NHL Network Analyst Makes Wild, Bold Prediction on Avalanche

With Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen up front and Cale Makar and Devon Toews on the blueline, the Colorado Avalanche certainly have star power.

But they're also starting this season without key support players Valeri Nichushkin, Gabriel Landeskog, and Artturi Lehkonen. Landeskog has missed the last two full seasons with a knee injury, and even if/when he does return, how effective he'll be is anybody's guess. Nichushkin is under suspension until mid-November, while Lehkonen has been ruled out due to injury until at least the end of October.

These issues have prompted a bold and wild prediction for how this season will play out in Colorado, from NHL Network analyst, and former NHLer, Mike Rupp.

Mike Rupp (@Rupper17) just said that the Avs are “one injury away from the wheels falling off.”

He wonders if they’ll even make the playoffs.@SiriusXMNHL | #GoAvsGo
— Adrian Hernandez (@AdoHernandez27) October 8, 2024

Rupp says that the Avs are “one injury away from the wheels falling off.” He even wonders if they'll make the playoffs (!). Talk about a controversial take.

Rupp is likely on an island with this kind of prediction, as many other analysts have picked the Avalance to be a Top 5 team in the NHL. The Athletic has them predicted for 104 points, and the writing team of Dom Luszczyszyn, Sean Gentille and Shayna Goldman says that "At full strength, the Avalanche are one of the league’s scariest teams," while couching that, though, with the caveat, "we’re just not exactly sure when or if that full strength will come out this season."

But even without the absent threesome, the foursome of MacKinnon, Rantanen, Makar, and Devon Toews should be able to take the Avalanche a long way, if the remaining supporting cast does its job.

Now, if that "one injury away" Rupper was referring to was to one of that Core Four, then we might have something to talk about.