The Colorado Avalanche’s biggest roster question for next season is who will be the next center on the depth chart after Nathan MacKinnon.

It’s a familiar quandary. The Avs have tried a lot of different players in that spot since Nazem Kadri left for Calgary after winning the Stanley Cup in 2022. They paid a metric ton in assets for the most recent addition, Brock Nelson, but the end of his season was a mixed bag, and he’s a pending unrestricted free agent.

What the Avs paid for Nelson would matter a lot less if the club were still playing. But after an early exit, giving up the top prospect who could have been the long-term answer at No. 2 center (Calum Ritchie) and a future first-round pick, for potentially just 19 regular-season games and seven playoff games of Nelson, would sting.

So, who are the best options to be Colorado’s No. 2 center next season? Let’s dig in.

Internal options

Brock Nelson

Vitals: 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, turns 34 on Oct. 152024-25 stats: 26 goals, 56 points in 80 games

It was a weird year for Nelson. He scored one power-play goal in 146 minutes for the Islanders, but three times shorthanded in 76 minutes. He had a few games in the Dallas series when he didn’t play well, and then a few when he was noticeably better … but the production didn’t really follow.

Nelson just had the three best years of his career in his age-30, 31 and 32 seasons. But his age-33 year was more in line with 27-29. So the first question: Do the Avs want to bet on age-34 and beyond?

The second question: How long a contract will he be looking for? And the third question, which might really be the first: Does Nelson want to stick around?

“It’s easy to say this when you’re not making the actual decision — I don’t want to give Brock Nelson five years,” ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro said. “I don’t. Then you start looking around and you go … if you don’t, then what are you going to do?

“Given what we’ve seen from Colorado’s management is that they’re not going to blow their brains out in the summer for somebody they don’t prefer, and they’re going to start with as much around whatever the hole might be, and try and fill it as they go forward. To me, that’s the most prudent way to go.”

Nelson, on the right contract, is the Avs’ best option. He’s tight with Devon Toews. MacKinnon is a fan. A second line with Nelson flanked by Gabe Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin is big and skilled and could be one of the best in the league.

But the top of the center market is thin, and the cap ceiling is going way up. Minnesota is the most obvious Nelson suitor if he makes it to July 1, but there could be others.

Nelson is probably getting at least $7 million per season. Much more than that, and the Avs would need to trade a player off the roster just to fill the other holes. If he wants 4-5 years, that could be hard for Colorado to do as well.

Maybe the desire to win a second title in the next 2-3 years is so great that it’s worth doing a longer deal with Nelson and just worrying about what happens when he’s really in decline later.

What the Avs could or should offer Nelson gets more complicated when we fan out and look for other options.

Charlie Coyle

Vitals: 6-3, 215, 33 years old2024-25 stats: 17 goals, 35 points in 83 games

If the Avs don’t sign Nelson or add another center, Coyle becomes the leading candidate to slot in at 2C, at least while Colorado shops for another one between opening night and the trade deadline. Coyle was an instant hit with his coach and teammates, had a productive spurt near the end of the regular season, and then went quiet against Dallas.

“In my role, we do a lot of Boston games,” Ferraro said. “I’ve watched Charlie for years, and Charlie’s a terrific third center. He’s not a No. 2 center. You’re asking him to do something that doesn’t jive with the tools that he has to me in that spot.”

Martin Necas

Vitals: 6-3, 195, 26 years old2024-25 stats: 27 goals, 83 points in 79 games

Necas has played some center in his career, but is better on the wing. Just like Mikko Rantanen was at times, he could be a temporary solution while the Avs scavenge for a more permanent one.

Gabe Landeskog

Vitals: 6-1, 215, turns 33 in November2024-25 stats: One goal, four points in five playoff games

It’s really hard to see the Avs committing to even two-thirds of a season with Landeskog at center. Just doesn’t make a lot of sense given the obvious health concerns.

External UFA options

Sam Bennett, Panthers

Vitals: 6-1, 190, turns 29 in June2024-25 stats: 25 goals, 51 points in 76 games

Bennett produces like a solid enough No. 2 center, but he’s going to be paid like a top-tier option. That means the Avs won’t likely get anywhere near his asking price in a bidding war. He’s one of the top two guys in the league in the “mean, but also good at hockey” category, along with Washington’s Tom Wilson.

“There’s going to be 22 teams vying for Sam Bennett,” Ferraro said.

John Tavares, Maple Leafs

Vitals: 6-1, 211, turns 35 in September2024-25 stats: 28 goals, 53 points in 73 games

For the third or fourth offseason in a row, change is expected to come in Toronto. Would the kid with the Maple Leafs bedsheets actually leave home, and what will the market look like? I’d rather bet on Nelson, but the price might be better for Tavares — if he reaches the market.

