Five final thoughts on the Avalanche after the franchise broke its 21-year Stanley Cup drought:
1. How lucky are Denver sports fans? This city/area/region has the two-time NBA MVP in the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic and a potentially generational player in Makar, who won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman. Both players are in their primes.
2. Among all of the Avalanche’s unrestricted free agents, I would prioritize defenseman Josh Manson. The Avs traded prospect defensemen Drew Helleson (in the Manson deal) and Justin Barron (in the Artturi Lehkonen deal) so their depth chart is thin after, in my order, Makar, Devon Toews, Byram and Girard.