While there’s plenty of season left for things to change, the possibility exists that we may be witnessing one of the greatest teams in NHL history.
Get together with a group of sports fans and inevitably the question comes up: How would the best teams of today fare against the great teams of a generation ago?
Maybe we’ll never be able to truly answer that question because nobody wants to see Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux skating against Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid today, but we can get as close as ever to an answer.
Enter TRACR (Team Rating Adjusted for Competition and Roster).
The advanced metric normalizes a team’s performance (for any sport) from league factors that can either inflate or deflate its numbers in a given season. It uses data points and other factors to calculate how many goals per game (scored/allowed) better or worse teams are or were compared to the league-average club.
We can also take it one step further and rate teams by offensive TRACR (O-TRACR) and defensive TRACR (D-TRACR) in addition to overall TRACR. Note that lower is better for defensive ratings in each sport.
With a quarter of this century now over, this seems the perfect time to look back and see which team can rightfully hold the title of the best of the 2000s.
It turns out that the answer might just be a team whose destiny is to be determined over the next few months.
This has been quite the first half for the Colorado Avalanche (32-4-7), who are on pace to surpass the single-season record for points in a season. They have taken the ice 43 times and came away with a regulation loss on a seemingly impossible four occasions.
While there’s plenty of season left for things to change, the possibility exists that we may be witnessing one of the greatest teams in NHL history.
In fact, we can say that these Avalanche are the best team of the last quarter century, with the highest TRACR rating (1.68) of any club in the 2000s. Right behind them is the 2022-23 Bruins (1.41), owners of the NHL records for points (135) and wins (65) in a season.
Top 25 TRACR Seasons Since 2000-01
1.68 – 2025-26 Colorado Avalanche* 1.42 – 2022-23 Boston Bruins 1.36 – 2005-06 Ottawa Senators 1.24 – 2020-21 Colorado Avalanche 1.14 – 2000-01 Colorado Avalanche 1.11 – 2020-21 Vegas Golden Knights 1.11 – 2000-01 New Jersey Devils 1.09 – 2021-22 Colorado Avalanche 1.08 – 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings 1.06 – 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning 1.04 – 2008-09 Boston Bruins 1.01 – 2005-06 Detroit Red Wings 0.94 – 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks 0.94 – 2010-11 Boston Bruins 0.92 – 2016-17 Washington Capitals 0.91 – 2002-03 Dallas Stars 0.91 – 2009-10 Washington Capitals 0.91 – 2021-22 Calgary Flames 0.90 – 2001-02 Detroit Red Wings 0.90 – 2013-14 Boston Bruins 0.90 – 2020-21 Tampa Bay Lightning 0.89 – 2012-13 Pittsburgh Penguins 0.88 – 2021-22 St. Louis Blues 0.88 – 2008-09 Detroit Red Wings 0.88 – 2002-02 Ottawa Senators(*Through Jan. 8)
We’ll need to wait several months to see how this Colorado team stacks up in the postseason, but as any hockey fan knows, regular-season success isn’t necessarily a reliable indicator that the Stanley Cup is close at hand.
Just ask all those Presidents’ Trophy winners.
Of the 25 best teams (by TRACR rating) this century, only seven have captured hockey’s holy grail. Colorado was responsible for two of those (2000-01, 2021-22), as was Detroit (2001-02, 2007-08), with Boston (2010-11), Chicago (2012-13) and Tampa Bay (2020-21) the others.
That 2022-23 Boston team cruised through the regular season before it was eliminated in the first round by the eventual Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers.
But what Colorado has working in its favor is a remarkable balance.
Boston had the best defensive TRACR rating while its offense was not among the top 25 teams this century. This year’s Avalanche, meanwhile, rank second in offense (1.01), trailing only the 2005-06 Senators, and are top 10 in defense.
Top Offensive TRACR Seasons Since 2000-01
1.05 – 2005-06 Ottawa Senators 1.01 – 2025-26 Colorado Avalanche* 0.94 – 2009-10 Washington Capitals 0.92 – 2005-06 Detroit Red Wings 0.87 – 2022-23 Edmonton Oilers 0.85 – 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning 0.85 – 2021-22 Colorado Avalanche 0.80 – 2021-22 Florida Panthers 0.77 – 2021-22 Toronto Maple Leafs 0.76 – 2020-21 Colorado AvalancheWith Nathan MacKinnon and his league-leading 36 goals pacing the attack, Colorado leads the NHL with a whopping 4.05 goals per game.
