Colorado Avalanche: 10 Bold Predictions for the Avalanche in 2011-2012.

The Colorado Avalanche had a very difficult ending to last season. That rough ending brought along a great deal of hope with it, however.

The second overall draft pick and a conditional draft pick that was acquired based off of St. Louis' finish gave them the 11th overall pick.

Free agency and trade have brought over some very solid players that have been underrated on their previous teams and stand to make sizable impacts for the Avalanche.

The front office realized that the team was too small and soft, especially on the defensive side of things, and made a concerted effort to get bigger and stronger.

There have really been very few if any negatives about what has happened for the Avalanche in the offseason, so here are some bold predictions for the Avalanche going into the 2011-2012 NHL season.

Stefan Elliott Will Make the Roster

If there is one downside to the offseason thus far it would be the loss of speedy defender John-Michael Liles to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In the end, however, I understand why the Avalanche made the move. The Avalanche dealt Liles because they have a kid named Stefan Elliott waiting in the wings.

Stefan Elliott was a draft pick by the Avalanche in 2009 and spent the last couple of years in the WHL playing for the Saskatoon Blades.

During this past season, Elliott tallied 81 points in 71 games, which included 31 goals on his way to being named WHL defenseman of the year.

Even with the acquisitions made by the Avalanche on the blue line, the Avalanche seriously lack a solid defender that can put up consistent offensive numbers and that guy could be Stefan Elliott.

He may be used sparingly at the beginning of the season, but I see Elliott taking the place of Matt Hunwick very quickly.

Gabriel Landeskog Will Win Rookie of the Year

It might take Landeskog a little bit of time to fully adjust to the speed of the NHL game, but I think that Landeskog will find his feet quickly.

Landeskog will bring something to the Avalanche that they only had sparingly since the loss of Peter Forsberg, and that is a power forward that has soft hands and high skill.

I am predicting that Landeskog will end up playing on the second line with Matt Duchene, but it's quite possible that he could end up seeing some time with Paul Stastny as well because of his exceptional vision.

Count on seeing Landeskog play in several situations early in the year as that is a thing Joe Sacco likes to do with his new players, give them a chance to prove themselves in several situations.

Landeskog will be around the front of the net and score a lot of those ugly goals from right in front of the net on rebounds.

That front of the net presence will lead to Landeskog scoring 25 goals this season and being a shoe in for rookie of the year.

Matt Duchene Will Score More Than 30 Goals

In his first two seasons with the Colorado Avalanche Matt Duchene has improved his goal-scoring total from one year to the next.

Last season Duchene tied for the team lead with 27 goals while seeing a veritable revolving door of linemates.

For what it's worth, Duchene also tied for the team lead in assists and led the team in scoring.

This year will be a huge year for Duchene as he gains a powerful winger on his left that he hasn't had since he came to the Avalanche.

Landeskog is going to do a lot for Matt Duchene. It's going to take two people to really force Landeskog off of the puck, and when that second guy comes over to help out Duchene will find the open spot and bury a lot of goals.

Landeskog will also help Duchene's assist numbers, which are just going to go up.

Not only will Duchene score 30, I think that Dutchy is going to log over 80 points this year.

Erik Johnson Will Be Named Team Captain

I've written a whole series about players who could potentially captain the Colorado Avalanche this coming season, but I truly believe that it will be Erik Johnson.

To briefly summarize the article I wrote about EJ, he wants to be a leader and you can see it in his actions.

Johnson has taken being traded better than you would want any player to take it. Not only did he come up saying that he was looking forward to being a member of the Avalanche.

Johnson wants to make the Blues regret trading him and he has said as much.

Johnson has been leading drills in the optional open skates for players looking to get more time on the ice and is pushing himself in a new workout regiment so that he is better prepared for this season than any other season he's had.

Plus, the Avalanche are invested in him having giving up two incredibly talented players in order to bring him over to Denver and the Avalanche have stated they believe he will be the cornerstone of their defense for a long time.

That kind of language shows the amount of faith they have in this kid, and it wouldn't be surprising if they made the player that they believe to be their cornerstone team captain.

Semyon Varlamov Will Start 60 Games and Win 30 of Them

Semyon Varlamov has skills; there is no denying that.

His trouble in Washington was never about his skill level but rather his ability to stay healthy.

After his trade to the Avalanche, Varlamov's agent took a couple of shots at the Capitals' medical team, implying that they cleared him to play before they should have.

Varlamov is very confident about how he feels right now and has been going through a more rigorous workout in the offseason to make certain that he is physically ready for the season.

The Avalanche medical staff is one of the best in the league and really listens to their players. Tomas Fleischmann was playing very well but told the team he just didn't feel right.

If they had just said "Well you look like you're playing fine, don't worry about it" then Fleischmann might not have been around to collect his contract Florida offered him.

I think Varlamov will be healthy, will play well and will give the team a lot of confidence.

The Avalanche defense is also much improved and is a great deal stronger than they were last season. The front of the Avalanche net will no longer be an easy place to set up camp and Varlamov will benefit greatly from that.

He will be the fourth Avalanche goaltender in the history of the franchise to win 30 games.

Peter Mueller Will Complete a Full Season

No, this is not an attempt on my part to be glib or humorous, Mueller has had serious injury issues that he has hopefully overcome coming into this season.

After a full season off it finally appears as if Peter Mueller is ready to play a full season, the big question is who is going to show up?

Mueller came to the Avalanche and made a huge impact before being  injured and missing the playoffs, and we hope that he can have the same kind of offensive presence.

Mueller has been fitted with a new helmet that is supposed to help minimize concussions, so hopefully that will help him in putting in a full season.

Erik Johnson Will Score 40 Points

Erik Johnson made an immediate impact on the Colorado Avalanche power play, and he will continue his successes with his big shot.

One of the things that made Johnson so effective is his ability to get his shot on goal, which he was able to do with great efficiency last season.

With the addition of Gabriel Landeskog, who will no doubt be standing directly in front of the net, Johnson's shots will be harder to see and will create bigger rebounds for the rest of the Avalanche snipers who will be looking to bury the puck.

He will also have more able defensive partners that will allow him to jump into the play the way that he really likes to.

This season will be a defining one for Erik Johnson, and he will start to make good on all the expectations that came with being the first overall draft pick.

The Avalanche PK Will Be Better Than 80%

The Avalanche had the worst penalty kill in the entire league last season for various reasons.

The team was small and easy to move around, goalies were incredibly inconsistent, players panicked a lot in shorthanded situations last season, communication was bad, etc...

The Avalanche have more than addressed the size issue by acquiring Jan Hejda and Shane O'Brien. Kyle Quincey's return makes the Avalanche one of the biggest and most bruising blue lines in the league.

The presence of a bigger more physical blue line should help in front of the net, behind the net, and in the corners.

Add in that Hejda and O'Brien are both veterans, the experience that they bring to the team should help calm down the rest of the penalty killers so that they don't feel like they have to make desperation plays at all times.

All of this should make the penalty kill much more effective than a season ago.

Home Ice Will Once Again Become an Advantage

If there is one thing that is true about every single sport it's that when the team is winning fans will come out to support them.

I've been very vocal on twitter about how personally disappointed I have been in the fan base in Denver that really left the team out to dry last season.

At the same time I understand how a person might not want to pay an expensive ticket price to watch a team find a way to lose instead of win.

There are still several people that are looking at this season for the Avalanche as a turning point in the history of the organization and are working to get the rest of the fan base as excited.

The general improvement of the team that will happen this year coupled with the work of a grassroots movement is going to bring some rowdy fans back into the Pepsi Center.

This year is going to be a reminder to the rest of the hockey world about exactly how passionate the Avalanche fan base can be.

The Avalanche Will Make the Playoffs as a 7th or 8th Seed

Despite everybody out there who automatically write off the Avalanche because of what they did last season, there is a lot to be excited about when it comes to the Avalanche.

They are bigger, stronger, healthier and better than they were a season ago.

This includes to point in December where the Avalanche were actually atop the Northwest Division by themselves.

Unless the team is absolutely decimated by injury the way that it was last season, count on the Avalanche remaining competitive all year.

The fact that they get so little national exposure anymore works in their favor because people just judge the Avalanche based on only 30 games.

Were they horrible games? Absolutely they were, but it still took until about 15 games remaining in the season for the Avalanche to fall out of the playoff picture because they were so strong in the first half of the season.

This team is still fast and incredibly skilled and will surprise a lot of people who only bother looking at a small portion of the season rather than the whole picture.

Kevin Goff is an NHL Featured Columnist and a Featured Columnist for the Colorado Avalanche on Bleacher Report.

You can follow me on Twitter for more hockey discussion here.