Avalanche off to slower start than expected

It hasn’t been the start the Colorado Avalanche were hoping for.

The reigning Presidents’ Trophy winners are 5-4-1 through their first 10 games of the 2026-27 season, capped with two regulation losses to the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils earlier this week.

Despite early offensive outbursts from the usual suspects in Nathan MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen, Martin Necas and Cale Makar, the Avalanche’s power play is 22nd in the league at 18.8 per cent, while their team save percentage hovers in the middle at .897.

Yes it’s still early, and like most high-caliber teams that experience early struggles, the Avalanche will likely find their footing. But it’s clear that this season will be a far different experience than the one Colorado fans enjoyed in 2025-26.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss Colorado’s slow start, their back-to-back road losses and compare their early results to last season’s historic run.

Tyler Yaremchuk: The Avs’ duo of Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar have not been as traditionally dominant as they have been in years past. Yeah, their early numbers are impressive, but when they’re both on the ice at five-on-five, they’re only plus-four in terms of goals. When they aren’t on the ice at five-on-five, the team is plus-one.

I find it incredibly fascinating that, and I’ll use air quotes here, “better” with both of them off the ice than with both of them on the ice. Listen, that will change, it’s an early-season trend, but a pretty concerning trend in Colorado is that the losses are racking up way faster than they have been in the past.

The Avs’ lost their fourth regulation game of the season on Oct. 20. In 2025-26, it took them until Jan. 6 to lose their fourth regulation game. Ten games this year, 42 games last year. That shows that this start is a little concerning for Colorado.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…