# 2020–21 Colorado Avalanche season

The 2020–21 Colorado Avalanche season was the 26th operational season and 25th playing season since the franchise relocated from Quebec prior to the start of the 1995–96 NHL season. As well as the franchise's 42nd season in the National Hockey League and 49th season overall. The Avalanche commemorated their 25th anniversary this season.
On December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada–United States border. As a result of this realignment, the Avalanche played this season in the West Division and only played against the other teams in their new division during the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs.
On April 22, the Avalanche clinched a playoff berth following a 4–2 win over the St. Louis Blues. They clinched their third Presidents' Trophy, as well as their tenth division championship, with a 5–1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in their last game of the season on May 13. The Avalanche swept the St. Louis Blues in the First Round, with a 5–2 win in game four. In their Second Round series against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Avalanche initially led the series 2–0, but were later eliminated from the playoffs after they lost the next four games.

## Standings
### Divisional standings

West Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | p – Colorado Avalanche | 56 | 39 | 13 | 4 | 35 | 197 | 133 | +64 | 82 |
| 2 | x – Vegas Golden Knights | 56 | 40 | 14 | 2 | 30 | 191 | 124 | +67 | 82 |
| 3 | x – Minnesota Wild | 56 | 35 | 16 | 5 | 27 | 181 | 160 | +21 | 75 |
| 4 | x – St. Louis Blues | 56 | 27 | 20 | 9 | 19 | 169 | 170 | −1 | 63 |
| 5 | e – Arizona Coyotes | 56 | 24 | 26 | 6 | 19 | 153 | 176 | −23 | 54 |
| 6 | e – Los Angeles Kings | 56 | 21 | 28 | 7 | 19 | 143 | 170 | −27 | 49 |
| 7 | e – San Jose Sharks | 56 | 21 | 28 | 7 | 15 | 151 | 199 | −48 | 49 |
| 8 | e – Anaheim Ducks | 56 | 17 | 30 | 9 | 11 | 126 | 179 | −53 | 43 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.
2020–21 game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)
  Postponement :

### Playoffs

2021 Stanley Cup playoffs :
Legend:
  Win
  Loss :

## Player statistics

Final stats

### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/– | PIM |
| Mikko Rantanen | 52 | 30 | 36 | 66 | +30 | 34 |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 48 | 20 | 45 | 65 | +22 | 37 |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 54 | 20 | 32 | 52 | +14 | 34 |
| Andre Burakovsky | 53 | 19 | 25 | 44 | +4 | 10 |
| Cale Makar | 44 | 8 | 36 | 44 | +17 | 12 |
| Nazem Kadri | 56 | 11 | 21 | 32 | −7 | 34 |
| Sam Girard | 48 | 5 | 27 | 32 | +15 | 16 |
| Joonas Donskoi | 51 | 17 | 14 | 31 | +14 | 10 |
| Devon Toews | 53 | 9 | 22 | 31 | +29 | 16 |
| Brandon Saad | 44 | 15 | 9 | 24 | +1 | 12 |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 55 | 10 | 11 | 21 | +9 | 4 |
| J. T. Compher | 48 | 10 | 8 | 18 | +10 | 19 |
| Tyson Jost | 54 | 7 | 10 | 17 | +14 | 24 |
| Ryan Graves | 54 | 2 | 13 | 15 | +15 | 55 |
| Pierre-Edouard Bellemare | 53 | 9 | 2 | 11 | +6 | 21 |
| Jacob MacDonald | 33 | 1 | 8 | 9 | +14 | 8 |
| Conor Timmins | 31 | 0 | 7 | 7 | +6 | 8 |
| Logan O'Connor | 22 | 3 | 2 | 5 | +6 | 6 |
| Matt Calvert | 18 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −2 | 6 |
| Dan Renouf | 18 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −1 | 16 |
| Kiefer Sherwood | 15 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +2 | 0 |
| Liam O'Brien | 12 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +1 | 40 |
| Alex Newhook | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +5 | 2 |
| Patrik Nemeth$^†$ | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +6 | 6 |
| Bowen Byram | 19 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +1 | 23 |
| Carl Soderberg$^†$ | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Jayson Megna | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +2 | 0 |
| Kyle Burroughs | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 5 |
| Erik Johnson | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +2 | 2 |
| Greg Pateryn$^{†‡}$ | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 4 |
| Martin Kaut | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 |
| Dennis Gilbert | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Sheldon Dries | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 4 |
| Keaton Middleton | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 4 |
| Ian Cole$^‡$ | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 10 | 8 | 7 | 15 | +6 | 2 |
| Mikko Rantanen | 10 | 5 | 8 | 13 | +5 | 4 |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 10 | 4 | 9 | 13 | +1 | 9 |
| Cale Makar | 10 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 2 |
| Brandon Saad | 10 | 7 | 1 | 8 | +3 | 12 |
| Ryan Graves | 10 | 1 | 5 | 6 | +5 | 10 |
| Devon Toews | 10 | 1 | 5 | 6 | +10 | 2 |
| Joonas Donskoi | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | −1 | 0 |
| Sam Girard | 10 | 0 | 5 | 5 | −5 | 2 |
| Tyson Jost | 10 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −3 | 4 |
| Andre Burakovsky | 10 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 4 |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −3 | 10 |
| Pierre-Edouard Bellemare | 10 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +1 | 0 |
| J. T. Compher | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +2 | 4 |
| Alex Newhook | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Carl Soderberg | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 2 |
| Patrik Nemeth | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 6 |
| Nazem Kadri | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 10 |
| Kiefer Sherwood | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Conor Timmins | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| Sampo Ranta | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Logan O'Connor | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Philipp Grubauer | 40 | 39 | 2366:07 | 30 | 9 | 1 | 77 | 1.95 | 993 | .922 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jonas Johansson$^†$ | 8 | 7 | 436:57 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 2.06 | 173 | .913 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Devan Dubnyk$^†$ | 5 | 5 | 294:38 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 3.26 | 140 | .886 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hunter Miska | 5 | 5 | 259:48 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 4.16 | 111 | .838 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Philipp Grubauer | 10 | 10 | 597:54 | 6 | 4 | 26 | 2.61 | 301 | .914 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Avalanche. Stats reflect time with the Avalanche only. $^‡$Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Avalanche only. Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

