Avalanche Journal: As New York Rangers crumble, an appreciation for Colorado’s core

SAN JOSE — It wasn’t a typical game day question, but Jared Bednar needed nanoseconds to offer his answer.

Does the coach of the Colorado Avalanche ever have time to sit back and appreciate the guys this organization selected near the top of the draft and what they’ve become?

“Every day,” he said.

The Avalanche boasts three of the very best players in the world — Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen — all of whom were selected in the top of an NHL draft by Colorado. Add in Gabe Landeskog, who will be an all-time franchise great and captain of a Stanley Cup champion regardless of how many more games he plays, and it gets even better.

That’s four incredible building blocks and the foundation of at least one championship roster. Hitting four tape-measure home runs at the top of the draft has allowed Colorado incredible latitude to make the other roster moves necessary to win one title and position the Avs as a contender for several more seasons.

“They’ve been such a big part of our winning culture, not just what they do on the ice but it’s their leadership and the way they handle themselves,” Bednar said. “They’re true professionals. Their will and desire to win is outstanding. My job is just to kind of keep them on track and keep them on the same page.”

A few minutes before Bedard spoke so highly of his core of superstars, he was asked about the burgeoning star the Avs were set to face that night at SAP Center. And part of the reason for the question was the biggest NHL news the day before, when the New York Rangers traded away a player who was expected to reach the same level that Colorado’s core has found.

Just as this Avalanche group was emerging as one of the NHL’s top powers, the Rangers had the potential to build something equally special. New York planned a full-scale rebuild in the post-Henrik Lundqvist era, but a pair of world-class players arrived and expedited the process at warp speed.

Artemi Panarin signed with the Rangers as a free agent on July 1, 2019. A few months before that, they traded for college hockey star Adam Fox after he made it clear he wouldn’t sign with the Calgary Flames. Fox joined the NHL club that fall.

They were the start of a great foundation. The Rangers also had a run of four consecutive drafts with a pick in the top 10. They could have built something akin to the Avalanche Plus. Think the 2022 Avs, but also with a potential Hall of Fame goalie after Igor Shesterkin developed into a Vezina Trophy winner.

What came next were lots of regular-season wins and two trips to the Eastern Conference Final. But the ultimate success has eluded them, just as it has in every season but one since World War II, and the Rangers have become an incredible disappointment this season.

They traded Jacob Trouba, their captain. The ending was messy. They traded Kaapo Kakko, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL draft. The ending was messy.

The potential empire is crumbling without the ultimate reward. There has been reporting about issues behind the scenes at several different levels of the organization.

What happened that led to this demise? A lot, apparently.

It’s hard to not draw a simple parallel. Landeskog (No. 2), MacKinnon (No. 1), Rantanen (No. 10) and Makar (No. 4) were all selected high in the draft.

The Avs have also used other top-10 picks (Matt Duchene and Bo Byram) to help build out the secondary core around those players. The only “miss” was Tyson Jost, at No. 10, and even he was flipped for a key depth player (Nico Sturm) during the 2022 championship run.

The Rangers had four prime selections in a row, including a pair of improbable draft lottery wins that yielded the No. 2 pick in 2019 and No. 1 in 2020, despite not being one of the five worst teams in either of those seasons.

A chance to build a dynastic core around Fox, Panarin and Shesterkin yielded Lias Andersson (No. 7), Vitali Kravstov (No. 10), Kaako (No. 2) and Alexis Lafreniere (No. 1).

Those first three players are gone. The returns were a second-round pick, a seventh-round pick and a non-prospect. The return for Kaako was a third-pairing defenseman and draft picks in the third and sixth rounds.

Lafreniere has developed into a really good NHL player, but he’s in year five and it would be a stretch to call him a foundational player. He’s more Artturi Lehkonen or Valeri Nichushkin than Rantanen or MacKinnon, given his draft position.

The Avalanche faced the latest No. 1 pick, Macklin Celebrini, on Thursday night against the Sharks. He has lived up to the hype and definitely looks like a franchise cornerstone at 18 years old.

San Jose is trying to build a future contender with a long contention window like Colorado’s. The Sharks have made a few other high picks that could be the complimentary stars. They should get at least one more bite at that apple in the 2025 NHL draft, before the rise really begins.

Before the game against the Sharks, Bednar stressed that his team really needed a win. MacKinnon and Makar set up Colorado’s first goal. The Big Three crafted a vintage tally for the second one.

Rantanen started with the puck on the right flank. It went around the horn — to Makar up top, to MacKinnon on the left flank and through the middle of the defense back to Rantanen for a one-timer.

The coach asked, and they delivered.

“When you need a win, those are the guys I lean on,” Bednar said. “Those are the guys I talked to this morning about what we want to see and how we want them to lead our team.”

It was another reminder of how special this core of superstars has been. It was a reminder of what the Rangers had a chance to build, but fell just short of doing. And what the Sharks hope to be someday.

Potential champions rise and fall in the NHL, and collecting premium players with high draft picks remains the best way to build a sustainable contender with a long window to claim the Stanley Cup multiple times.

Most franchises are desperate to win once. A select few have the ability to set the expectations higher.

It’s something to appreciate with the Avs, and something to remember as the club tries to find a way to keep Rantanen before free agency looms in July.

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