Matt Duchene, Stars

Vitals: 5-11, 212, 34 years old2024-25 stats: 30 goals, 82 points in 82 games

Could that bridge be repaired if the Stars can’t sign him and Duchene reaches the UFA market? Nelson was better in that series, and Duchene hasn’t entirely beaten the allegations of having trouble producing in the playoffs.

Mikael Granlund, Stars

Vitals: 5-10, 185, 33 years old2024-25 stats: 22 goals, 66 points in 83 games

Not sure he’s an ideal No. 2 center on a contending team (he’s on the wing in Dallas), but maybe putting him between Landeskog and Nichushkin would work? He’s not going to be cheap, either.

External trade options

This could be a pretty fluid group. There could be guys available next month, more after the season starts and then a bigger group ahead of the deadline.

If your question is, “What would the Avs trade for this guy?” … that’s a good question. It’s going to be hard for Colorado to beat other teams’ offers.

Nazem Kadri, Flames

Vitals: 6-0, 185, turns 35 in October2024-25 stats: 35 goals, 67 points in 82 games

Avs couldn’t do seven years, $49 million three years ago. What about four years, $28 million now? One slight problem: Calgary doesn’t seem like it wants to rebuild, so trading the No. 1 center seems like a long shot.

Ryan O’Reilly, Predators

Vitals: 6-1, 207, turns 35 in February2024-25 stats: 21 goals, 53 points in 79 games

Oh look, another ex-Avs center. It was a weird year in Nashville, and O’Reilly is on a team-friendly contract. The Predators could have moved him before the deadline, but didn’t seem very interested in doing so.

Marco Rossi, Wild

Vitals: 5-9, 182, turns 24 in September2024-25 stats: 24 goals, 60 points in 82 games

There’s been speculation that Rossi and the Wild might not see a long-term partnership together. If Minnesota did make him available this summer, there would likely be many suitors.

Trevor Zegras, Ducks

Vitals: 6-0, 185, 24 years old2024-25 stats: 12 goals, 32 points in 57 games

Zegras had a strong finish to the season, but now he has a new coach. He also hasn’t been playing a lot of center lately. He’d be a very high-risk option, and the Ducks aren’t likely to feel like they need to sell low, either.

And, because this is a story about the Avalanche and potential options at center …

Sidney Crosby, Penguins

Vitals: 5-11, 200, turns 38 in August2024-25 stats: 33 goals, 91 points in 80 games

It’s not going to happen, and certainly not this offseason. Even if MacKinnon tries to lay the groundwork in Stockholm for something in the future, it’s still extremely unlikely Crosby asks out of Pittsburgh.

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By The Associated Press

HERNING, Denmark — HERNING, Denmark (AP) — After a goalless opening period, the United States went on to secure its place in the quarterfinals of the ice hockey world championship with a 6-1 rout of Kazakhstan on Sunday.

The Americans are tied atop Group B with the Czech Republic on 14 points, one more than Switzerland. The already qualified Czechs and Swiss have two more games to play in the preliminary round. The U.S. completes the group stage against the Czech Republic on Tuesday.

“I thought we were ready to play out of the gate,” U.S. head coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “We need to continue to build and get ready for what will be a big challenge on Tuesday against the Czechs.”

Despite an unproductive first period in Herning, the U.S. jumped to a commanding five-goal lead in the second.

Frank Nazar broke the deadlock 6:58 into the period with a shot from the left circle above the glove of Sergei Kudryavtsev. The forward added two assists later in the game.

Defenseman Jackson Lacombe wristed a shot from the blue line through heavy traffic to double the lead with 8:14 to go in the second period.

The next two goals came in the span of 58 seconds.

Forward Tage Thompson scored his fifth at the tournament — after receiving a pass from defenseman Zeev Buium — to make it 3-0 with 6:00 left. Matty Beniers increased the advantage to four from the left circle before Michael Kesselring scored with a high shot from a tight angle from the boards 56 seconds before the end of the period.

U.S. defensive star Zach Werenski skated toward the goal before beating backup goalie Maxim Pavlenko who came on at the beginning of the final period.

Goaltender Jeremy Swayman made 16 saves for the U.S.

In Stockholm, Austria beat Slovenia 3-2 in a shootout to keep alive its hopes of reaching the quarterfinals for the first time. Austria is tied in fourth with Slovakia in Group A.

The top four teams from each group will advance.

Later Sunday, Switzerland meets Hungary in Herning and Slovakia plays Latvia in Stockholm.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Thomas Harley scored a power-play goal 1:33 into overtime to lift the Dallas Stars to a 2-1 win against the visiting Winnipeg Jets in Game 6 of their second-round series on Saturday night, advancing them to the Western Conference finals for the third straight season.

Harley received a pass just above the right hash marks and scored with a one-timer. Dallas will face Edmonton in a rematch of the 2024 conference finals won by the Oilers.

