With notable players missing, Ross Colton has picked up the slack for the Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche have had far from an ideal start to the season. After dropping their first four games of the season, they’ve managed to bounce back with wins over the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks, but they still aren’t sitting in a great position, especially with their goaltending.

But one bright spot so far has been the play of Ross Colton, especially with their need for depth scoring. After back-to-back two-goal performances in those wins, he’s now up to six goals this season in six games, and it was a big reason why they won those two games to save their season from early struggles.

Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen talked on Daily Faceoff Live about Ross Colton and his impact on the Avs early in the year.

Tyler Yaremchuk: We talked a lot about how it was only the big guns producing for the Avalanche. Well, Ross Colton, yes, he got elevated to that top line but still, the Avalanche or are looking for anything. They can’t be picky right now. He’s up to six goals in six games on the year after popping four over the weekend.

But there is still the conversation now of Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen and Nathan McKinnon have combined for eight goals. Ross Colton now has six. Outside of those four, the rest of the roster only has seven. When you look at their line chart on Daily Faceoff, it’s a whole bunch of guys that even I sit there and go “Who? Wait, who? And who’s that?”

The Avalanche have some legitimate depth concerns. Shout out to Ross Colton for an unbelievable weekend as I name him my Weekend Warrior then slag on the rest of his teammates, but for the Avalanche it could get late early for them. I know they’re holding their breath because Artturi Lehkonen could come back and Valeri Nichushkin is eventually back and maybe one day even Gabriel Landeskog returns to the lineup, but if you sit there hoping and wishing and waiting, it could be American Thanksgiving and you’re behind the eight ball pretty significantly.

Colby Cohen: And I think Nichushkin has entered step three of his recovery, he’s back on the ice in Colorado. So that’s a positive step, something that you love to see because he instantly changes that line up when he gets back. He seems like a guy who stirs it up for that group. He brings you big support. He can play down the middle. He’s one of those do-it-all types of players. Almost like Nazem Kadri was when he was in Colorado a couple of years ago.

So Ross Colton, local product, grew up not that far from me. So I got to give him some love being an Atlantic District kid. And he’s just made a living on the power play. You play with those types of players, you better make it count because he’s a guy who played with some stars in Tampa Bay, he comes over to Colorado, and now he plays with a different group of stars and he’s making the most of his opportunity.

You can watch the full episode here…