In a stunned locker room, MacKinnon said it best: \u201cI don\u2019t know what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was referring in part to how well the Avs had played, how the Stars had two critical players injured for most of the series and still, this core group\u2019s quest for a second championship came up painfully short.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that you ask me about it, I still think about it,\u201d Avs forward Parker Kelly said. \u201cIt\u2019s something you\u2019re not going to forget. It\u2019s definitely tough the whole summer, then once you get back to training camp, it\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, it\u2019s a new year, new season. We\u2019ve learned from it, and we\u2019re going to try and use it as motivation.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never totally get over it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a crossroads moment for the players, for the organization. Three straight years, Colorado fell well short of postseason expectations. This one, because of how it ended \u2014 and who the main antagonist was \u2014 felt a little different. Every NHL team that makes the Stanley Cup Playoffs but doesn\u2019t win the title has a collective empty feeling at the end.<\/p>\n
This was a different level of pain.<\/p>\n
![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Avalanche-Stars-Hockey-8xx1.jpg\")
Dallas Stars’ Cody Ceci (44) and Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon (29) work against each other in the second period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez)<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I probably felt sick to my stomach, physically, for a week or two,\u201d Avs forward Jack Drury said. \u201cLike, awful. Then, the rest of the summer, it sticks to you a little bit. You just try to grow from it. I think your whole life, any losses stick from when you\u2019re 14-years-old on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard Nate say it before, like you can use those things sometimes to make your team tighter and grow from it, and hopefully we can keep using it going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colorado\u2019s management group set the course for this 2025-26 team almost immediately after the Game 7 loss. President Joe Sakic joined general manager Chris MacFarland<\/a> for the end-of-season press conference. Sakic\u2019s appearance was rare and surprising, but the message was clear.<\/p>\n Sakic and MacFarland believed in this group<\/a>, and felt they had a roster capable of winning the Stanley Cup. There would be no massive upheaval. This group would get another crack at it.<\/p>\n The Avs retained key trade addition Brock Nelson before he even had a chance to hit the open market. They signed Brent Burns to a one-year deal. Twenty players appeared in at least five games against Dallas, and 17 of them returned for training camp.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that one, even still thinking about it, stings in a way,\u201d Logan O\u2019Connor said. \u201cWe felt as though we had a team that had an opportunity to go on a pretty good run. We came up short of the goal in a Game 7 in a series we felt could have gone either way. For me personally, you really think about it for a couple weeks, but then it honestly lingers until the next season starts.<\/p>\n \u201cI think losing that way with the group, and we had a very similar group coming back this year, it just bonds a group together, failing in that way, as hard it was. You use it as motivation through this run, knowing that these opportunities don\u2019t come around every year. Have the team management has assembled, it\u2019s on us to go do the job now.\u201d<\/p>\n Multiple players pointed to MacKinnon as the guy who has helped put that stunning Game 7 loss into the best perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cIt definitely stung,\u201d Avs captain Gabe Landeskog. \u201cHard to put a time limit on it. Whenever you lose in the playoffs and they\u2019re still going on, it\u2019s always a little bitter. For at least one round, I just have zero interest in it. You\u2019re just pissed off.<\/p>\n \u201cNate has said it numerous times, about losing can bring the group closer together and actually can be a good thing for your group if you take it the right way. I think it meant a lot. It was something like, you don\u2019t come into training camp ruminating over something that happened four months ago, but you definitely keep it with you, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n The Avs certainly arrived in training camp as a focused, re-committed group. Colorado reeled off a 31-2-7 start to the season, which allowed the Avs to be the NHL\u2019s pacesetter.<\/p>\n Even with some injuries and a bit of a lull in the dog days, no one caught them. Winning the Central Division and earning the top seed in the Western Conference \u2014 something this group zeroed in on in large part because of that painful night in North Texas \u2014 has already paid clear dividends.<\/p>\n![\"Colorado](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TDP-L-SPHKNAVS-0505-02.jpg\")
Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, center, instructs Cale Makar (8), Gabriel Landeskog (92) and others during a time out in the third period in Game 7 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez)<\/p>\n