NHL Stanley Cup Final 2022: What Experts Are Saying About Avalanche's Legacy

The Colorado Avalanche stormed through the 2021-22 season in dominant fashion. There have been plenty of surprise Stanley Cup winners over the years, but the Avs aren't one of them.

First, Colorado paced the Western Conference during the regular season, going 56-19-7 and accumulating 119 points to secure the No. 1 seed. It then went 12-2 over the first three rounds of the postseason, sandwiching sweeps of the Nashville Predators and Edmonton Oilers around a six-game series win over the St. Louis Blues.

Finally, the Avs took down the Tampa Bay Lightning, the two-time defending champions, in six games in the Stanley Cup Final. There was never a point during the playoffs in which Colorado trailed in a series, proving just how dominant of a team it was.

People love to compare and discuss the ranking of championship teams, and NHL fans and analysts are no different. The Stanley Cup, which was first awarded in 1893, has gone to some tremendous teams over the years.

Where do the Avalanche fit in with that history?

NHL Network analyst Mike Kelly called Colorado's postseason run "one of the most dominant playoff performances" he's seen. The numbers back up that claim.

The Avalanche went 16-4 in the postseason; the only Cup-winning team with a better win percentage in a single postseason (since the current format was implemented in 1987) was the Edmonton Oilers, who went 16-2 in 1988.

Colorado continued to impress right up until the end of its championship-clinching Game 6 win over Tampa Bay on Sunday, which was praised by NHL Network's Jon Morosi:

Others praised the leadership of Avalanche assistant captain Nathan MacKinnon. In his ninth NHL season (all in Colorado), the 26-year-old center became a champion:

Of course, the Avs also couldn't have won the Cup without defenseman Cale Makar. He may be only 23, but he's quickly solidified his spot as one of the top players in the league.

Now, he's also a Conn Smythe Trophy winner after being named the MVP of this year's playoffs.

“We’ve seen him play this way from Day 1 of the season,” Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said, per Sean Leahy of Pro Hockey Talk. “This guy is elite, and with him, the job he does for us offensively and defensively, watching him play, how dynamic he is, he’s just the best defenseman in the game right now.”

This was the third time the Avalanche have won the Stanley Cup, but it had been a while since they last did so, having captured their first two in 1996 and 2001. All three of those teams were impressive in their own ways.

However, Terry Frei of Colorado Hockey Now showed no hesitation in naming this year's Avs as the best in franchise history.

It's hard to debate that after watching the Avalanche power through the postseason. They could even rank up there with some of the top teams in NHL history.

And with how Colorado played from the beginning of the season through the end, it was a team deserving of all the praise it has received.