Stanley Cup Playoffs notebook: How Avalanche built a unique roster

The Colorado Avalanche have had a lot of success thanks to the depth of their lineup and their high-end guys making a big difference for them year after year.

But one thing that leaps off the page when you look at their roster is how few of their current players the Avalanche actually drafted. Go ahead, rack your brains, but it's an unbelievably low number: Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Gabriel Landeskog. That's it. Three guys were picked in the top four of their respective drafts, and no one else was selected by the Avalanche in any draft. Which makes sense when you think about it. When they keep their first-round picks, they tend to be late in the first round, and the Avs aren't really in a position to give middling picks a ton of runway to mature at the NHL level like a rebuilding te