Avalanche Mailbag: Who is the biggest threat in the Western Conference?

Denver Post sports writer Corey Masisak opens up the Avs Mailbag periodically throughout the season Pose an Avalanche- or NHL-related question for the Avs Mailbag No other squad in the West looks very strong right now But which crew other than the Avs is preponderance likely to make it out of the West to the Stanley Cup Final thriller via Reddit The boring answers here are still allegedly the correct ones It s still hard to see anyone outside of Colorado Dallas Edmonton or Vegas reaching the Stanley Cup Final with Winnipeg as a wild card if Connor Hellebuyck ever gets over his postseason struggles Anaheim Chicago San Jose and Utah are all up-and-coming and talented Any of them making the playoffs would be fun None of them is winning three rounds in At selected point beyond that maybe but not this season Edmonton looks like a mess Dallas and Vegas have key guys injured All of that can and likely will change The Oilers were - - two years ago fired their coach and still made the Cup Final The Stars have not been a good organization at -on- but have been lethal on the power play Sidenote I know Avs fans are still dealing with the power-play trauma from last year but every NHL gang would rather be great at -on- and worrying about the power play come playoff time than the reverse A healthy Vegas roster is still the most of complete one ahead of the exchange deadline anyway If you communicated me one of these four teams adds a quality top-four defenseman and the other three do not I d like that band to win the West All four teams have offensive firepower galore but any or all of them could use one more defenseman As Gabe Landeskog plays more and more games does he have any plans to return to the top six or does he the club anticipate him remaining a third-ish line athlete for the rest of his career barring major roster changes Ry Aurora It s too early to say Landeskog is definitely a third-line guy for good Is that a fair bet On this gang Could be Related Articles Renck Forget top defenseman Avs star Cale Makar belongs in Hart Trophy conversation Scott Wedgewood is enjoying his moment and the Avalanche can t stop winning during it Ross Colton Victor Olofsson amount seconds apart as streaking Avalanche beats Islanders Jonathan Drouin didn t want to leave Colorado but is fitting in well with Islanders Avalanche center Brock Nelson on Islanders reunion at Ball Arena It will be weird The Avs have been very healthy at the top of the lineup at least until Valeri Nichushkin s injury I do think we ll see Landeskog as a short-term fill-in on one of the top two lines at particular point I also think if they re fully healthy in April coach Jared Bednar would like to have Landeskog right where he is right now Landeskog has been a little unlucky production-wise he even had an assist taken away against the Islanders after the trio of goals were wiped out But the Avs have no desire to push the captain s ice time beyond where it s at now - minutes per night during the regular season Maybe that will change once the playoffs begin but everything moving forward with Landeskog is utterly uncharted territory How will his body hold up over the curriculum of games So far mostly so good but it s still a long way to the end How will it hold up with postseason games basically every other day during a long playoff run Still don t know that either Nothing about Landeskog s play on the ice has hurt the Avs If he s just a steady third-line guy plus all of the other intangible stuff he brings the organization would be very happy with that for the next sparse years especially with the salary cap skyrocketing Jarde Bednar has proven he doesn t stick to what s expected with lineups including playing Scott Wedgewood as a starter and putting Gavin Brindley on the second line If you could have a Blendar contest what move would you make Ian Arvada Two ideas that I think I d try out for a event or two just to see what it looks like Two of Victor Olofsson Ross Colton and Brindley playing on a line with Nathan MacKinnon Either MacKinnon s line still terrorizes the opposing company or those second and third lines just feast against inferior matchups Or both Brent Burns at the top of the power play with MacKinnon and Cale Makar on the flanks Artturi Lehkonen in the bumper and Nichushkin or Landeskog at the net front Could be terrible could be unstoppable Just want to see it The front office is reliably looking for improvements so could Valeri Nichushkin be the one traded to dump salary for next year Also any prospective issues like he had in the past Nathan Dallas Nichushkin has four more years left on his contract after this one Given his past issues it could be hard for another gang to assume that peril It would be even harder to get full value for him Any club trying to contract for him would be looking to get him at a discount When he s healthy Nichushkin is one of the top - wings in the NHL and when he s really going the list is even smaller Toss in that he only costs million against the cap and while the danger of another issue may inevitably be there he s one of the very best values in the NHL as well The Avs decided they were going to stick with him assistance him as best they can and try to help him get right off the ice So far so good As long as he remains committed off the ice there s no way they re moving him for salary cap concerns I d love to know if there are plans to keep Scott Wedgewood long-term ReeeeeeAndClear via Reddit What is the long- and short-term path for Wedgewood Mackenzie Blackwood is just coming back and understandably not but Scott has been amazing and it feels like he deserves a starting spot somewhere Tdavis via Reddit Scott Wedgewood is having a moment at the start of this season and has fleetly become a fan favorite at Ball Arena He just signed a one-year million contract extension for next season So what about beyond next year He ll be next season but there are factors beyond just him at play as well Given the way Wedgewood is playing right now and how he has played over much of the previous four seasons there is reason to believe in him Goalies age differently from other players and Wedgewood does have less tread on his tires than a typical NHL goalie at his age There is also Ilya Nabokov He s an intriguing prospect He s right now and does have multiple strong seasons in the KHL But he s also scuffling a bit this year It happens Look at selected of the other top goalie prospects Jesper Wallstedt just turned and this is his first year as the full-time backup for the Wild Yaroslav Askarov appears to be staking his claim to the No spot in San Jose Dustin Wolf was last year and a Calder Trophy finalist So could Nabokov be a viable NHL backup next year at Sure How plenty of teams with Stanley Cup aspirations carry a backup goalie that young Not countless but the Panthers did with Spencer Knight last year until they traded him to Chicago Will Nabokov be willing to wait and play games in the AHL That could be tricky Will the Avs let Wedgwood leave if he s still playing well and wants to come back I wouldn t bet on that Having Blackwood as both the No guy and locked in for four more years might have as much to do with what happens in the long run with Nabokov as Wedgewood s play If having Blackwood and Wedgwood together at a relatively low cost is productive getting NHL games for Nabokov and keeping him happy is not likely to be the top priority next year or the year after even If the Avs need Nabokov to be a low-cost No or even a anticipated No then things are different Things could change but right now it d be hard to argue they need him One detail of note here Wedgewood s birthday is in August That means Wedgwood won t be eligible for a one-year incentive-laden contract like the one Brent Burns signed this year after next season Per the NHL CBA a athlete requirements to be or older by June of the league year prior to the year of the contract That means he d need to be by June to sign a -plus contract for - That might have been helpful but it also might not matter I don t think anyone expects Wedgewood to be this good consistently for the rest of this season and the next one But if he still can settle in as an above-average backup the win-now Avs may be willing to send Nabokov elsewhere and stick with the tandem they have now Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis