# 2017–18 Colorado Avalanche season

The 2017–18 Colorado Avalanche season was the 23rd operational season and 22nd playing season since the franchise relocated from Quebec prior to the start of the 1995–96 NHL season. As well as the franchise's 39th season in the National Hockey League and 46th season overall. After finishing the previous season in last place with just 48 points (21 points behind the next worst team), the Avalanche clinched the playoffs for the first time since the 2013–14 season.

## Standings

Central Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | p – Nashville Predators | 82 | 53 | 18 | 11 | 47 | 267 | 211 | +56 | 117 |
| 2 | x – Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 52 | 20 | 10 | 48 | 277 | 218 | +59 | 114 |
| 3 | x – Minnesota Wild | 82 | 45 | 26 | 11 | 42 | 253 | 232 | +21 | 101 |
| 4 | x – Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 43 | 30 | 9 | 41 | 257 | 237 | +20 | 95 |
| 5 | St. Louis Blues | 82 | 44 | 32 | 6 | 41 | 226 | 222 | +4 | 94 |
| 6 | Dallas Stars | 82 | 42 | 32 | 8 | 38 | 235 | 225 | +10 | 92 |
| 7 | Chicago Blackhawks | 82 | 33 | 39 | 10 | 32 | 229 | 256 | −27 | 76 |
Western Conference Wild Card :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | PA | x – Los Angeles Kings | 82 | 45 | 29 | 8 | 43 | 239 | 203 | +36 | 98 |
| 2 | CE | x – Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 43 | 30 | 9 | 41 | 257 | 237 | +20 | 95 |
| 3 | CE | St. Louis Blues | 82 | 44 | 32 | 6 | 41 | 226 | 222 | +4 | 94 |
| 4 | CE | Dallas Stars | 82 | 42 | 32 | 8 | 38 | 235 | 225 | +10 | 92 |
| 5 | PA | Calgary Flames | 82 | 37 | 35 | 10 | 35 | 218 | 248 | −30 | 84 |
| 6 | PA | Edmonton Oilers | 82 | 36 | 40 | 6 | 31 | 234 | 263 | −29 | 78 |
| 7 | CE | Chicago Blackhawks | 82 | 33 | 39 | 10 | 32 | 229 | 256 | −27 | 76 |
| 8 | PA | Vancouver Canucks | 82 | 31 | 40 | 11 | 31 | 218 | 264 | −46 | 73 |
| 9 | PA | Arizona Coyotes | 82 | 29 | 41 | 12 | 27 | 208 | 256 | −48 | 70 |

## Schedule and results
### Preseason

The preseason schedule was released on June 13, 2017.

### Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on June 22, 2017.
2017–18 game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

### Playoffs

2018 Stanley Cup playoffs :
Legend:
  Win
  Loss :

## Player statistics

Final Stats

### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 74 | 39 | 58 | 97 | +11 | 55 |
| Mikko Rantanen | 81 | 29 | 55 | 84 | 0 | 34 |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 78 | 25 | 37 | 62 | +16 | 37 |
| Tyson Barrie | 68 | 14 | 43 | 57 | −15 | 22 |
| Alexander Kerfoot | 79 | 19 | 24 | 43 | −7 | 28 |
| Carl Soderberg | 77 | 16 | 21 | 37 | 0 | 26 |
| Blake Comeau | 79 | 13 | 21 | 34 | +5 | 50 |
| Matt Nieto | 74 | 15 | 11 | 26 | +6 | 14 |
| Erik Johnson | 62 | 9 | 16 | 25 | +3 | 58 |
| J. T. Compher | 69 | 13 | 10 | 23 | −29 | 20 |
| Tyson Jost | 65 | 12 | 10 | 22 | −10 | 26 |
| Sven Andrighetto | 50 | 8 | 14 | 22 | −15 | 10 |
| Nikita Zadorov | 77 | 7 | 13 | 20 | +4 | 103 |
| Samuel Girard$^†$ | 68 | 3 | 17 | 20 | −8 | 6 |
| Colin Wilson | 56 | 6 | 12 | 18 | −5 | 6 |
| Nail Yakupov | 58 | 9 | 7 | 16 | +2 | 26 |
| Patrik Nemeth | 68 | 3 | 12 | 15 | +27 | 41 |
| Mark Barberio | 46 | 3 | 10 | 13 | +6 | 31 |
| Gabriel Bourque | 58 | 5 | 6 | 11 | −6 | 12 |
| Matt Duchene$^‡$ | 14 | 4 | 6 | 10 | +1 | 4 |
| David Warsofsky | 16 | 0 | 5 | 5 | +4 | 0 |
| Anton Lindholm | 48 | 0 | 4 | 4 | +4 | 14 |
| Rocco Grimaldi | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Andrei Mironov | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +2 | 12 |
| A. J. Greer | 16 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +2 | 22 |
| Duncan Siemens | 16 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −5 | 23 |
| Dominic Toninato | 37 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| Chris Bigras$^‡$ | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 2 |
| Mark Alt$^†$ | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Vladislav Kamenev | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 6 |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | −2 | 4 |
| Tyson Barrie | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | −3 | 2 |
| Mikko Rantanen | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | −1 | 0 |
| Nikita Zadorov | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +1 | 32 |
| Matt Nieto | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −1 | 2 |
| J. T. Compher | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −2 | 2 |
| Blake Comeau | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −3 | 2 |
| Gabriel Bourque | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 0 |
| Alexander Kerfoot | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −1 | 2 |
| Carl Soderberg | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −3 | 2 |
| Sven Andrighetto | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 6 |
| Colin Wilson | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 0 |
| Mark Barberio | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 6 |
| Patrik Nemeth | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 4 |
| Tyson Jost | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 0 |
| Duncan Siemens | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 0 |
| David Warsofsky | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 |
| Samuel Girard | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Andrew Hammond | 2 | 1 | 58:47 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2.04 | 33 | .939 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Semyon Varlamov | 51 | 47 | 2860:40 | 24 | 16 | 6 | 128 | 2.68 | 1595 | .920 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jonathan Bernier | 37 | 34 | 2000:58 | 19 | 13 | 3 | 95 | 2.85 | 1092 | .913 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Andrew Hammond | 3 | 2 | 137:29 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2.98 | 90 | .933 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jonathan Bernier | 4 | 4 | 217:04 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 3.51 | 120 | .883 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Avalanche. Stats reflect time with the Avalanche only. $^‡$Traded mid-season Bold/italics denotes franchise record