Tampa Bay is the second-highest scoring team at a distant 3.45 per game.
MacKinnon and all-world defenseman Cale Makar (13 goals, 38 points) spearhead a deep and varied attack.
Martin Necas (20 goals) is outscoring the player he was traded for (Mikko Rantanen – 17 goals), Brock Nelson (21 goals) could be headed for his best season and Artturi Lehkonen (15 goals) and Valeri Nichushkin (11 goals) provide ample support.
Making Colorado’s season even more impressive is that it has come without much help from the power play. Despite the presence of MacKinnon and Makar, the Avs rank 24th with the man-advantage and that has played a role in their NHL-best 148 even-strength goals, 25 more than the next-closest team (Toronto and Washington).
The Avs also lead the league with a 2.21 goals-against average, far superior to second-place Minnesota (2.62). Whether it’s been Scott Wedgewood (2.19 GAA) or MacKenzie Blackwood (2.07) in net, Colorado has been a lockdown team.
And while the power play is a rare weak spot, the penalty killers have been superb with an NHL-best 85.4 percentage.
Top Defensive TRACR Seasons Since 2000-01
-0.92 – 2022-23 Boston Bruins -0.77 – 2002-03 New Jersey Devils -0.76 – 2020-21 Vegas Golden Knights -0.73 – 2011-12 Los Angeles Kings -0.72 – 2023-24 Florida Panthers -0.71 – 2011-12 St. Louis Blues -0.71 – 2020-21 New York Islanders -0.70 – 2012-13 Boston Bruins -0.69 – 2018-19 New York Islanders -0.67 – 2025-26 Colorado Avalanche*Colorado’s pursuit of NHL history became more difficult with recent injuries to captain Gabriel Landeskog and standout defenseman Devon Toews. Landeskog is likely to miss several weeks after he crashed into the post of the Panthers’ net in Sunday’s 2-1 loss. Toews slammed hard into the boards against Carolina a day earlier and is expected to miss around two weeks.
Beating the Avalanche has been challenging enough, but doing it on the road has been nearly impossible. Colorado is 18-0-2 on home ice with the only defeats being shootout losses to Dallas and Carolina back in October.
The Avs have outscored opponents 80-28 at home during a 16-game winning streak, two shy of a franchise record and the fourth longest by any team since 2000-01.
The 2022-23 Bruins set a slew of NHL records, including wins and points, while becoming the first team with five winning streaks of at least seven games in a season. They were the fifth team in league history with a 60-goal scorer (David Pastrnak) and the wins leader in net (Linus Ullmark).
Boston (3.67) finished second to Edmonton (3.96) in goals per game that season with 11 players scoring at least 10, led by Pastrnak’s career-best 61.
Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman formed one of the best goaltending tandems in recent memory and Patrice Bergeron won his sixth Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward in his final season before retirement.
Boston’s 2.12 goals-against average led the league by a good distance over second-place Carolina (2.56) and it also boasted the NHL’s top penalty kill (87.3%).
While that record-setting team thrived on defense, the 2005-06 Senators were dominant at the opposite end of the rink. That club finished 52-21-9 with 113 points and relied on an offense that scored a league-leading 3.80 goals per game.
Daniel Alfredsson scored 43 goals and tied for the team lead with Dany Heatley, each with 103 points. Heatley had the first of his back-to-back 50-goal seasons and Ottawa also had a third 90-point player in Jason Spezza.
Those Senators are one of just six teams this century with three 90-point players and 13 players reached double figures in goals, tied for the most during that span.
That high-flying offense, however, didn’t amount to much because top goaltender Dominik Hasek was injured in the Nagano Olympics and didn’t play the rest of the season. The Senators defeated Tampa Bay in the first round but were eliminated by Buffalo in the conference semifinals.
Regardless of what any numbers say, a team that doesn’t win the Stanley Cup will be an afterthought as just another good team that couldn’t finish the job. The 2022-23 Bruins and 2005-06 Senators, among others, fall into that category.
This year’s Avalanche will try to avoid that fate and the good news is they won’t have to face prime Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux.
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The Best NHL Teams of the Past 25 Years: Where Do the Avs Rank? Opta Analyst.
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