# 2019–20 Colorado Avalanche season

The 2019–20 Colorado Avalanche season was the 25th operational season and 24th playing season since the franchise relocated from Quebec prior to the start of the 1995–96 NHL season. As well as the franchise's 41st season in the National Hockey League and 48th season overall. The Avalanche will commemorate their 25th anniversary in the 2020-21 season.
The season was suspended by the league officials on March 12, 2020, after several other professional and collegiate sports organizations followed suit as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Two of the Avalanche's players tested positive for COVID-19. On May 26, the NHL regular season was officially declared over with the remaining games being cancelled.
The Avalanche advanced to the playoffs for the third straight season, after last missing the playoffs in the 2016–17 season. In the Playoffs, the Avalanche defeated the Arizona Coyotes in five games in the first round, before losing to the Dallas Stars in seven games in the second round. The season marked a turning point in the Avalanche's history, as it started a period of extreme strength for the franchise.

## Standings
### Divisional standings

Central Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | St. Louis Blues | 71 | 42 | 19 | 10 | 33 | 225 | 193 | +32 | 94 |
| 2 | Colorado Avalanche | 70 | 42 | 20 | 8 | 37 | 237 | 191 | +46 | 92 |
| 3 | Dallas Stars | 69 | 37 | 24 | 8 | 26 | 180 | 177 | +3 | 82 |
| 4 | Winnipeg Jets | 71 | 37 | 28 | 6 | 30 | 216 | 203 | +13 | 80 |
| 5 | Nashville Predators | 69 | 35 | 26 | 8 | 28 | 215 | 217 | −2 | 78 |
| 6 | Minnesota Wild | 69 | 35 | 27 | 7 | 30 | 220 | 220 | 0 | 77 |
| 7 | Chicago Blackhawks | 70 | 32 | 30 | 8 | 23 | 212 | 218 | −6 | 72 |

### Western Conference

| Pos | Teamvte | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | PCT | Qualification |
| 1 | St. Louis Blues | 71 | 42 | 19 | 10 | 33 | 225 | 193 | +32 | .662 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 2 | Colorado Avalanche | 70 | 42 | 20 | 8 | 37 | 237 | 191 | +46 | .657 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 3 | Vegas Golden Knights | 71 | 39 | 24 | 8 | 30 | 227 | 211 | +16 | .606 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 4 | Dallas Stars | 69 | 37 | 24 | 8 | 26 | 180 | 177 | +3 | .594 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 5 | Edmonton Oilers | 71 | 37 | 25 | 9 | 31 | 225 | 217 | +8 | .585 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 6 | Nashville Predators | 69 | 35 | 26 | 8 | 28 | 215 | 217 | −2 | .565 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 7 | Vancouver Canucks | 69 | 36 | 27 | 6 | 27 | 228 | 217 | +11 | .565 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 8 | Calgary Flames | 70 | 36 | 27 | 7 | 25 | 210 | 215 | −5 | .564 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 9 | Winnipeg Jets | 71 | 37 | 28 | 6 | 30 | 216 | 203 | +13 | .563 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 10 | Minnesota Wild | 69 | 35 | 27 | 7 | 30 | 220 | 220 | 0 | .558 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 11 | Arizona Coyotes | 70 | 33 | 29 | 8 | 26 | 195 | 187 | +8 | .529 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 12 | Chicago Blackhawks | 70 | 32 | 30 | 8 | 23 | 212 | 218 | −6 | .514 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 13 | Anaheim Ducks | 71 | 29 | 33 | 9 | 20 | 187 | 226 | −39 | .472 | |
| 14 | Los Angeles Kings | 70 | 29 | 35 | 6 | 21 | 178 | 212 | −34 | .457 | |
| 15 | San Jose Sharks | 70 | 29 | 36 | 5 | 22 | 182 | 226 | −44 | .450 | |

#### Tiebreaking procedures

* Fewer number of games played (only used during regular season).
* Greater number of regulation wins (denoted by RW).
* Greater number of wins in regulation and overtime (excluding shootout wins; denoted by ROW).
* Greater number of total wins (including shootouts).
* Greater number of points earned in head-to-head play; if teams played an uneven number of head-to-head games, the result of the first game on the home ice of the team with the extra home game is discarded.
* Greater goal differential (difference between goals for and goals against).
* Greater number of goals scored (denoted by GF).

## Schedule and results
### Preseason

The preseason schedule was published on June 13, 2019.

### Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on June 25, 2019.
2019–20 game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

### Playoffs

The Avalanche played in a round-robin tournament to determine their seed for the playoffs. Colorado finished with a 2–0–1 record to clinch the second seed for the playoffs.
The Avalanche faced the Arizona Coyotes in the first round and defeated them in five games.
The Avalanche faced the Dallas Stars in the second round, but lost in seven games.
2020 Stanley Cup playoffs :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

## Player statistics

Final stats

### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 69 | 35 | 58 | 93 | +13 | 12 |
| Cale Makar | 57 | 12 | 38 | 50 | +12 | 12 |
| Andre Burakovsky | 58 | 20 | 25 | 45 | +11 | 22 |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 54 | 21 | 23 | 44 | −2 | 47 |
| Mikko Rantanen | 42 | 19 | 22 | 41 | −2 | 14 |
| Nazem Kadri | 51 | 19 | 17 | 36 | +7 | 97 |
| Samuel Girard | 70 | 4 | 30 | 34 | +1 | 17 |
| Joonas Donskoi | 65 | 16 | 17 | 33 | +2 | 26 |
| J. T. Compher | 67 | 11 | 20 | 31 | +9 | 18 |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 65 | 13 | 14 | 27 | +26 | 14 |
| Ryan Graves | 69 | 9 | 17 | 26 | +40 | 45 |
| Ian Cole | 65 | 4 | 22 | 26 | +21 | 36 |
| Matt Calvert | 50 | 12 | 13 | 25 | +13 | 39 |
| Tyson Jost | 67 | 8 | 15 | 23 | +11 | 22 |
| Pierre-Édouard Bellemare | 69 | 9 | 13 | 22 | +2 | 17 |
| Matt Nieto | 70 | 8 | 13 | 21 | +7 | 6 |
| Erik Johnson | 59 | 3 | 13 | 16 | +9 | 20 |
| Nikita Zadorov | 64 | 4 | 9 | 13 | +6 | 65 |
| Vladislav Kamenev | 38 | 1 | 7 | 8 | −2 | 8 |
| Vladislav Namestnikov$^†$ | 9 | 4 | 2 | 6 | +2 | 8 |
| Colin Wilson | 9 | 0 | 4 | 4 | +6 | 0 |
| Martin Kaut | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −1 | 0 |
| Logan O'Connor | 16 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Mark Barberio | 21 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +3 | 16 |
| Calle Rosen$^‡$ | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +2 | 4 |
| T. J. Tynan | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 2 |
| Anton Lindholm | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 0 |
| Jayson Megna | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
| Sheldon Dries | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |
| Kevin Connauton | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –2 | 0 |
| Conor Timmins | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 15 | 9 | 16 | 25 | +13 | 12 |
| Mikko Rantanen | 15 | 7 | 14 | 21 | +11 | 6 |
| Nazem Kadri | 15 | 9 | 9 | 18 | +3 | 10 |
| Andre Burakovsky | 15 | 7 | 10 | 17 | +7 | 4 |
| Cale Makar | 15 | 4 | 11 | 15 | +12 | 0 |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 14 | 2 | 11 | 13 | +7 | 12 |
| Samuel Girard | 15 | 1 | 9 | 10 | +4 | 6 |
| J. T. Compher | 15 | 3 | 5 | 8 | +7 | 4 |
| Joonas Donskoi | 9 | 3 | 3 | 6 | +1 | 2 |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 12 | 4 | 1 | 5 | +1 | 4 |
| Nikita Zadorov | 15 | 3 | 2 | 5 | +5 | 18 |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 15 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Pierre-Édouard Bellemare | 15 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Ryan Graves | 15 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +9 | 6 |
| Matt Nieto | 14 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +1 | 4 |
| Matt Calvert | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +1 | 4 |
| Ian Cole | 15 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +2 | 10 |
| Erik Johnson | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +3 | 0 |
| Tyson Jost | 12 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 8 |
| Logan O'Connor | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kevin Connauton | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 6 |
| Conor Timmins | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 4 |
| Sheldon Dries | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Michael Hutchinson$^†$ | 1 | 1 | 60:00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.00 | 18 | .944 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pavel Francouz | 34 | 31 | 1,914:26 | 21 | 7 | 4 | 77 | 2.41 | 996 | .923 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Philipp Grubauer | 36 | 36 | 2,057:06 | 18 | 12 | 4 | 90 | 2.63 | 1067 | .916 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Antoine Bibeau | 2 | 1 | 91:45 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3.27 | 42 | .881 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adam Werner | 2 | 1 | 87:50 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3.42 | 58 | .914 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Philipp Grubauer | 7 | 7 | 385:20 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 1.87 | 153 | .922 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Hutchinson | 4 | 3 | 196:11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2.75 | 100 | .910 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pavel Francouz | 6 | 5 | 315:45 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 3.23 | 157 | .892 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 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 2019–20 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 25, 2019 (2019-06-25) | To Arizona CoyotesCarl Soderberg | To Colorado AvalancheKevin Connauton ARI's 3rd-round pick in 2020 |
| June 28, 2019 (2019-06-28) | To Washington CapitalsScott Kosmachuk 2nd-round pick in 2020 3rd-round pick in 2020 | To Colorado AvalancheAndre Burakovsky |
| June 29, 2019 (2019-06-29) | To Florida PanthersDominic Toninato | To Colorado AvalancheJacob MacDonald |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | To Toronto Maple LeafsTyson Barrie Alexander Kerfoot 6th-round pick in 2020 | To Colorado AvalancheNazem Kadri Calle Rosen TOR's 3rd-round pick in 2020 |
| September 27, 2019 (2019-09-27) | To San Jose SharksNicolas Meloche | To Colorado AvalancheAntoine Bibeau |
| February 24, 2020 (2020-02-24) | To Ottawa Senators4th-round pick in 2021 | To Colorado AvalancheVladislav Namestnikov |
| February 24, 2020 (2020-02-24) | To Toronto Maple LeafsCalle Rosen | To Colorado AvalancheMichael Hutchinson |

