# 2023–24 Colorado Avalanche season

The 2023–24 Colorado Avalanche season was the 45th season for the Avalanche as the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that joined the league in 1979, and their 28th playing season since the franchise relocated from Quebec prior to the start of the 1995–96 NHL season.
On March 30, 2024, the Avalanche clinched a playoff berth for the seventh consecutive season after a 7–4 win against the Nashville Predators. On April 18, Nathan MacKinnon broke the single season point record, across both the Nordiques and Avalanche, with 140 points. In the playoffs, the Avalanche defeated the Winnipeg Jets in five games in the first round, before losing to the Dallas Stars in the second round in six games.
On June 27, MacKinnon became the first Avalanche player to win the Hart Memorial Trophy since Peter Forsberg in the 2002–03 season.

## Standings
### Divisional standings

Central Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | z – Dallas Stars | 82 | 52 | 21 | 9 | 40 | 298 | 234 | +64 | 113 |
| 2 | x – Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 52 | 24 | 6 | 46 | 259 | 199 | +60 | 110 |
| 3 | x – Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 50 | 25 | 7 | 42 | 304 | 254 | +50 | 107 |
| 4 | x – Nashville Predators | 82 | 47 | 30 | 5 | 38 | 269 | 248 | +21 | 99 |
| 5 | e – St. Louis Blues | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 31 | 239 | 250 | −11 | 92 |
| 6 | e – Minnesota Wild | 82 | 39 | 34 | 9 | 32 | 251 | 263 | −12 | 87 |
| 7 | e – Arizona Coyotes | 82 | 36 | 41 | 5 | 28 | 256 | 274 | −18 | 77 |
| 8 | e – Chicago Blackhawks | 82 | 23 | 53 | 6 | 17 | 179 | 290 | −111 | 52 |

### Conference standings

Western Conference Wild Card :
| Pos | Div | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | CE | x – Nashville Predators | 82 | 47 | 30 | 5 | 38 | 269 | 248 | +21 | 99 |
| 2 | PA | x – Vegas Golden Knights | 82 | 45 | 29 | 8 | 34 | 267 | 245 | +22 | 98 |
| 3 | CE | e – St. Louis Blues | 82 | 43 | 33 | 6 | 31 | 239 | 250 | −11 | 92 |
| 4 | CE | e – Minnesota Wild | 82 | 39 | 34 | 9 | 32 | 251 | 263 | −12 | 87 |
| 5 | PA | e – Calgary Flames | 82 | 38 | 39 | 5 | 32 | 253 | 271 | −18 | 81 |
| 6 | PA | e – Seattle Kraken | 82 | 34 | 35 | 13 | 28 | 217 | 236 | −19 | 81 |
| 7 | CE | e – Arizona Coyotes | 82 | 36 | 41 | 5 | 28 | 256 | 274 | −18 | 77 |
| 8 | PA | e – Anaheim Ducks | 82 | 27 | 50 | 5 | 21 | 204 | 295 | −91 | 59 |
| 9 | CE | e – Chicago Blackhawks | 82 | 23 | 53 | 6 | 17 | 179 | 290 | −111 | 52 |
| 10 | PA | e – San Jose Sharks | 82 | 19 | 54 | 9 | 14 | 181 | 331 | −150 | 47 |

## Schedule and results
### Preseason

The Avalanche pre-season schedule was released on June 23, 2023.

### Regular season

The Avalanche regular season schedule was released on June 27, 2023.
2023–24 game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  OT/SO loss (1 point) :

