Avalanche thriving without Matt Duchene

More than two months after the Matt Duchene trade, both the Colorado Avalanche and their players are basking in unexpected success.

All the experts knew how it was going to go. Coming off a 48-point season, the Colorado Avalanche would finalize their divorce from Matt Duchene and finish the 2017-18 season once again at the bottom of the NHL standings.

Fast forward to the midway point of the campaign and the Avalanche, finally sans Duchene, find themselves on a seven-game winning streak and right in the thick of a tight Western Conference playoff race.

Duchene was finally dealt to the Ottawa Senators, on Nov. 5 and subsequently got to play in back to back games against his former team. The Senators went on to win those two games but are 5-15-4 since and Duchene’s struggles for large stretches with the Senators have been magnified by the attention created from the Avalanche drama. But what about the lowly Avalanche players who were anticipated to finish in last with Duchene and without were primed for yet another rebuild?

Where are they now?

• Since the trade the Avalanche are 16-10-3 and have already eclipsed their point total from the 2016-17 season.
• The Avalanche have allowed two goals or fewer in 16 of 29 games since the trade, and three goals or fewer in 21 of the contests. They only allowed two goals or fewer in three of first 14 games.
• Nathan MacKinnon had 14 points in the first 14 games and since has 40 points in his last 29 games.
• Mikko Rantanen had 12 points in his first 14 games and since has 29 points in 29 games.
• Gabriel Landeskog had 10 points in his first 14 games and since has 23 points in 25 games.
• Alexander Kerfoot had nine points in his first 14 games and since has 21 points in 26 games.
• While Duchene has struggled to the tune of 12 points in 28 games, 19-year-old defenseman Samuel Girard has 8 points in 29 games with the Avalanche — including six points in his last seven.

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MacKinnon, who finds himself in the conversation for the Hart Trophy, probably has the stats that jump out most. Still, the rest of the supporting cast has been nothing short of brilliant in recent weeks, elevating Colorado into the race.

It would be foolish to expect them to contend for a Stanley Cup, and maybe even keep up the pace and make the playoffs. Yet after all the flack general manager Joe Sakic has taken, the Avalanche in a better place than they sat on the morning of Nov. 5.