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The 2025-26 Avalanche are officially the best regular-season team in franchise history.
After defeating the Seattle Kraken 2-0 on Thursday, the Avs moved to 121 points, surpassing the 119 points the 2021-22 team posted. The 2000-01 Avalanche, like 2022, won the Stanley Cup and had the third-best regular season in franchise history.
Both the 2001 and 2022 Avs are the best regular-season teams to go on to win the Stanley Cup since 1990. Could this year pass both? We’ll figure that out over the next two months.
Colorado ends the season 55-16-11.
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10 Takeaways
1. The Avs officially locked up the William M. Jennings Trophy, shared between netminders Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood. The Jennings is awarded to the goaltenders of the team who allow the fewest number of goals during the regular season. Since both goalies played more than 25 games, they’ll both get their names on the award.
This is just the second time the Avalanche finished with the lowest goals against. The only other time was in 2002, when Patrick Roy took home the award.
Colorado gave up 196 goals in 82 games. No other team gave up fewer than 222 goals.
2. The Avalanche also became the first team since the 2010-11 Vancouver Canucks to both lead the league in goals and surrender the fewest goals in the same season.
3. Mackenzie Blackwood ends the year 23-10-2 wth a .904 save percentage and three shutouts. Scott Wedgewood, who started 43 of 82 games, was 31-6-6. Wedgewood led the league both in save percentage (.921) and goals-against average (2.02).
4. This was his fourth shutout of the season, which is tied for third in the league with six other guys. Only Joel Hofer (six) and Ilya Sorokin (seven) had more. You have to imagine this is only going to help Wedgewood’s case for a Vezina Trophy vote — even if it’s not first.
5. Nathan MacKinnon officially gets the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. His 53 goals led the NHL, and he became the first Avalanche player to win the award since Milan Hejduk led the 2002-03 season with 50 goals.
6. Four Avalanche skaters appeared in all 82 games. Brent Burns, Sam Malinski, Jack Drury, and Parker Kelly. Brett Kulak, who started the season with the Edmonton Oilers before a brief stop in Pittsburgh, dressed in 83 regular-season games.
7. Speaking of Kelly, his goal in the season finale means he finished the year with 21 goals. Amazingly, that’s tied for fourth on the team behind MacKinnon, Martin Necas (38), and Brock Nelson (33). Artturi Lehkonen also had 21 goals.
8. Nichushkin had two assists in the finale, which puts him at 34 in 73 games. That’s a career high in assists.
9. The Avs honored Nelson before the game for his 1,000th game, which he played during the road trip. Those are always fun because they include a video that goes way back to their first games, the draft, etc. My favorite part is watching the other guys on the bench watch the Jumbotron video intently.
10. When I walked into the arena before the game, Zach Parise was down there getting his guest pass for the game. I’m pretty sure that’s related to Nelson’s celebration. Parse and Nelson are good friends and played together with the New York Islanders. In fact, when Nelson was getting traded to the Avs, Devon Toews and Parise were the two guys who talked up the team, city, and staff, and convinced him to re-sign last summer.
The post 10 Takeaways: Avalanche Break Franchise Record In Regular Season Finale appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.
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