Dater Column: Some Very Early Avalanche Predictions for 2023-24

What kind of season will Nichushkin have? How will Drouin perform? How big a year will Byram have?

If it feels to you like this has been the longest Colorado Avalanche off-season of all time, I agree. And, there’s still a long way to go. I was doing a lot of thinking on the Avs today, though, and wanted to express some thoughts and predictions for the coming season on this, the 11th day of July in the Year of Our Lord, 2023.

Let’s get started:

• I think Valeri Nichushkin will have a very strong season. This is a guy who will really want to make amends with his teammates and his employer. After the unsavory headlines of this past spring, in the first-round series with Seattle, Nichushkin is going to want to change the narrative and quickly.

  It seems like he’s having a good off-season (I don’t follow any Avs players on social media, but have seen some of the posts from his Instagram account) and let’s not forget the NHL said, essentially, there is no further investigation into the incident from the playoffs. The Avs have a lot of money invested in this guy (seven more years on his deal) and you know he’s going to want to have a real comeback story. If he’s healthy, I see a big season.