Unpacking the 2023-24 Colorado Avalanche schedule

With the new league year set to begin on July 1st, it is now known how the 2023-24 season will unfold with the release of the regular season schedule. In addition, the Colorado Avalanche’s six preseason contests were announced late last week. Though hardly the most exciting news of the day, there’s still a lot to dissect within the schedule’s contents.

First off, it is noteworthy that the season kicks off on October 11th on the road with a rare early season jaunt to California for a three-game road trip. The season opener against the new look LA Kings will be an interesting matchup as well as an early playoff rematch with the Seattle Kraken. That all happens before the first game at Ball Arena which for some reason has to be against the Chicago Blackhawks for the third straight year but at least there’s the excitement of getting a look at impending first overall pick Connor Bedard.

This schedule has a few quirks including two lengthy road trips, which is a bit unusual for the Avalanche. A five-game journey to the east coast in January is followed up by a six-game return to finish off the bulk of the region in February. The trips are at least sandwiched around a nice nine-day break for the All-Star Game and the mandatory bye week. Only eight back-to-backs including several no travel pairs is a welcome break from the usual shoehorned schedule.

What also stands out are a few games with unusual start times at home including a noon game against Pittsburgh, one at 2 p.m. versus Florida and a 4 p.m. tilt hosting Arizona. The national TV schedule has not been announced yet so that may play a factor but at the very least some variety for the home fans to plan games to attend. There are also a lot of 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. MT starts at home which will make for a lot of late nights.

The Central Division slate is spread out fairly evenly with of course a heavy dose in April especially. The Avalanche only have to visit Winnipeg once and host Nashville once as their divisional oddities. The final two games against Vegas and Edmonton could mean something if the first seed is still up for grabs.

Which games are you most looking forward to?