### Suspensions/fines

| Player | Explanation | Length | Salary | Date issued |
| Gabriel Landeskog | Cross–check against Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk during NHL Game No. 356 in Colorado on Saturday, November 25, 2017 at 15:18 of the first period. | 4 games | $119,815.68 | November 27, 2017 |
| Erik Johnson | Boarding against Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov during NHL Game No. 505 in Colorado on Saturday, December 16, 2017 at 16:57 of the second period. | 2 games | $64,516.12 | December 17, 2017 |

## Transactions

The Avalanche have been involved in the following transactions during the 2017–18 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01) | To Nashville Predators4th-round pick in 2019 | To Colorado AvalancheColin Wilson |
| November 5, 2017 (2017-11-05) | To Ottawa SenatorsMatt Duchene | To Colorado AvalancheKyle Turris Shane Bowers Andrew Hammond conditional 1st-round pick in 2018 or 2019 3rd-round pick in 2019 |
| November 5, 2017 (2017-11-05) | To Nashville PredatorsKyle Turris | To Colorado AvalancheSamuel Girard Vladislav Kamenev 2nd-round pick in 2018 |
| February 26, 2018 (2018-02-26) | To New York RangersChris Bigras | To Colorado AvalancheRyan Graves |

### Player signings

| Date | Player | Contract terms (in U.S. dollars) |
| June 28, 2017 (2017-06-28) | Sven Andrighetto | 2-year, $2.8 million |
| July 1, 2017 (2017-07-01) | Joe Cannata | 1-year, $650,000 |
| July 18, 2017 (2017-07-18) | Gabriel Bourque | 1-year, $750,000 |
| July 18, 2017 (2017-07-18) | Felix Girard | 1-year, $650,000 |
| July 18, 2017 (2017-07-18) | Duncan Siemens | 1-year, $750,000 |
| July 25, 2017 (2017-07-25) | Matt Nieto | 1-year, $1 million |
| July 26, 2017 (2017-07-26) | Rocco Grimaldi | 1-year, $650,000 |
| September 15, 2017 (2017-09-15) | Nikita Zadorov | 2-year, $4.3 million |
| March 2, 2018 (2018-03-02) | Conor Timmins | 3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| March 29, 2018 (2018-03-29) | Josh Anderson | 3-year, $2.45 million entry-level contract |
| March 29, 2018 (2018-03-29) | Travis Barron | 3-year, $2.225 entry-level contract |
| May 8, 2018 (2018-05-08) | Igor Shvyrev | 3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| May 10, 2018 (2018-05-10) | Mark Alt | 2-year, $1.45 million contract extension |
| May 15, 2018 (2018-05-15) | Mark Barberio | 2-year, $2.9 million contract extension |
| May 25, 2018 (2018-05-25) | Gabriel Bourque | 1-year, $950,000 contract extension |

## Draft picks

Below are the Colorado Avalanche's selections at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 23 and 24, 2017 at the United Center in Chicago.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 4 | Cale Makar | D | Canada | Brooks Bandits (AJHL) |
| 2 | 32 | Conor Timmins | D | Canada | Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL) |
| 4 | 94 | Nick Henry | RW | Canada | Regina Pats (WHL) |
| 4 | 114$^1$ | Petr Kvaca | G | Czech Republic | HC České Budějovice (Czech 1.liga) |
| 5 | 125 | Igor Shvyrev | C | Russia | Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk (MHL) |
| 6 | 156 | Denis Smirnov | LW | Russia | Pennsylvania State University (B1G) |
| 7 | 187 | Nicky Leivermann | D | United States | Eden Prairie High (USHS) |

### Draft notes

* The New York Rangers' fourth-round pick went to the Colorado Avalanche as the result of a trade on June 25, 2016 that sent Nick Holden to New York in exchange for this pick.