Last season brought several career years for the Colorado Avalanche .
Nathan MacKinnon scored a personal-best 53 goals to win the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy. Martin Necas reached 100 points. Parker Kelly scored 21 goals. Scott Wedgewood won more than 30 games. Sam Malinski also broke through with a 40-point campaign.
Those individual performances helped power Colorado to 55 wins and the Presidents' Trophy.
Repeating that kind of team success won't be easy. Winning the Presidents' Trophy is difficult enough, and it's even rarer for a team to do it in consecutive seasons.
But individual career highs? Those feel much more common.
Here are the five Avalanche players I think are most likely to set new personal bests in 2026-27.
Let's start with the big one.
Makar finished with 79 points last season, but he had a career-high 92 in 2024-25. I think he'll top that number this season.
At 27 years old (28 in October), he's firmly in his prime. He's entering the final year of his contract, although an extension is expected before the season begins, so this isn't about playing for a payday.
Instead, I think it's about returning to another level.
His production dipped slightly last season, particularly on the power play, and that could be all the motivation he needs. I expect Makar to remind everyone why he's widely regarded as the NHL's best defenseman and put himself squarely back in the Norris Trophy conversation.
Offense from the blue line has been a staple of the Avalanche for nearly a decade.
Led by Makar and Devon Toews , Colorado consistently ranks among the league leaders in defensive scoring. Jared Bednar's system plays a role, but so does the organization's ability to identify puck-moving defensemen.
That's why I think Malinski is poised to top the 40 points he recorded last season.
He finally established himself as the top-four defenseman the Avalanche envisioned as he continued to develop over the prior two seasons. His ice time steadily increased throughout the year, and he settled into a second-pairing role alongside Brett Kulak .
With Colorado's defensive pairs already well established, Malinski should benefit from the stability. Playing next to a reliable stay-at-home partner like Kulak gives him the freedom to activate offensively.
I don't expect a massive jump, but another modest increase in production feels realistic. Especially if he gets PP time on the second unit.
The Avalanche leaned on Wedgewood more than expected last season.
An injury before training camp put Mackenzie Blackwood behind schedule, and even after he returned, he never fully regained the starter's role. Wedgewood carried the heavier workload and remained Colorado's No. 1 goalie through much of the postseason.
I don't expect that to happen again.
Blackwood won 28 games in 2024-25 between Colorado and the San Jose Sharks . If he stays healthy and enters camp on time, that shouldn't remain his career high for long.
Every year, it seems like Lehkonen is on pace to score 30 goals.
And every year, something gets in the way.
Whether it's injuries or a brief late-season scoring slump, he's repeatedly come up just short. His best opportunity came in 2024-25, when Gabe Landeskog missed the season and Mikko Rantanen was traded. Lehkonen responded with 27 goals in just 69 games.
Had he stayed healthy, he probably gets there.
This feels like the season he finally does. Even if he, like Makar, ends up signing an extension before the season begins.
One of the biggest changes to Colorado's roster is on the fourth line.
Jack Drury and Joel Kiviranta are gone, leaving Logan O'Connor and Parker Kelly as the only returning regulars from that group.
The Avalanche acquired Fedor Svechkov in the Drury trade with the hope that he'll become their long-term fourth-line center. Signed for $1.25 million over each of the next two seasons, he'll likely get the first opportunity to claim the job and produce a career-high in points in the process.
I also expect Zachary L'Heureux to play a significant role and post a career high in points, but he wasn't a full-time NHL player last season. Svechkov was.
He played 70 games in 2025-26 after appearing in 52 the year before, finishing with 17 points in each season.
If he earns Bednar's trust defensively and spends most of the year between Kelly and O'Connor, surpassing that total shouldn't be difficult.
The opportunity is there. Now it's up to him to seize it.
The post Five Avalanche Players Who Could Set Career Highs in 2026-27 appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now .
