Dater: Avs Are A Wagon Again, So It's Cup Or Bust

Lineup is deep

I love the Avalanche’s trade deadline moves for the short-term. Long-term? Probably not as much. But, yeah, I really like this Avs lineup now, following Chris MacFarland’s busy last 48 hours.

A top line of Lehkonen-MacKinnon-Necas, with a second line of Nichushkin-Nelson-Drouin, and a third of O’Connor-Coyle-Colton? Yeah, that works. And, a fourth line now of Kiviranta-Drury-Vesey/Wood works for me too.

It’s Cup or Bust for these Avs. This lineup almost certainly won’t stay the same come Game 1 of next season. Keeping Brock Nelson - who probably will command something like $7 million on his next deal - will be tough. Re-signing Drouin will be tough. Keeping defenseman Ryan Lindgren will be tough.