The Avalanche already have plenty of reasons to believe they can contend for the Stanley Cup this season.
Now they have another one.
NHL Network unveiled its final top-20 players ahead of the start of the 2026-27 season. And big surprise: The Avalanche landed two of the top four players in the NHL.
Nathan MacKinnon was once again second, while Cale Makar clocked in fourth.
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Only Connor McDavid ranked ahead of MacKinnon, and Nikita Kucherov slotted in between MacKinnon and Makar.
That is quite a statement about the Avalanche.
Colorado isn’t simply entering another season with a couple of good players at the top of its lineup. It has two legitimate superstars who NHL Network believes belong among the very best players in the sport.
And that puts a pretty high ceiling on what this team can accomplish.
Nathan MacKinnon Continues to Look Like One of the NHL’s Best
There isn’t much left for MacKinnon to prove.
The Avalanche superstar is coming off a fabulous season in which he won his first Rocket Richard Trophy, netting 53 goals. He also ended the season with 127 points, good enough for third in the league, as crazy as that may seem.
The Avalanche center is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, finishing with 127 points in 80 games. That included 53 goals, which led the NHL and earned him the Rocket Richard Trophy.
More importantly, MacKinnon’s production hasn’t been a one-year fluke.
He has recorded at least 111 points in each of the past four seasons, while reaching the 30-goal mark in eight of the past nine campaigns.
That consistency is a major reason why NHL Network placed him second. That consistency doesn’t just extend to the regular season, it also applies to the playoffs. MacKinnon also continues to be one of the league’s most dangerous playoff performers. His career playoff scoring rate is 1.30 points per game, which ranks fifth in NHL history among players with at least 100 postseason games.
The only player ahead of him in this year’s ranking is McDavid.
That feels appropriate considering the level MacKinnon has reached.
And if the Avalanche are going to make another serious run at the Stanley Cup, they will need their franchise center to remain at that level.
Cale Makar Gives the Avalanche Another Superstar
Having one player ranked inside the top five is impressive.
Having two is something else entirely.
Makar finished fourth despite playing a position where offensive production is generally much harder to accumulate. He recorded 79 points in 75 games last season, including 20 goals and 59 assists, while finishing second in Norris Trophy voting.
That Norris finish also extended an extraordinary run of consistency.
Makar has now been a finalist for the award in six consecutive seasons, winning it in 2022 and 2025. He also became just the 12th active defenseman to reach 500 career points, accomplishing the feat in his 467th game.
And that is what makes Colorado so dangerous.
Opposing teams can’t simply build their game plan around stopping MacKinnon.
They have to account for Makar, too.
The Avalanche can put arguably one of the best forwards in hockey over the boards and then send one of the most dynamic defensemen the sport has ever seen onto the ice.
That’s a luxury very few teams possess.
The ranking doesn’t guarantee anything for Colorado this season.
But it does underline something important.
The Avalanche have two players who are already operating at an elite level, and both are entering another season with legitimate reason to believe they can be even better.
For a team with Stanley Cup aspirations, that’s a pretty good place to start.
Avalanche Star Power on Full Display in NHL Network Rankings