Avalanche Journal: Colorado needs its value-rebuilding factory to produce the next Jonathan Drouin

Zach Parise called his time with the Colorado Avalanche amazing and special and said it “pushed me to a spot I didn't feel I could still (get to)” shortly after a double-overtime Game 6 loss to the Dallas Stars last week. A few minutes later, Jonathan Drouin deemed his experience awesome and said, “It's a great place to play hockey.” The Avs are going to have some recruiting to do this offseason, and those five-star reviews might come in handy. Colorado is short on salary cap space and long on uncertainty, with more than $13 million committed to forwards Gabe Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin and no idea when or how much they will contribute during the 2024-25 season.