Hockey Mountain High Podcast

The offseason season review/preview series continues with Brock Nelson, after being acquired at the trade deadline and extended for three years this offseason. After several seasons of woes second line center, can Nelson finally be the soluition the Avs have needed? Which version of Nelson can the Avalanche expect to get? Send questions to the mailbag here: https://forms.gle/7ytuJfsiTr1x3VDt6 Keep...

The offseason season review/preview series continues with Martin Necas, after being acquired in the Mikko Rantanen trade and going into a contract year without an extension. Can Necas take another step in his first full season as an Av, and how confident should the Avalanche be in his skills to invest in him long term? What would a hypothetical Necas contract extension look like? Send questions to...

The offseason season review/preview series continues with the best defenseman in the world Cale Makar after winning his second Norris Trophy. Is a 100 point season and a third Norris trophy in the cards for Makar this season? Where does Makar already rank among the best Avs players of all time? Send questions to the mailbag here: https://forms.gle/7ytuJfsiTr1x3VDt6 Keep up with everything on the s...

The offseason season review/preview series begins with Nathan MacKinnon after another dominant season. Is the best still to come from him this season? What more can he do to secure his legacy as he enters his 30s? Can he surpass Joe Sakic as the best player in Avalanche history eventually? Send questions to the mailbag here: https://forms.gle/7ytuJfsiTr1x3VDt6 Keep up with everything on the site a...

The Avalanche finally pick up some scoring depth for the bottom six by signing three time 20 goal scorer Victor Olofsson to a one year contract, and now the bottom six really looks like it's beginning to round into shape with training camp less than a month away. Where will Olofsson fit into the lineup, and can the Avalanche cultivate his best qualities to get the quality scoring depth they've lac...

We've reached the end of Season 5 of the show, the end of what's been a long and tumultuous season. To wrap up, we asked all of you one question now that we're months into the offseason. Do you believe that the Avalanche are currently heading in the right direction heading into 30th anniversary season? Is this team capable of still winning a Stanley Cup? Is this current management capable of getti...

Joel Kiviranta is coming back to the Avalanche on a one year contract, helping the Avs bottom six finally begins to take shape. The fit for Kiviranta made too much sense after he went unsigned in the opening of free agency, but did the Avalanche sign him for too much at north of a million per year? How will he slot back into the bottom six, and where else can the Avalanche look to improve? Send qu...

It's two months away from the season, but the Avalanche still have some moves to make to finish building the roster. After months of speculation, it's time to build one last trade board. Who could the Avalanche acquire, unrealistic or otherwise? What positional needs do they need to target the most? Send questions to the mailbag here: https://forms.gle/7ytuJfsiTr1x3VDt6 Keep up with everything on...

It's officially August, and the slowest time of the hockey year is here as next season is now just two months away. So of course, it's time for standings predictions for next season. What are some of the biggest changes potentially coming this season across the league? What changes to the playoff field could we see? Also, are the Avalanche bringing back the Nordiques jerseys? Finally, mailbag ques...

The Avalanche made a trade, but maybe not the roster move we were hoping for, trading former first round pick Oscar Olausson to San Jose for Danil Gushchin. While the trade itself is fine business, it does bring up a conversation around the Avs draft history over the last five years. Is it a problem that they haven't been able to draft and develop a talent in recent years? Also, updating our most...

The Central division as a whole hasn't done a lot to get better so far this offseason, just like the Avalanche with only a handful of moves. So how do the Avalanche currently stack up against the rest of the Central, especially the teams like Dallas at the top? Is there any surprises that can push for a playoff spot, or will it remain only competition between the Stars and Jets for the top three s...

It's been three seasons since the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022, with only one playoff series win in that time frame. How much pressure is on the Avs this season to win another Stanley Cup this season, or at very least make a a deep playoff run? And if they can't, what changes could be coming as a result? Also, answering your mailbag questions! Send questions to the mailbag here: https://f...

Once again, the Avalanche have to figure what to do with giving a top of the lineup winger a contract extension this offseason. Last year it was Mikko Rantanen, now it's Martin Necas. How much should Necas be worth on his next contract, and what are the Avalanche going to do if these contract talks once again go sideways? What are the odds that Necas stays versus the odds of him being traded? Send...

