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With many teams that struggle throughout a season as bad as the Colorado Avalanche have, you’re still bound to find a few positives somewhere on the roster. For this Avalanche team, that isn’t entirely the case. The positives are very minimal.
In fact, looking at the goaltending and defense, there isn’t much to be excited about this year. Neither one has performed at a level that allowed the Avalanche to demonstrate any sort of consistency. The outlook for the future is good, particularly on the blue line, but there isn’t might in the present.
Actually, there are really only two players on this Avalanche squad that have performed up to expectations. There have been a couple of surprises, like John Mitchell, but of the upper tier talent that this squad has, only two forwards were able to put together solid years.
Those two forwards were free agent signee P.A. Parenteau and Matt Duchene. Parenteau helped to get rid of the questions as to whether or not he was a one hit wonder and would fade after signing a big money contract. And Duchene was able to rebound from an injury-riddled 2011-2012 to put together a very nice 2013.
Parenteau will likely finish the season as the leading scorer for the Avalanche, unless Duchene can overtake him in the final game. He has 41 points on the season, including 17 goals which is tied with Duchene for the team lead. Twelve of his points have come on the power play, easily the highest total on the team.
Duchene’s numbers are similar to that of Parenteau. He trails him by only an assist. Other than that, they’ve turned in equally impressive years. The only thing that Duchene doesn’t have on Parenteau is the power play numbers, but he still has eight points with the man advantage.
There will be plenty more positives for the Avs in 2013-2014. They’ll boast a completely healthy lineup, which should aid Parenteau and Duchene next year. If anything, you can expect an increase in their production next season.
