Rounding out regular season grades by taking a look at the remaining forwards!
To finish up the Colorado Avalanche regular-season grades, we have the rest of the forwards to take a look at! That being said, let’s jump straight into it and round out this series of grades and be sure to check out part one if you missed it!
Nathan MacKinnon (GP: 79, G: 32, A: 84)
Giving Nathan MacKinnon’s season anything less than an A+ grade feels criminal. It was another 100+ point season for MacKinnon, in which he had 30+ goals and 80+ assists, and I don’t know what else you want from him in terms of production. There’s a reason he’s widely considered one of the best players in the entire NHL, and this season again demonstrated why. He did hit a milestone this past season as well, when he officially hit 1000 career points.
Martin Necas (GP: 30, G: 11, A: 17)
Given the fact that Necas was traded to Colorado in the middle of the regular season, he was plenty productive for the Avs in the limited time he had on the team, putting up 28 points in 30 games, which is perfectly respectable. He managed to fit in on this team incredibly well once he got traded, and hopefully, the chemistry that he found this past season is something that he’ll be able to carry over into next season. Given the fact that Necas was given a limited amount of time with the team and still managed to have a decent amount of production for this team, I’d give his season an A.
Brock Nelson (GP: 19, G: 6, A: 7)
I think it’s safe to say that Brock Nelson’s time with the Avs this past season was maybe a bit underwhelming. Looking at the numbers, his production was fine; 13 points in 19 games is a respectable amount of production, especially given the fact that he only got 19 regular-season games with this team, but I think a lot of people would’ve liked to see some more goal-scoring from him. Now that Nelson’s been signed to a three-year extension, he’ll have plenty of time to try and get those goal-scoring numbers up and to gel with the team more. For this past season, though, I felt like his performance was a B.
Valeri Nichushkin (GP: 43, G: 21, A: 13)
Despite his significant missed time this year, Nichushkin continues to show valuable he can be to this lineup when he’s healthy. Similarly to Artturi Lehkonen, you know night in and night out what he’s going to bring to your lineup, and that’s a very hard-nosed style of hockey, as he’s very strong on the forecheck and backcheck, while also contributing offensively. This past season, given how much time he missed, I felt like his season was a B+.
Logan O’Connor (GP: 80, G: 10, A: 11)
Logan O’Connor has been known as one of the hardest-working players on this team for a long time, and there’s good reason for that. He works hard on every single shift, and works hard for every goal or point he gets, which is exactly what he did one again this past season. While he might not put up offensive numbers that jump off the page at you, his work ethic and play style are what make him stand out, which was the case this past season. He had an A-worthy season in my opinion.
Jimmy Vesey (GP: 10, G: 1, A: 1)
I don’t think there’s a lot to say about Jimmy Vesey’s season, as he did not get a lot of playing time with the Avs this past season. He was okay when he did play, but he certainly did not jump off the page whatsoever. For that, I’d give his season with Colorado a C; it was just fine, but not much beyond that.
Miles Wood (GP: 37, G: 4, A: 4)
Miles Wood is someone that I think a lot of folks wanted more out of during the regular season, which is perfectly reasonable to want. While he did miss some significant time with injury this past season, there’s no denying that you want more than four goals from him from an offensive production standpoint. I want to give his regular season a C-, as it was probably one of the more disappointing ones for people this past season.