, Victor Olofsson, Devon Toews and Brent Burns.
Given some of the injuries and availability issues, it’s been hard for the Avalanche to find that level of firepower at times as well. But that was the second unit on Tuesday when Colorado practiced the power play for the first time this season. The Avs are relatively healthy at the start of the 2025-26 season, and nowhere is that more evident than when it’s time for power-play practice. And that’s also the place where the most scrutiny of this team will be. “There are definitely a lot of good options,” Avs star Nathan MacKinnon said. “The tricky part is not switching it around too much, because you have to build chemistry. We’ll see how it goes. “It’s good structure. It’s nice to have everyone in the right spots. Obviously, we didn’t have the greatest first round , but we had a good power play last season. Not every series is going to be great. I feel good about where we’re at.” Going 3 for 22 on the power play, including 1 for the final 16, was a huge part of Colorado’s demise against the archrival Dallas Stars in the opening round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Avs had a power play at the end of regulation and to start overtime in both Games 2 and 3 against the Stars. They did not score and lost both contests. The assistant coach who was in charge of the club’s power play for the past six seasons, Ray Bennett, is out. Former Seattle and Philadelphia head coach Dave Hakstol is in. It looked like there might be a couple of wrinkles available for how the Avs try to gain the offensive zone on the power play this season, but the structure once set up looked familiar Tuesday. Part of that is because it looks similar for every NHL team. Part of it is that the Avs have been one of the best teams in the league with the man advantage for a long time, though there were some warning signs about the Dallas demise. “You’re focusing on sort of the fundamentals of what you want to see and what you want your power play to look like,” Bendar said. “I think our power play was first at the end of the year for a stretch, but we weren’t in attack mode enough. “There’s an element of patience that we want, but we also want to be a team that’s in attack mode all the time, and it doesn’t have to be pretty.” Bednar and MacKinnon have both noted at different points this preseason that Colorado’s power play was quite good at the end of last regular season. From Jan. 25 — the day after Mikko Rantanen was traded to Carolina — through the end of the regular season, the Avs converted 32.2% of their chances with the extra man, which was tops in the NHL. But, as Bednar pointed out Tuesday, the Avs were first in o-zone ice time and 32nd in shots to the net, based on the club’s internal analytics. MacKinnon is one of the two best players in the world at getting his team into the offensive zone with possession. Between him and Cale Makar, sometimes just having world-class talent covers up some concerns.How to watch 20 Nuggets, Avalanche games for free over-the-air this seasonTwo games at two Denver arenas on same day will be logistical challenge for Avalanche When the Avs practiced Tuesday, MacKinnon and Martin Necas switched back and forth between the left flank and the guy who works below the goal line or at the net front. Brock Nelson, who, along with Landeskog, could be a big boost to the club’s ability to win o-zone faceoffs, spent time at the bumper position and on the right flank. Makar and Valeri Nichushkin rounded out an extremely talented first unit. The second unit featured Burns, not Toews, at the top of the zone. And it featured a lot of Burns’ patented point shot, which emphasizes placement over power and has helped him collect 320 power-play points in his career — the most among defensemen in the salary cap era. Burns has built an extensive resume on the power play with a simple narrative: When he’s on the ice, his team puts the puck toward the net. A lot. “That’s perfect,” Bednar said. “That helps the second unit because that’s been the mentality of that group all the time. They can’t slow it down on the breakout. It’s got to get up and go, so the breakouts are different, and you’re running low on time lots of time when you get in there.”Colorado weather: Hazardous snow forecast for high countryThe American Motel will soon meet its end, but memories of notorious Wheat Ridge establishment live onImproving Investor Behavior: The telltale signs of a market crashMissing Boulder teen from Amber Alert found safe
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