Season Review #4: Colorado Avalanche - Presidents' Trophy, 121 Points, MacKinnon's 97 Even-Strength Points Since Gretzky, Landeskog's Return, the Jennings Tandem, and Swept by Vegas With Makar and MacKinnon Injured

The Colorado Avalanche led the NHL in wins, points, regulation victories, goals, goals against, and penalty-kill percentage. Nathan MacKinnon's 97 even-strength points were the most by any player since Wayne Gretzky in 1990-91. Gabriel Landeskog played his first regular-season game since 2022. Cale Makar was injured in Round 2. MacKinnon blocked a shot with his leg in Game 3 of the WCF. Vegas swept them. The fifth Presidents' Trophy winner in NHL history to be swept in a postseason series. The most complete regular season in franchise history ended in four games.

In the first game of the 2025-26 season, Nathan MacKinnon scored to record his 1,016th career point, passing Joe Sakic as the most prolific scorer in Colorado Avalanche history. That same game, Gabriel Landeskog - who had not played a regular-season game since March 10, 2022, who had undergone two knee surgeries and spent three and a half years in rehabilitation while his team won a Stanley Cup, reached two more Conference Finals, and continued without him - skated in his first game of the year. Both things happened in the same game. It was October 10, 2025, and in the way that sport sometimes front-loads the meaning of a season into a single evening, everything that the 2025-26 Colorado Avalanche would become was present in those 60 minutes: MacKinnon's extraordinary individual production, Landeskog's extraordinary individual persistence, and the franchise's determination to be exactly what 121 regular-season points confirmed it to be - one of the greatest regular-season teams in NHL history. They were swept in the Western Conference Final by a Vegas Golden Knights team with 26 fewer points. This is the season's honest summary. Both halves of it are true.

Nathan MacKinnon scored 53 goals in 80 regular-season games and won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the NHL's leading goal scorer. He had 74 assists for 127 points - a total that, when split between even-strength and power-play production, produced a specific number that belongs in a different historical category than any other active NHL player has touched: his 97 even-strength points were the most by any player in a single season since Wayne Gretzky recorded 103 in 1990-91. Thirty-five years. Two active players in that period of time have come close to that number. None have reached it. MacKinnon reached it in 80 games.

He became the franchise's all-time points leader in Game 1. He won the Rocket Richard. He was the emotional and competitive focal point of the most dominant regular-season team in franchise history. In the playoffs, entering the WCF, he had 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in nine games. Then he blocked a shot from Shea Theodore with his leg in Game 3 of the WCF, had to be helped off the ice at 12:15 of the second period, returned to play but was visibly limited, and was held to two assists across the entire four-game series. He was with the medical staff after Game 4 and not made available to media. "It's empty," Landeskog said. "There's no other way to describe it." The emptiness was that specific - the injury to the player who had spent the regular season producing at a level not seen in 35 years was the decisive event of the WCF, and it arrived in Game 3 when the series was already 0-2.

The 45-0-0 record when leading after two periods is the most haunting single statistic of the Colorado WCF sweep. They had never blown a two-period lead all season. They blew leads in Games 2 and 3 of the WCF. Both facts are about the same team. The difference is Makar's presence. Without him in Games 1 and 2, the power play that had been the most organised unit in the Western Conference became disorganised. Without him fully functional in Games 3 and 4, the transition that made Colorado's defensive and offensive system work as a unified structure fell apart. He is the piece whose absence changes the calculus of every other piece around him. MacKinnon's injury in Game 3 - the leg blocked against Theodore's shot - compounded the damage at the exact moment a comeback push was needed. Neither injury excuses the result. Both injuries explain it.

The offseason question Colorado faces is not about identity - the franchise knows exactly what it is and what it can produce when healthy. It is about whether the injuries that changed the WCF were incidental bad luck or the product of a roster built so thin behind Makar and MacKinnon that any disruption becomes catastrophic. Bednar will evaluate the depth defencemen who were asked to play 27-minute nights against Vegas and fell short. Sakic will evaluate whether those depth pieces can be upgraded. MacKinnon will return healthy. Makar will return healthy. Landeskog will still be the captain whose presence the team goes 45-7-8 with. The 121 points are the evidence of what this roster can do. The WCF sweep is the evidence of what it cannot do when two of its four best players are injured in the same four-game series.

Season statistics sourced from NHL.com, Wikipedia (2025-26 Colorado Avalanche season), Hockey-Reference, and ESPN. Colorado Avalanche finished 55-16-11 (121 points), Presidents' Trophy, 1st Central Division, 1st Western Conference. Franchise record in points. Led NHL in wins (55), points (121), regulation wins (48), goals for (298), goals against (197), and PK% (84.6%). 121 pts tied 9th most in single season in NHL history. Nathan MacKinnon: 53 goals (Rocket Richard Trophy, led NHL), 74 assists, 127 points in 80 games; 97 even-strength points (most since Gretzky 103 in 1990-91); became franchise all-time points leader (1,016) in Game 1, passing Joe Sakic. Martin Necas: first career 100-pt season; signed 8-year extension October; 10 playoff assists (R1-R2). Gabriel Landeskog: first regular-season game since March 10, 2022; Bill Masterton Trophy; Mark Messier Leadership Award; team went 45-7-8 with him in lineup. Scott Wedgewood + Mackenzie Blackwood: William M. Jennings Trophy; Wedgewood led all qualifiers in SV% (.921) and GAA (2.02). Cale Makar: Norris Trophy finalist; sustained upper-body injury in Round 2, missed WCF Games 1-2, limited in Games 3-4, 0 points in WCF. Won R1 vs LA Kings 4-0 (5 GA total). Won R2 vs Minnesota Wild 4-1 (erased 3-goal deficit in G5 clincher). Lost WCF vs Vegas Golden Knights 0-4 (swept). MacKinnon: 13 pts (7G-6A) in first 9 playoff games; injured blocking shot from Shea Theodore in G3 WCF, 2 assists in series. Nichushkin injured G3 WCF, missed G4. Wedgewood: 9 GA on 73 shots in WCF (.877). 7 total goals scored in WCF (4 from top-6: 3 Landeskog, 1 Nichushkin). Colorado 5th Presidents' Trophy winner swept in playoff series. Next in series: #3.