## Transactions

The Avalanche have been involved in the following transactions during the 2020–21 season

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09) | To Chicago BlackhawksNikita Zadorov Anton Lindholm | To Colorado AvalancheBrandon Saad Dennis Gilbert |
| October 10, 2020 (2020-10-10) | To New York IslandersA. J. Greer | To Colorado AvalancheKyle Burroughs |
| October 11, 2020 (2020-10-11) | To New York Islanders2nd-round pick in 2021 2nd-round pick in 2022 | To Colorado AvalancheDevon Toews |
| January 19, 2021 (2021-01-19) | To Minnesota WildIan Cole | To Colorado AvalancheGreg Pateryn |
| March 20, 2021 (2021-03-20) | To Buffalo Sabres6th-round pick in 2021 | To Colorado AvalancheJonas Johansson |
| April 9, 2021 (2021-04-09) | To Detroit Red Wings4th-round pick in 2022 | To Colorado AvalanchePatrik Nemeth |
| April 10, 2021 (2021-04-10) | To San Jose SharksGreg Pateryn 5th-round pick in 2021 | To Colorado AvalancheDevan Dubnyk |

### Free agents

| Date | Player | Team | Contract term |
| September 1, 2020 (2020-09-01) | Vladislav Kamenev | to SKA Saint Petersburg (KHL) | 2-year |
| September 10, 2020 (2020-09-10) | Mark Barberio | to Lausanne HC (NL) | 3-year |
| October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09) | Miikka Salomaki | from Toronto Maple Leafs | 1-year |
| October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09) | Kiefer Sherwood | from Anaheim Ducks | 1-year |
| October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09) | Mike Vecchione | from St. Louis Blues | 1-year |
| October 10, 2020 (2020-10-10) | Mark Alt | to Los Angeles Kings | 1-year |
| October 11, 2020 (2020-10-11) | Vladislav Namestnikov | to Detroit Red Wings | 2-year |
| October 13, 2020 (2020-10-13) | Matt Nieto | to San Jose Sharks | 1-year |
| October 22, 2020 (2020-10-22) | Antoine Bibeau | to Carolina Hurricanes | 1-year |
| October 30, 2020 (2020-10-30) | Michael Hutchinson | to Toronto Maple Leafs | 2-year |
| January 14, 2021 (2021-01-14) | Kevin Connauton | to Florida Panthers | 1-year |

### Retirement

| Date | Player | Ref |
| January 4, 2021 (2021-01-04) | Colin Wilson | |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Contract term |
| September 18, 2020 (2020-09-18) | Logan O'Connor | 2-year |
| October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09) | Sheldon Dries | 1-year |
| October 10, 2020 (2020-10-10) | Andre Burakovsky | 2-year |
| October 10, 2020 (2020-10-10) | Valeri Nichushkin | 2-year |
| October 11, 2020 (2020-10-11) | Jayson Megna | 1-year |
| October 12, 2020 (2020-10-12) | Ryan Graves | 3-year |
| October 19, 2020 (2020-10-19) | Tyson Jost | 1-year |
| October 19, 2020 (2020-10-19) | Hunter Miska | 2-year |
| October 27, 2020 (2020-10-27) | Devon Toews | 4-year |
| October 30, 2020 (2020-10-30) | Kyle Burroughs | 1-year |
| March 31, 2021 (2021-03-31) | Alex Newhook | 3-year |

## Draft picks

Below are the Colorado Avalanches' selection at the 2020 NHL Draft that was held on October 6–7 at NHL Network Studios.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (league) |
| 1 | 25 | Justin Barron | D | Canada | Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL) |
| 3 | 75 | Jean-Luc Foudy | C | Canada | Windsor Spitfires (OHL) |
| 4 | 118 | Colby Ambrosio | C | Canada | Tri-City Storm (USHL) |
| 5 | 139 | Ryder Rolston | RW | United States | Waterloo Blackhawks (USHL) |
| 6 | 167 | Nils Aman | C | Sweden | New Hampshire Wildcats (H-East) |