Colorado Avalanche: Could This Tragic Season End Up a Positive in the Long Run?

The Colorado Avalanche is on a historic skid. The Avalanche has managed only one win since the All-Star break, and has managed to compile a grand total of four points. The team has now lost 17 of the last 18 games, which includes its last seven straight. 

The Avs have allowed five or more goals in each of their last three games, and have allowed fewer than three goals in a game only four times since the beginning of 2011. In all honesty, this Avalanche team is the absolute worst Avalanche team that I have ever seen, and that includes the 2008-09 team that finished last in the Western Conference.

The thing that makes this team different is how easily it quits. This team that was so known for how resilient it was, often climbing back into games from three goals down, now rolls over after getting down one or two goals. Yet, even with all of this disappointment, there is hope for this team in the coming years.

When a team goes through a long stretch like this, people can do one of two things.  They can look for somebody to blame, as many of us have done, myself included. That may divert attention for a little bit, but when you don't start winning games, people immediately come back to the problem at hand.

The other thing that you can do is stand up to your team and tell it like it is. David Jones did that tonight after the Avs were once again embarrassed on their home ice. In his post game interview, David Jones was clearly upset.

"It isn't fair to our fans," Jones said about the effort.  "We need to start being a team that plays for the front of the sweater, and for the guys next to us, and not enough of us are doing that." 

To hear Jones say that is a huge thing. To start with, Jones NEVER says things like that to the media. He's always very soft spoken and talks about just doing the right thing and playing hard. For him to make loaded comments that are directed at the team as a whole is a big deal. 

In certain cases, this might not be the best thing, but for the Avalanche, you're witnessing a leader in the making. He's telling his teammates that it's time to stop feeling sorry for themselves, and that if they're not going to come play as hard for him as he's going to play for them, then don't bother. In the long run, this is a huge positive.

Jones should now have the attention of the whole team, and if he doesn't, he sure will by the time it lands in Nashville tonight. If the team can respond to this, it is quite possible we will see a team that may actually start to become just that: a team.

Other things to be hopeful about: Next season will be a fresh start for the whole program. All these injuries will be gone, hopefully, and a full roster of Avalanche can begin anew.

Free agency could bring a few very interesting things to light for the Avalanche, especially at the goaltender position.

At the rate it is playing, the Avalanche may very well have the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NHL entry draft, and there are a couple of prospects that could come in and make an instant difference in this club.

All Avalanche followers are thinking the same thing: Right now. Another season we all want to forget about. Here's a challenge for all of us, especially the players: Don't forget about this season. Remember it. Remember every single last heartbreaking, frustrating, horrendous second of it. 

Remember this feeling and how terrible it is, and use it as inspiration to be better. Use it as inspiration to play harder, cheer louder, and be a better teammate. If the Avalanche truly wants to get back to being the winning franchise that it used to be, all people involved must remember how much we hate to lose.