ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION

It’s not often a team improves by offloading a star. But the Avs did that and flourished

FOR ALL THE LOVE that Vegas has received as a remarkable underdog story, the Avalanche were almost as impressive, emerging as a playoff team one season after posting the lowest point total in the salary cap era. Finally trading Matt Duchene was a rallying point, with GM Joe Sakic revitalizing the team’s prospect pool in one mammoth move. The Avalanche’s arrow points north now, especially with Nathan MacKinnon emerging as an MVP-caliber superstar. IMMEDIATE NEEDS: The top-heavy Avs rely on the powerhouse line of Gabriel Landeskog, MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen for a disproportionate amount of their goals. They need secondary scoring badly. Colorado has defense prospects on the way, but it has one of the league’s weaker bluelines and could use a solution until Cale Makar and Conor Timmins are ready. LONG-TERM NEEDS: Most of the Avs’ young forwards beyond the top line, from Tyson Jost to J.T. Compher to prospects Vladislav Kamenev and Shane Bowers, are twoway types, so Colorado could use another dangerous scorer. Goalie Jonathan Bernier is a UFA this summer and Semyon Varlamov is the year after. Spencer Martin and Adam Werner aren’t elite netminding prospects, so Sakic would be wise to fortify the position. CAP SITUATION: The Avs are swimming in cap space, $25 million at minimum. The question is whether this team is ready to spend aggressively and behave like a contender. Sakic is more likely to play it safe while his prospects bake. Rantanen, fresh off a monster sophomore year, is an RFA in 2019 and will be eligible to sign a big extension this July. IN THE SYSTEM 2018-19: Kamenev, a promising 200foot center, was NHL-ready before breaking his arm in his first game after arriving in the Duchene deal. Kamenev returned late in the year. DID YOU KNOW: Among forwards drafted first overall, Nail Yakupov has the lowest points per game of all-time aside from Year 1 selection Garry Monahan in 1963. Monahan’s career mark is 0.38. Yakupov’s is 0.39.