{"id":292106,"date":"2023-10-02T23:05:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T23:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=292106"},"modified":"2023-10-02T23:05:39","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T23:05:39","slug":"avs-nathan-mackinnon-offers-rare-insight-into-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/nhl\/avs-nathan-mackinnon-offers-rare-insight-into-last-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Avs’ Nathan MacKinnon offers rare insight into last year"},"content":{"rendered":"

One particularly revealing answer from Nathan MacKinnon on media day was technically about the long offseason, and his excitement for the coming season with the Avalanche.<\/p>\n

The interesting part was really a diagnosis of last season, and a look at the evolution of a franchise firmly within a window to compete for championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t think we had the team to win last year,\u201d MacKinnon said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in it, you always believe. But yeah, (the longer offseason) has been great. I think we\u2019re very motivated. It just felt like we never really had it last year all season. I know we won the division, but it took some teams falling off and we got really hot, but it just didn\u2019t feel like we really had it. I think we\u2019re all very motivated this year to get our standards back to where we need to be to win. You have to be pretty near perfect to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n

It feels like a rare thing to hear one of the best players in the world say his defending Stanley Cup champions \u201cdidn\u2019t have it.\u201d Maybe that\u2019s obvious in hindsight \u2014 the Avs won more playoff rounds in 2022 than postseason games last year.<\/p>\n

But the 2022-23 edition of Colorado\u2019s hockey club was still a really good team. The Avs finished with 109 points, two fewer than the eventual Stanley Cup champs, and with a better goal differential than the Vegas Golden Knights.<\/p>\n

Most organizations would love to finish with that many points, and to enter the postseason on a 16-2-1 heater. The defending champs looked a lot like a team primed for another go at it for the final month of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just so hurt the whole year,\u201d MacKinnon said later in camp when asked about his media day comments. \u201cEvery day it just felt like momentum was getting taken away from us and it was just frustrating. We had good players going down almost every day, including myself \u2014 I missed 11 games. Mikko (Rantanen) stayed healthy, which was awesome and the only reason we got to where we did, so it was just frustrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did what we could. We gave it our all and we still lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cale Makar missed 22 games during the regular season. Valeri Nichushkin missed nearly 30. Josh Manson missed two-thirds of the season, while Gabriel Landeskog never got healthy enough to play at all.<\/p>\n

The injury issues came to a breaking point in the postseason. Makar was still bothered by various injuries. Andrew Cogliano suffered a broken neck during the Seattle series. Nichushkin\u2019s stunning departure, which the team still refers to as personal reasons, left a team that was already thin stretched beyond its means.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you win, you know what it takes and how good you have to be,\u201d Cogliano said. \u201cI just felt like we were chasing all year. I think that\u2019s what (MacKinnon) meant. We were just chasing and chasing in terms of injuries and the lineup. It just felt like it was an uphill battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a tough year. That\u2019s probably one of the toughest years I\u2019ve ever been a part of. We had one of the best teams in the league, but the amount of stuff we had to fight through \u2026 I\u2019m not making excuses. It was just the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite all of the issues, the Avs still certainly could have won the series against the Kraken. Would they have had enough juice to win another three rounds? Probably not. And that was part of MacKinnon\u2019s point.<\/p>\n

When he said the Avalanche \u201cdidn\u2019t have it,\u201d it wasn\u2019t that some fatal flaw had been revealed. There wasn\u2019t an exposed thermal exhaust port.<\/p>\n

The entire season had been more of a grind than the one before. It wore on everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was just harder,\u201d Avs defenseman Devon Toews said. \u201cI think we felt like we had a chance to do it. Your goal is obviously to push hard and strive for it again, but unfortunately we couldn\u2019t. I think it was just more of a struggle than the year before. Things were a little more difficult, a little more adversity. Games were a bit more of a challenge. There were nights where it was harder to get to our game.<\/p>\n

\u201cTired bodies, tired legs. It\u2019s hard when you have all those injuries. You\u2019re taxing guys more than you want to earlier in the season. It just kind of all accumulates and adds up. It\u2019s probably a combination of a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

This sort of self-diagnosis, from a team that was still very successful relative to much of the NHL, is a window into the standards MacKinnon mentioned. And in some ways, the torrid finish to the regular season and the way Colorado battled despite being shorthanded against Seattle, was a reminder of the championship DNA that\u2019s still here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever was going through our heads, I think our actions spoke for themselves,\u201d Cogliano said. \u201cWe came back and won the Central (Division). I think that just proves what we have here in terms of how strong mentally we are.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our culture, what we do here, our professionalism speaks for itself, the coaching, no matter who was in the lineup \u2014 to win the Central, no one cares about that now, but it was a real feather in our cap at the time. We lost to a good team in seven (games), but a couple bounces here and there could have won the series and who knows what happens?\u201d<\/p>\n

There was one area where Seattle had an advantage: its depth, particularly at forward. The Kraken couldn\u2019t match Colorado\u2019s star power, but they won the war of attrition.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one area that was also addressed during the offseason, and a reason to believe MacKinnon and Co. when they believe another run at a championship is not just possible, but expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we can be better, but I don\u2019t think there\u2019s one area where we need to fix it,\u201d MacKinnon said. \u201cJust with the players that we brought in, all these guys are super competitive. If anything, I don\u2019t think we had enough compete throughout our lineup. Guys with a little more bite. I know that\u2019s kind of a cliche thing, but it does matter \u2014 especially in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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