The Colorado Avalanche had a rough go of it this season as they tried to win their second Stanley Cup in as many years. 

One of the main reasons why was the season-long absence of captain and star winger Gabriel Landeskog. The news on Landeskog was worse than Avs fans had hoped for, as the team announced recently that Landeskog underwent major knee surgery and would be out of action for the entire 2023-24 campaign as well.

But in the "every cloud has a silver lining" department, the Avalanche will be able to keep Landeskog on long-term injury reserve for all of this coming season, freeing up $7 million in salary cap space (as per CapFriendly) to give Colorado more than $20.3 million in room. 

The Avs have only 12 players on the active roster under contract for 2023-24, so it isn’t as if they’ll be able to go buck wild and sign every player of note on the free-agent market. But don’t kid yourself – Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland and Colorado ownership believe this team can get right back in the thick of things and once again contend for a championship right away.

The Avs have only five forwards signed through this coming season. While their first line of star center Nathan MacKinnon and wingers Mikko Rantanen and Arturri Lekhonen is among the best in the NHL, the drop in elite production after that is rather steep. They’re not the biggest team in the league either, with five of their bottom six forwards standing just 5-foot-11 or shorter.