Colorado Avalanche Tickets

The Colorado Avalanche have been one of the perennial favorites to come out of the Western Conference for more than a decade, but it seems as though there has been a changing of the guard this season.

The Avalanche find themselves buried in last place in the Northwest Division, which is foreign territory for this relatively new franchise.

Interestingly enough, the Avalanche somewhat a victim of the strong division in which they play. The team is just three games below .500 and has more points than several other clubs in much higher places in other divisions.

That should at least give the Avalanche at least a little comfort, as should a huge, convincing victory at Washington this past week.

More good news comes in the form of the return of center Paul Stastny, who hasn't played since December because of a fractured forearm.

The Avalanche have gone 11-15 without Stastny in the lineup, so they would likely be over the .500 mark had he not missed so much time with an injury.

Ryan Smyth leads the club with 49 points, which includes a team-best 29 assists. Milan Hejduk leads the Avalanche with 21 goals, which is a surprisingly low number for a Western Conference team.

Peter Budaj has gotten most of the starts in goal but hasn't been anything special, sporting a 2.95 goals against average with a save percentage just under 90 percent.

Ironically, backup Andrew Raycroft has almost the exact same numbers. He has a 2.99 goals against average with an identical save percentage. However, Raycroft has a winning record while Budaj is well under the .500 mark.

The Avalanche is simply too far behind to even think about the postseason, so the team is just trying to establish some pride by playing out the rest of the season and winning a few more games.