### Playoffs

2024 Stanley Cup playoffs :
Legend:
  Win
  Loss :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/– | PIM |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 82 | 51 | 89 | 140 | +35 | 42 |
| Mikko Rantanen | 80 | 42 | 62 | 104 | +19 | 50 |
| Cale Makar | 77 | 21 | 69 | 90 | +15 | 16 |
| Jonathan Drouin | 79 | 19 | 37 | 56 | +12 | 28 |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 54 | 28 | 25 | 53 | +5 | 22 |
| Devon Toews | 82 | 12 | 38 | 50 | +28 | 18 |
| Ross Colton | 80 | 17 | 23 | 40 | −8 | 61 |
| Artturi Lehkonen | 45 | 16 | 18 | 34 | +11 | 14 |
| Miles Wood | 74 | 9 | 17 | 26 | −5 | 75 |
| Logan O'Connor | 57 | 13 | 12 | 25 | +13 | 34 |
| Josh Manson | 76 | 8 | 17 | 25 | +13 | 87 |
| Ryan Johansen$^‡$ | 63 | 13 | 10 | 23 | −6 | 34 |
| Bowen Byram$^‡$ | 55 | 8 | 12 | 20 | +1 | 40 |
| Andrew Cogliano | 75 | 6 | 13 | 19 | +11 | 16 |
| Sam Girard | 59 | 3 | 15 | 18 | 0 | 10 |
| Jack Johnson | 80 | 3 | 13 | 16 | +15 | 38 |
| Zach Parise | 30 | 5 | 5 | 10 | –7 | 8 |
| Casey Mittelstadt$^†$ | 18 | 4 | 6 | 10 | –2 | 4 |
| Sam Malinski | 23 | 3 | 7 | 10 | +3 | 6 |
| Joel Kiviranta | 56 | 3 | 6 | 9 | –1 | 12 |
| Fredrik Olofsson | 57 | 3 | 6 | 9 | –5 | 8 |
| Tomas Tatar$^‡$ | 27 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 10 |
| Sean Walker$^†$ | 18 | 4 | 3 | 7 | +2 | 16 |
| Brandon Duhaime$^†$ | 18 | 1 | 5 | 5 | +2 | 4 |
| Caleb Jones | 25 | 0 | 5 | 5 | +4 | 8 |
| Yakov Trenin$^†$ | 16 | 2 | 1 | 3 | +3 | 2 |
| Kurtis MacDermid$^‡$ | 29 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +3 | 23 |
| Riley Tufte | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 2 |
| Chris Wagner | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +3 | 9 |
| Jean-Luc Foudy | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 0 |
| Jason Polin | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 2 |
| Ben Meyers$^‡$ | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 0 |
| Oskar Olausson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ondrej Pavel | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/– | PIM |
| Cale Makar | 11 | 5 | 10 | 15 | −3 | 0 |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 11 | 4 | 10 | 14 | −1 | 4 |
| Mikko Rantanen | 11 | 4 | 10 | 14 | −1 | 8 |
| Artturi Lehkonen | 11 | 6 | 5 | 11 | −2 | 4 |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 8 | 9 | 1 | 10 | +1 | 2 |
| Casey Mittelstadt | 11 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 2 |
| Josh Manson | 11 | 2 | 5 | 7 | +7 | 12 |
| Devon Toews | 10 | 1 | 5 | 6 | +4 | 2 |
| Andrew Cogliano | 11 | 0 | 5 | 5 | +2 | 2 |
| Ross Colton | 11 | 1 | 3 | 4 | +2 | 2 |
| Miles Wood | 11 | 3 | 0 | 3 | +1 | 13 |
| Zach Parise | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −1 | 0 |
| Jonathan Drouin | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −1 | 2 |
| Sam Girard | 9 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +3 | 0 |
| Joel Kiviranta | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +3 | 4 |
| Yakov Trenin | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 4 |
| Brandon Duhaime | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −2 | 8 |
| Nikolai Kovalenko | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –1 | 0 |
| Chris Wagner | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Caleb Jones | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 6 |
| Jack Johnson | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +4 | 2 |
| Sean Walker | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −5 | 6 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Alexandar Georgiev | 63 | 62 | 3,637:57 | 38 | 18 | 5 | 183 | 3.02 | 1,770 | .897 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Justus Annunen | 14 | 12 | 801:05 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 30 | 2.25 | 414 | .928 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ivan Prosvetov | 11 | 8 | 494:11 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 3.16 | 248 | .895 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Alexandar Georgiev | 11 | 11 | 425:23 | 6 | 5 | 33 | 2.85 | 311 | .897 | 0 | 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 2023–24 season.
Key:
† Contract is entry-level.  ‡ Contract initially takes effect in the 2024–25 season.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details |
| June 28, 2023 (2023-06-28) | To Tampa Bay LightningMTL 2nd-round pick in 2023 | To Colorado AvalancheRoss Colton |
| October 10, 2023 (2023-10-10) | To Carolina HurricanesCallahan Burke | To Colorado AvalancheCaleb Jones |
| December 16, 2023 (2023-12-16) | To Seattle KrakenTomas Tatar | To Colorado Avalanche5th-round pick in 2024 |
| March 1, 2024 (2024-03-01) | To New Jersey DevilsKurtis MacDermid | To Colorado AvalancheZakhar Bardakov 7th-round pick in 2024 |
| March 6, 2024 (2024-03-06) | To Buffalo SabresBowen Byram | To Colorado AvalancheCasey Mittelstadt |
| March 6, 2024 (2024-03-06) | To Philadelphia FlyersRyan Johansen Conditional 1st-round pick in 2025 | To Colorado AvalancheSean Walker 5th-round pick in 2026 |

