First, it was the bellowing, almost cartoonish laughter reverberating off the walls inside the room. Then, it was multiple balls of tape hurled in the direction of unsuspecting victims.
It was just a random weekday in the middle of a long, grinding season for the Avalanche. It was also a day this past week at Family Sports Center that felt steeped in symbolism.
The Avalanche locker room was suddenly a pretty fun place to be. Sure, the hockey team that inhabits that room has played a lot better over the past five weeks. Winning makes people happy.
But Colorado’s NHL team has long had a reputation for being a quiet bunch in the locker room, even when this group reached the top of the mountain in 2022. The 2024-25 edition started the season slow, bogged down by injuries and poor goaltending.
It weighed on everyone. A generally quiet room seemed even more so at times.
Then Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood arrived in a span of 10 days, and that all changed.
“(Blackwood) and Wedgewood are both veteran guys who have been around, are very comfortable in their own skin,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “They’re a little bit more on the outgoing side of things than our two previous goaltenders. … We’ve been missing some of the key characters in our room. They’ve added a little bit of juice, a little more vocal presence, which I like. And the guys have been playing hard in front of them.”
A “quiet room”
Did the Avs need to change the roster to affect the team’s chemistry off the ice? That’s debatable.
How much can adding two new players to a roster of 20-23, some of whom have been together for years, really alter the makeup of a group? That’s also pretty subjective.
One thing is unassailable. The Avs had one of the most talented rosters of the NHL’s salary cap era in 2022, and that was a huge part of why the franchise won a third championship.
But that was also an incredibly tight-knit group, bolstered by a few key additions before the trade deadline. A perfect storm of talent, chemistry and drive to achieve a common goal.
Since then, several players from that title-winning team have moved on. Captain Gabe Landeskog, one of the league’s most respected leaders and a galvanizing force on the team, hasn’t played a game since lifting the Stanley Cup.
The makeup of the Avs’ room changed.
“We just have a quiet room. Guys go about their business,” Avs defenseman Devon Toews said. “They push each other to be great, but also let each other do what they need to do and feel is best for them. I don’t think we’re going to have a room that is really rah-rah or anything like that. We go about our business and try to take care of each other as best we can.”
One of the phrases that both Bednar and general manager Chris MacFarland used when the Avalanche added Wedgewood and then Blackwood was “big personality.” That can mean a lot of things, but before either of them played a game for the team, the guys in charge already noted it as a strength for both.
The 2022 team had plenty of beloved personalities. Since-departed players like Erik Johnson, Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky, Bowen Byram and Kurtis MacDermid were among them.
“I think after we won, we just expected that room all the time,” Avs center Nathan MacKinnon said. “That is actually pretty rare. … We just had an older team then. Everyone just knew exactly what they had to do. Not that guys don’t know now, but it’s just different.
“It feels like there are new faces all the time. I think that takes a while to get (chemistry), also with (Landeskog) out and all the injuries, but I think we’re getting closer to being back to that point.”
The “chatty” goalies
Every team has its own journey and builds its own collective personality. The past two Avalanche teams have been very talented. They replaced missing pieces from the roster effectively, though injuries and suspensions have helped derail postseason success.
Just 11 of the 23 guys who played in the playoffs for Colorado last year were on the 2022 team. Three more are gone now.
There’s still “championship DNA” running through the spine of this roster, but building chemistry has been a challenge with new faces and an epic injury crisis. While talent is the most important part of constructing a team, chemistry matters, too.
“I think it’s big. When the room is too quiet, I think that can translate to the play on the ice where it’s a little slow, a little dead out there,” Avs forward Ross Colton said. “You want to battle for your brothers out there. If you don’t really know guys, it’s hard to say, ‘OK, I’m going to battle for this guy.’”
Colton is also a big personality guy. He and Miles Wood were two of several new additions last season, and their instant bond was a big hit with teammates and fans alike.
Both players have spent significant time on injured reserve this season. Getting Colton and his infectious energy back at about the same time as the two new goaltenders arrived also played a part in changing the team’s vibes.
“First year, you don’t want to come in and just be a loud, annoying guy,” Colton said. “They’re going to be like, ‘Who the hell are you?’ But once you become friends with guys on and off the ice, I think that translates to better chemistry. I think we’ve seen that way more this year.”
Wedgewood arrived first, on Nov. 30. He replaced Justus Annunen, a younger goalie still trying to find his place in the NHL.
Wedgwood doesn’t need to be the loudest guy in any room, but the 32-year-old does have a confidence and presence built from years as a journeyman and establishing himself in various locker rooms as the backup goalie.
He also likes to ball up the tape he removes from his pads and pick out targets around the room.
Blackwood’s sense of humor has followed him from New Jersey to San Jose and now Colorado 10 days after Wedgewood. His Sharks teammates raved about how much he meant to a struggling team, both on and off the ice, as a guy who struck a balance between keeping things light and putting in the work.
He hasn’t been in Denver long, but Blackwood’s laugh is unmistakable, even from across the room.
“Yeah, they are chatty goalies,” MacKinnon said. “(Wedgewood), the first day he was chatting like crazy, like he’s been here five years.
“Usually, goalies are pretty quiet and do their own thing. It’s just nice to hear an opinion from a goalie. They’re also always taking accountability. (Blackwood) has like a .940 (save percentage) and he always says how bad he is all the time. He’s just a good person. Same with (Wedgwood) — just an awesome person.”
MacKinnon is one of the most honest superstars in sports. He said that trying to help new players get more comfortable and improve team chemistry is something he’s way more cognizant about now than, say, three years ago.
Part of that is natural maturation as a leader, but it’s also because the Avs don’t have Landeskog in the same way to help. It’s a big part of why getting him back could be a huge boost.
“Yeah, we miss him a lot,” Avs forward Mikko Rantanen said. “Obviously on the ice, but off the ice we miss him, too. He was our most vocal guy. Every time he speaks, guys would really listen. He was always smart with what he says. Not that the other guys in here aren’t smart, but we obviously miss (Landeskog) in the locker room just because of his presence.”
Winning recipe?
Logan O’Connor is one of the title-winning holdovers. He has been a key glue guy, on and off the ice, for years now.
He has seen the Avs succeed with a relatively quiet locker room, but like other core members of the team, it’s the only NHL room he’s been part of.
Did this edition need a shakeup to shift the vibes?
“I wouldn’t say that,” O’Connor said. “I would say our room has always been quieter. But it has been more of an effort from the whole to pick it up with that. Whenever guys come from another team, they always say it’s a bit of a quiet locker room. That sort of makes you rethink things
“It was on us to try and correct that and make it more lively, more energetic. Honestly, it’s been unreal since we’ve sort of noticed that. I think the steps we’ve taken have been huge.”
Blackwood and Wedgewood have accomplished the primary reason for their acquisition: The goaltending has improved. They have also helped change the atmosphere inside the locker room.
Winning more has helped. Spending more time together as the season progresses has, too.
Quantifying any of this is tricky, but the vibes are certainly better. The reigning league MVP has noticed a difference as well.
“I don’t know the recipe, exactly,” MacKinnon said. “I think we’re doing a better job with that. It feels like we’re getting closer. We had a great team dinner in Vancouver. Just feels like we’re closer as a group. It’s definitely a lot better than it was last year and the year before.”
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