Brandon Stokley calls time of death on the Avalanche’s season

Colorado fell into a 3-0 series hole against Vegas; the morning show isn't holding out hope for a comeback that has only happened four times in NHL history

BY JOEY FREEBURG

May 26, 2026, 12:22 PM

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There is a moment in every postseason run where the door begins to close. Sometimes, it slams shut all at once. Other times, it creeps inward, game by game, until even the most-optimistic fans have to admit what their eyes have been telling them.

For the Colorado Avalanche, that moment arrived Sunday night.

The Avs dropped Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals to the Vegas Golden Knights, falling into a 3-0 series hole that has rarely been escaped in the history of the sport. Only four teams have ever come back from that deficit in an NHL playoff series. And on a recent edition of “Stokley and Evans, with Mark Schlereth” on 104.3 The Fan, Brandon Stokley wasn’t interested in pretending the Avalanche have a realistic shot at becoming the fifth.

“Come on, who are we fooling? This thing, it’s a wrap,” Stokley said.

Stokley didn’t dismiss the Avalanche out of spite. He dismissed them because the evidence has piled up to a point where optimism feels disconnected from reality.

He highlighted a flurry of problems like someone who’s been keeping a running list.

“Look at their situation. (Cale) Makar is a shell of himself. (Nathan) MacKinnon’s hurt. What’s going on with Val (Nichushkin)? Who the heck is the goalie gonna be?” Stokley asked.

Each name carries weight. Makar has been absent for most of the series. MacKinnon, the engine of the offense, is dealing with an injury that has visibly compromised his game. Nichushkin’s status is murky. And the goaltending situation, which has been a source of instability for weeks, remains unresolved at the worst possible moment.

That is not a list of fixable problems. It is a list of structural failures arriving simultaneously.

Stokley closed with the math that ultimately decides these things.

“Maybe they win one or two, but to win four in a row, there’s no chance in their situation right now,” he said.

It’s the part of the argument that resists rebuttal. Even at full strength, four consecutive wins against a Vegas team playing this well would be a tall order. Asking this version of the Avalanche — banged up, leaking water in multiple compartments, uncertain in net — to pull off the kind of comeback that has happened just four times in league history feels less like hope and more like denial.

The Avalanche aren’t dead yet. But Stokley isn’t waiting around to hold a funeral that already feels overdue.