The Avalanche 2025-26 schedule has been released, and they will officially be back in action on October 7th against the Los Angeles Kings. What are the most interesting parts of this coming seasons schedule, and what will the toughest stretches end up being? The offseason continues to slog on without much news, especially for the Avalanche, but Bo Byram's new deal in Buffalo is just more of the sa...

The Avalanche have given Josh Manson a two year contract extension, signing him at just under $4m until 2028. How important is it to keep Manson around, and does this deal make sense for the future of the Avalanche's defense? How much risk are they taking considering Manson's injury history, and does his upside when healthy make it worth the risk? Also, Dave Hakstol is the new Assistant Coach in C...

One week into free agency, Brent Burns is so far the lone signing the Avalanche have made this offseason, and still have plenty of cap space to spend. How will Brent Burns fit with the Avalanche as he enters his 22nd season, as the oldest contracted player in the NHL? But surely this isn't the only move the Avalanche make, what else in the docket? And why is this offseason so slow across the leagu...

The Avalanche stayed quiet during what was a pretty boring first day of free agency, but there are rumors surrounding them being on the top free agency remaining, Nikolaj Ehlers. How could they make Ehlers work in Colorado, and would that have to mean the end of Martin Necas in Colorado? Is that the right move to make? The Avs also extended Parker Kelly for four years, keeping him as the anchor on...

The Avalanche have the room for the first time in a while to be players in free agency this year, who could they be looking to sign when free agency opens? Who could the best fits be, and who could provide the best value? Are there any more trades on the horizon? Sam Malinski also signs a one year contract, how will his game grow next season? Send questions to the mailbag here: https://forms.gle/7...

The Avalanche have made their move to open up cap space, sending Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for the 77th overall pick, a 2027 2nd round pick, and prospect Gavin Brindley. With just shy of $9M in cap space heading into free agency, a lot of interesting scenarios have suddenly opened up for the Avalanche as they look to finish builiding their roster. What m...

The Avalanche still have work to do this offseason to fill out the rest of their roster, and heading into the NHL Draft on Friday, trades might be just around the corner. How can the Avalanche still make the necessary moves to build a team that can win the Stanley Cup next season? What players are going to have to get traded to make the space necessary to make upgrades to defense and bottom six? W...

The Florida Panthers are back to back Stanley Cup Champions, after one the more dominant title runs we've seen post lockout. What lessons can the Avalanche learn from them going forward. Perhaps a more interesting question, who was better, the 2022 Avalanche or the 2025 Panthers? Who are the greatest Stanley Cup Champions from the last decade? Also, the offseason is already well underway around th...

The Florida Panthers are on the verge of back to back Stanley Cups after dominating the Oilers in Game 5, showing once again that are borderline unstoppable when they play their game. If they finish the job, where will they rank among best teams of all time in the salary cap era. But while we're stuck in this waiting period for the offseason to begin, we're surrounded by rumors about what the Aval...

Cale Makar won the second Norris Trophy of his career, beating out Zach Werenski and Quinn Hughes without much doubt by getting 176 of a possible 191 first place votes. How many more Norris's can he win over the next several years? Nathan MacKinnon also missed out on being a finalist by a single point, will he come back with a vengeance next season. The Panthers and Oilers continue to trade haymak...

The Stanley Cup Final has been some of the best hockey ever played through the first two games as the Panthers and Oilers go back and forth for a 1-1 tie. Can Florida and Edmonton keep it up as the series shifts to Florida? Logan O'Connor had a second surgery on his hip in just over a year, knocking him out of the lineup for 5-6 months. What can be expected out of him when he returns, and how impo...

The Avalanche have re-signed Brock Nelson to a three year contract extension worth $7.5m a year, finally bringing in a solution at second line center that they desperately needed. With MacKinnon, Nelson, Coyle, and Drury down the middle, do they finally have the center depth necessary to win again? Can Nelson provide the production that's needed to make the Avs second line dangerous? With their de...