If the Avalanche don’t win the Stanley Cup, this season will be a failure

The Colorado Avalanche are in a situation a Denver sports team hasn’t seen since Peyton Manning led the Broncos.

It’s championship or bust.

The Avs’ 2021-2022 season won’t be a success unless captain Gabriel Landeskog is hoisting the Stanley Cup in late June.

Don’t blame me, blame Joe Sakic.

It’s not that Sakic has done anything wrong. Actually, the exact opposite. Colorado’s best general manager has built such a powerhouse team there’s only one goal: The Avs need to bring Denver its first Stanley Cup since 2001 for this season to be a success.

Frankly, this group could have done it by now.

Four years ago they got their first taste of playoff experience. Colorado took the Predators to six games in a very competitive series and showed the NHL and themselves they can play on that level.

The following year was the breakthrough. The Avalanche stunned the No. 1 seeded Calgary Flames in five games including two spectacular overtime goals from Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. They could have won their second round series against the San Jose Sharks, but a brutal Game 7 offsides call against Landeskog ruined their chances.

Unfortunately, that’s when the curse of round two began.

The next season was the “COVID-19” weird one, but there was no reason the Avalanche shouldn’t have taken home the trophy in the Edmonton bubble. After dismantling the Arizona Coyotes in the first round, the Avalanche lost a heartbreaking Game 7 to the Stars in overtime. There’s no worse way for a season to end, with the finality of the puck hitting the back of the net being absolutely heartbreaking.

And everyone’s memory of what happened last year against the Golden Knights should be fresh. Colorado won the President’s Trophy, swept St. Louis and look poised to go all the way. Then, up 2-0 in a series against Vegas, the team had an unprecedented meltdown. The Avs dropped four games in a row, Philipp Grubauer was brutal in goal and the superstar MacKinnon disappeared.

The Game 6 loss prompted a bit of an infamous declaration from MacKinnon postgame and served as a sobering reality for fans.

“I mean, I’m going on my ninth year next year and haven’t won s**t, so I’m definitely motivated, and it just sucks,” MacKinnon said.

Unfortunately, the perennial Hart Trophy candidate isn’t wrong. In all his dazzling years in the NHL, Mackinnon hasn’t played in a single conference finals game, let alone a Stanley Cup Finals game.

But rather than pout about the outcome, Sakic reloaded. He let Grubauer depart for the expansion Seattle Kraken and traded for goalie Darcy Kuemper from the Coyotes. Kuemper has been nothing short of brilliant, earning a 5-3 win on Tuesday night to improve his record to 27-6-2. He’s held up his end of the bargain, but will of course have to do it in the postseason as well.

Meanwhile, Nazem Kadri is having a career year and Cale Makar looks like the best defenseman in the NHL. Landeskog is having arguably his best season and Rantanen is a top-5 forward year in and year out. Devon Toews has emerged, Samuel Girard remains solid and Andre Burakovsky and Valeri Nichushkin are great second line contributors.

Head coach Jared Bednar has proven he’s one of the best coaches in the NHL and the team has gotten better every year during his tenure.

Long story short: There are no holes in this team.

The Avs will almost assuredly win the Western Conference during the regular season, locking up the No. 1 seed and home-ice advantage throughout the conference playoffs. Another President’s Trophy is firmly in reach too.

So, there are no excuses and no other acceptable outcomes than winning the Stanley Cup. It might sound unfair, but that’s the position this team is in.

There’s not anything more Joe Sakic can do, as the Avalanche have all the pieces. Now the players need to hold up their end of the bargain and bring home the best trophy in sports.

Anything else would be a failure.

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