### Players acquired

| Date | Player | Former team | Term | Via |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Jack Ahcan | Boston Bruins | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Jonathan Drouin | Montreal Canadiens | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Arvid Holm | Winnipeg Jets | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Corey Schueneman | Montreal Canadiens | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Riley Tufte | Dallas Stars | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Chris Wagner | Boston Bruins | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Miles Wood | New Jersey Devils | 6-year | Free agency |
| September 12, 2023 (2023-09-12) | Tomas Tatar | New Jersey Devils | 1-year | Free agency |
| October 9, 2023 (2023-10-09) | Ivan Prosvetov | Arizona Coyotes | | Waivers |

### Players lost

| Date | Player | New team | Term | Via |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | J. T. Compher | Detroit Red Wings | 5-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Lars Eller | Pittsburgh Penguins | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Josh Jacobs | St. Louis Blues | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Jonas Johansson | Tampa Bay Lightning | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Erik Johnson | Buffalo Sabres | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Mikhail Maltsev | Los Angeles Kings | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Matt Nieto | Pittsburgh Penguins | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 2, 2023 (2023-07-02) | Evan Rodrigues | Florida Panthers | 4-year | Free agency |
| July 3, 2023 (2023-07-03) | Charles Hudon | Ontario Reign (AHL) | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 18, 2023 (2023-07-18) | Denis Malgin | ZSC Lions (NL) | 5-year | Free agency |
| August 18, 2023 (2023-08-18) | Ryan Merkley | Kunlun Red Star (KHL) | 1-year | Free agency |
| September 13, 2023 (2023-09-13) | Keith Kinkaid | New Jersey Devils | 1-year | Free agency |
| June 21, 2024 (2024-06-21) | Andrew Cogliano | | | Retirement |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Term |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Bowen Byram | 2-year |
| July 1, 2023 (2023-07-01) | Andrew Cogliano | 1-year |
| July 2, 2023 (2023-07-02) | Justus Annunen | 1-year |
| July 2, 2023 (2023-07-02) | Jack Johnson | 1-year |
| July 17, 2023 (2023-07-17) | Ross Colton | 4-year |
| July 25, 2023 (2023-07-25) | Nikolai Kovalenko | 2-year† |
| July 26, 2023 (2023-07-26) | Ben Meyers | 1-year |
| August 18, 2023 (2023-08-18) | Matt Stienburg | 2-year† |
| October 6, 2023 (2023-10-6) | Saige Weinstein | 3-year† |
| October 13, 2023 (2023-10-13) | Devon Toews | 7-year‡ |
| November 12, 2023 (2023-11-12) | Joel Kiviranta | 1-year |
| March 5, 2024 (2024-03-05) | Ivan Ivan | 2-year‡ |
| March 7, 2024 (2024-03-07) | Jeremy Hanzel | 3-year† |
| March 26, 2024 (2024-03-26) | Justus Annunen | 2-year |
| June 13, 2024 (2024-06-13) | Jere Innala | 1-year† |
| June 25, 2024 (2024-06-25) | Casey Mittelstadt | 3-year |

## Draft picks

Below are the Avalanche's selections at the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 28 to 29, 2023, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
| Round | # | Player | Pos. | Nationality | Team (League) |
| 1 | 27 | Calum Ritchie | C | Canada | Oshawa Generals (OHL) |
| 1 | 31 | Mikhail Gulyayev | D | Russia | Avangard Omsk (KHL) |
| 5 | 155 | Nikita Ishimnikov | D | Russia | JHC Avto (MHL) |
| 6 | 187 | Jeremy Hanzel | D | Canada | Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) |
| 7 | 219 | Maros Jedlicka | C | Slovakia | HKM Zvolen (Slovak Extraliga) |