### Free agents

| Date | Player | Team | Contract term |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | Andrew Agozzino | to Pittsburgh Penguins | 2-year |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | Pierre-Edouard Bellemare | from Vegas Golden Knights | 2-year |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | Joonas Donskoi | from San Jose Sharks | 4-year |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | Spencer Martin | to Tampa Bay Lightning | 1-year |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | Patrik Nemeth | to Detroit Red Wings | 2-year |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | Semyon Varlamov | to New York Islanders | 4-year |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | David Warsofsky | to Pittsburgh Penguins | 2-year |
| July 2, 2019 (2019-07-02) | Jayson Megna | from Washington Capitals | 1-year |
| July 2, 2019 (2019-07-02) | Dan Renouf | from Carolina Hurricanes | 2-year |
| July 2, 2019 (2019-07-02) | T. J. Tynan | from Vegas Golden Knights | 1-year |
| July 9, 2019 (2019-07-09) | Sven Andrighetto | to Avangard Omsk (KHL) | 1-year |
| July 15, 2019 (2019-07-15) | Sergei Boikov | to Dynamo Moscow (KHL) | 2-year |
| July 23, 2019 (2019-07-23) | Julien Nantel | to Colorado Eagles (AHL) | 1-year |
| July 25, 2019 (2019-07-25) | Max McCormick | to Carolina Hurricanes | 1-year |
| August 19, 2019 (2019-08-19) | Valeri Nichushkin | from Dallas Stars | 1-year |
| August 21, 2019 (2019-08-21) | Derick Brassard | to New York Islanders | 1-year |
| August 26, 2019 (2019-08-26) | Gabriel Bourque | to Winnipeg Jets | 1-year |
| September 29, 2019 (2019-09-29) | Mason Geertsen | to Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL) | 1-year |

### Waivers

| Date | Player | Team | Ref |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | | from/to | |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Contract term |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-07-01) | Colin Wilson | 1-year |
| July 5, 2019 (2019-07-05) | Nikita Zadorov | 1-year |
| July 8, 2019 (2019-07-08) | Ryan Graves | 1-year |
| July 15, 2019 (2019-07-15) | Andre Burakovsky | 1-year |
| July 17, 2019 (2019-07-17) | J. T. Compher | 4-year |
| July 19, 2019 (2019-07-19) | Bowen Byram | 3-year |
| July 23, 2019 (2019-07-23) | Anton Lindholm | 2-year |
| July 25, 2019 (2019-07-25) | Sheldon Dries | 1-year |
| July 30, 2019 (2019-07-30) | Vladislav Kamenev | 1-year |
| July 31, 2019 (2019-07-31) | Samuel Girard | 7-year |
| August 1, 2019 (2019-08-01) | A. J. Greer | 1-year |
| September 28, 2019 (2019-09-28) | Mikko Rantanen | 6-year |
| February 21, 2020 (2020-02-21) | Pavel Francouz | 2-year |
| March 26, 2020 (2020-03-26) | T. J. Tynan | 1-year |

## Draft picks

Below are the Colorado Avalanches' selections at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 21 and 22, 2019, at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 4 | Bowen Byram | D | Canada | Vancouver Giants (WHL) |
| 1 | 16 | Alex Newhook | C | Canada | Victoria Grizzlies (BCHL) |
| 2 | 47 | Drew Helleson | D | United States | U.S. National Team Development Program |
| 3 | 63 | Matthew Stienburg | C | Canada | St. Andrew's College |
| 3 | 78 | Alex Beaucage | RW | Canada | Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL) |
| 5 | 140 | Sasha Mutala | RW | Canada | Tri-City Americans (WHL) |
| 6 | 171 | Luka Burzan | RW | Canada | Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL) |
| 7 | 202 | Trent Miner | G | Canada | Vancouver Giants (WHL) |