What a difference a year makes: It's been an uphill battle for the Avs in 2014-15

Nathan MacKinnon was the first overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft. As an 18-year-old last season, he racked up 24 goals and 63 points for the Colorado Avalanche and won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year. He spent the summer training with Sidney Crosby, getting into shape, looking to dominate.

He’s still the same talented kid. In a shootout Sunday night, he skated into the slot, slowed down and stickhandled. He faked a shot and froze the goalie. He made another move, got the goalie going to his right and flipped the puck the opposite direction, just past the glove and into the net. Gorgeous. He’s 4-for-4 in shootouts this season.

Yet he has five goals and 20 points, putting him on pace for 12 goals and 49 points. He hasn’t scored in 15 straight games.

And he’s not alone.

Colorado’s young forwards shined last season as the Avs finished third in the NHL standings. The team’s top four scorers were Matt Duchene, the third overall pick in 2009; Gabriel Landeskog, the second overall pick in 2011; Ryan O’Reilly, a second-round pick in 2009; and MacKinnon.

Now the young forwards are struggling as the Avs sit 24th in the NHL standings. The team’s top-scoring forwards are 35-year-old Alex Tanguay and 37-year-old Jarome Iginla. The 23-year-old Duchene, 22-year-old Landeskog, 23-year-old O’Reilly and 19-year-old MacKinnon are all off last season’s pace.

View photos Everything seemed to work out for Colorado last season ''and this year it's kind of the opposite.'' (USA Today) More

“I mean, all of us are kind of cold right now,” MacKinnon said. “Guys came in with some high expectations. It’s been frustrating for sure. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. Obviously you want to produce more than we have.”

The Avs had 112 points last season – and Patrick Roy won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year – even though they were one of the league’s worst possession teams. Skeptics said they did it because of unsustainably high shooting and save percentages. The Avs said they did it because they took high-percentage shots and allowed low-percentage shots.

Well, once again, the Avs are one of the NHL’s worst possession teams. Actually, they’re even worse as measured by Corsi (percentage of shot attempts) and Fenwick (percentage of unblocked shot attempts). And now they’re scoring fewer goals (2.99 last season, 2.46 this season) and allowing more goals (2.63 last season, 3.00 this season). They’re 12-13-8, on pace for only 79 points.

The magic is gone. They went 35-8-3 when outshot last season. They’re 6-10-6 when outshot this season.

“Last year nothing could go wrong,” MacKinnon said, “and this year it’s kind of the opposite.”

A few reasons:

— Personnel: The Avs parted with center Paul Stastny and winger P-A Parenteau. They added Iginla, winger Daniel Briere and defenseman Brad Stuart.

— Injuries: They have lost more than 175 man-games to injury. Though their top skaters have been healthy, their depth has been thinned, and goaltender Semyon Varlamov has missed at least 15 games over three stretches because of groin problems.

— The power play: While the penalty kill has improved, the power play has gone from fifth in the NHL at 19.8 percent to 25th in the NHL at 14.0 percent.

View photos There's a number of reasons for the Avs' downfall, from goaltending to injuries to bad luck. (USA Today) More

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