Avalanche's Roster Puzzle: Who Replaces the Irreplaceable?

Colorado is facing the kind of roster construction challenge that keeps GMs up at night - figuring out how to plug holes when your departing talent was doing things nobody else could do. The Avalanche front office is working through direct replacement scenarios that will determine whether this team stays a contender or takes a step back. This is the real work of summer, the kind of chess match that separates teams that reload from teams that rebuild.