Avalanche take it to Blackhawks in opener, but defending champs provide ideal rebuilding template

Six years ago, the reigning champion Avalanche were in a similar situation as the Blackhawks.

Coach Patrick Roy led the Colorado to the playoffs for the first time in four years in 2013, but that team was not built for the long term to play at its 112-point pace.

They had another four-year playoff drought and finished the 2016-17 season, six years ago, with 48 points (22-56-4).

Last year, after knocking on the door for several years, the Avalanche let themselves in and won the Stanley Cup.

Now with a young core of world-class players, they are poised to stand at the doorstep of the Cup for the next several years.

If Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson can do this rebuild thing right, his team could be right there with the Avalanche, as opposed to under them, as they were Wednesday night in the team's regular-season opener, losing 5-2.

That '16-'17 Colorado team looks an awful lot like where the Blackhawks are now with a new NHL head coach in Davidson and a relatively new general manager.

The Avalanche had drafted Gabriel Landeskog (2011) and Nathan MacKinnon (2013) several years prior to the 48-point stinker of a season, along with Mikko Rantanen in 2015.

Erik Johnson was acquired via trade along with a conditional first-round pick, and all of a sudden, a core had been established. Johnson was drafted by the Blues, but the other four players were top-10 picks in the draft.

After their historically bad year, the Avalanche were rewarded with Cale Makar, a future Calder, Norris, and Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

Another key element in the Avalanche success story was the Matt Duchene trade in 2017. He had spent his first eight years in the league with the team and was a star in Denver.

Suddenly, they were a playoff team, a year after their worst season since moving to Denver.

After that terrible year, Colorado made five consecutive playoff appearances. After being the worst team in the league by 21 points, they were Stanley Cup champions.

Now, let's look at the Blackhawks' situation.

They've stockpiled young talent in defenseman Kevin Korchinski, left-winger Lukas Reichel and Frank Nazar.

The Hawks have also signed Seth Jones for eight years after acquiring him from Columbus. But it'll take time to see if there is a star in there somewhere.

As for the Duchene comparison, Davidson has to make a decision on whether Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews should stay in Chicago should they waive their no-trade clauses.

"If it comes to that at some point," Davidson said at the beginning of training camp, "we'll cross that bridge when we get there, but we're certainly not there right now."

It takes years to get to where the Avalanche are right now. It takes draft picks, it takes acquisition of role players (like Jack Johnson was for the Avalanche), and it takes savvy and sometimes unpleasant trades. But most of all, it takes time. Maybe the Hawks already have those pieces, maybe there's a bit more work to be done. But it certainly can be done. The Avalanche have proved that.

It took just 6:16 for the Avs to get going on Wednesday, as Jujhar Kaira turned the puck over in the Blackhawks' zone, and Andrew Cogliano ended up tipping in a Nathan MacKinnon shot from the point. The Blackhawks responded with their own impressive power play goal by Jonathan Toews, who scored 25 games and 17 minutes faster than his first goal last year. But then Valeri Nichuskin scored for Colorado.

It wasn't a terrible first period for the Hawks. There was just no time to think and no opportunity to breathe.

The Hawks tried everything from slashing and high-sticking to tripping, hooking and interfering, but it didn't make much difference.

Max Domi scored his first Blackhawks goal on the power play, but it hardly made a dent. Colorado finished 4-for-6 on the power play and the Avalanche buried the Hawks.

At the end of the night, the Hawks got a taste - no, a full mouthful - of a successful rebuild. It might have tasted bad Wednesday night, but if done correctly, it'll be as sweet as a victory slide across the ice.