There is a popular perception, mostly emanating out of Denver for some reason, that the Colorado Avalanche choked.

Yes, the Presidents’ Trophy winners lost in the second round — again. But this time, thanks to the quirks of the playoff format, they at least lost to the team that… tied them in the standings? I guess even more so than the Boston Bruins, this is the team where you say, “If they do it again with the exact same roster in a normal season, the results are probably better.”

Judging purely by the on-ice results, this was likely the best team of the past decade, and maybe even since they started tracking underlying numbers in 2007-08. But the thing for the Avalanche is that thanks to the flat cap, they’re going to have a hell of a hard time icing the same group as they had in this ext