Colorado Avalanche vs Minnesota Wild: Just Do It
The Colorado Avalanche face their rival Minnesota Wild in the first preseason game of the season. Will the team be able to exorcise some demons with a win?
The Colorado Avalanche open up their preseason the same way they started the last two regular seasons — playing against the Minnesota Wild. Both those times were utter disasters for Colorado. They lost both games, and they type of loss haunted them the rest of the season.
During the 2014-15 season, Colorado got shut out in Minnesota then returned to Pepsi Center to get shut out at home. The Avalanche had trouble scoring all season, and the players often cited that terrible beginning for getting into their heads.
Last season, the Colorado Avalanche looked ready to exorcise those demons. They came out like a team possessed and dominated the game in every category — most especially hits. Then, the team fell apart for five minutes and seven seconds in the third period, gave up a three-goal lead, and lost the game. That paradigm got repeated many times throughout the Doomed Season.
More from Mile High Sticking
This year, the team has a chance to do things differently. First of all, the game is a preseason one. Many of the core players won’t even be participating. Indeed, it’ll largely be populated with prospects.
Besides that, this year’s team is very different. There’s new coaching and a new staff overall in some cases. They’re bringing their own philosophies into the game. The Avalanche are going to become a team based on analytics.
What’s interesting is that there’s going to be a leadership change. Left wing Gabriel Landeskog will keep his captaincy. However, his alternates are in doubt. It will be decided over the preseason who will be alternate captains.
Here’s how I think things should go:
Another really big change is that the Avalanche’s defensive corps is so young. Colorado acquired 26-year-old defenseman Patrick Wiercioch over the summer. Though it wasn’t a trade, they basically gave up 29-year-old defenseman Nick Holden for him. What’s more, it’ looks really good that 21-year-olds, Nikita Zadorov and, especially, Chris Bigras, will play a bigger role this season.
At the time of writing, the roster for the Minnesota Wild game hadn’t been announced. However, it’s a good bet that the coaching staff are going to want to look at those young d-men. I expect Bigras and Zadorov to play as well as the 25-year-old Eric Gelinas and maybe 23-year-old Duncan Siemans.
Even though the roster won’t be composed of regulars, the Colorado Avalanche have the chance to properly set the tone for the season. If they can pull the W, they’ll not only have beaten the Minnesota Wild, they’ll have finally won in the Xcel Energy Center. (It’s been a while.)
The game starts at 7 pm MDT and will be broadcast on Altitude TV.
This article originally appeared on 