Sam Steel also scored and Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for the Stars, who bounced back from a 4-0 loss at Winnipeg in Game 5 on Thursday in the best-of-seven series.

“We’ve learned a lot the last two years,” Oettinger said. “All we wanted was this opportunity. The fact that it’s Edmonton makes it even better.

“It’s up to us to take the next step. We should feel great what we have done, but I think our best hockey is yet to come.”

Mark Scheifele scored hours after learning his father died, and Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves for the Jets, the Presidents’ Trophy winner during the regular season who were trying to reach the conference finals for the first time since 2018.

“It’s just a heartbreak at the end of it, the way it ended,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “It’s a tough one, but I’m proud of our guys, how they rallied around (Scheifele) all day. We were lifting him up all day to get him out there on the ice to do what he did.”

Oettinger stopped Nikolaj Ehlers on a breakaway at 5:13 of the second period, but the Jets got the puck back and Scheifele scored 15 seconds later during a delayed penalty — the only penalty called through the first two periods.

Kyle Connor’s wrist shot was saved by Oettinger, but the rebound came in front of the crease and Scheifele was there to push it between Oettinger’s pads for his fifth goal of the postseason.

Scheifele, 32, learned on Saturday morning that his 68-year-old father, Brad, had died suddenly the night before, but Scheifele opted to play.

“Just courageous what he did tonight, and I’m sure his dad would have been really proud of him and what he did, and I’m sure his dad would have wanted him there,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said of Scheifele. “Tough night for him and anybody in the hockey world that has been in a situation like that.”

Scheifele came into Game 6 second on the team in playoff points with four goals and six assists after notching 39 goals and a career-best 87 points during the regular season.

Dallas tied it 1-1 at 11:12 of the second when Harley took a shot from above the right circle and along the wall that Hellebuyck saved, but the rebound shot out to the top of the right circle and Steel was there to score with a one-timer into the top right corner.

Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey had to be helped to the locker room late in the second period with a lower-body injury and he did not return.

Scheifele committed a tripping penalty with 15 seconds left in third period on Steel at the start of a potential breakaway, resulting in the first power play of the game for either team.

The penalty carried into overtime, where Harley scored with 12 seconds left on the man advantage.

“We lost to a great team,” Arniel said. “We lost to a team that was in our rearview mirror all year long … They have a heck of a hockey team and we wish them all the best.”

–Field Level Media

Seventy-three (73) varsity athletes that were on a 2024-25 team roster were recognized by Colorado College on Sunday as members of the Class of 2025. Several of them received their diploma from Interim President Dr. Manya Whitaker at the Commencement Ceremony held at Ed Robson Arena.
 
During their four years at Colorado College, student-athletes from the Class of 2025 accounted for:
 
First-Team All-American = 4
Second-Team All-American = 1
Third-Team All-American = 1
Fourth-Team All-American = 1
Honorable Mention All-American = 2
NCAA Team Tournament Appearances = 12
Team Conference Champions = 20
Conference Player of the Year = 9
Individual Conference Champions = 19
SCAC Elite 19 Awards = 4 

Congratulations to the Class of 2025!

 

Nabila Argueta (Women’s Swimming)

Evan Arvizu (Volleyball)

Evelyn Baher-Murphy (Women’s Lacrosse)

Will Bavier (Men’s Soccer)

Sarah Beelaert (Women’s Swimming)

Nate Beerman (Men’s Tennis)

Evie Biggs (Women’s Soccer)

Healy Bledsoe (Women’s Basketball & Lacrosse)

Steph Brown (Volleyball)

Erin Capell (Women’s Track & Field)

Zahra Cheeseman (Women’s Soccer)

Stanley Cooley (Hockey)

Olivia Crisafulli (Women’s Swimming)

Kevin Dittman (Men’s Basketball)

Avery Dysart (Men’s Lacrosse)

Kaelin Enga (Women’s Soccer)

Emma Faraon (Volleyball)

Step Flanagan (Men’s Swimming)

Amelia Grady (Women’s Swimming)

Curtis Hale (Men’s Soccer)

Will Hanson (Men’s Lacrosse)

Britt Helgaas (Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field)

Jack Hussin (Men’s Swimming)

Walt Jones (Men’s Cross Country)

Emma Krasemann (Women’s Diving)

Kyle Lee (Men’s Basketball)

Brayden Legette (Men’s Lacrosse)

Teddy Libby (Men’s Soccer)

Aiden Little (Men’s Tennis)

Tobin Lonergan (Women’s Lacrosse)

Bennett Love (Men’s Lacrosse)

Vincent Luglio (Men’s Soccer)

Leo Magnus (Men’s Basketball)

Declan Maguire (Men’s Lacrosse)

Remi Maher (Men’s Soccer)

Alex Meyerhoff (Men’s Soccer)

Tommy Middleton (Hockey)

Kelli Miller (Volleyball)

Mara Mueting (Women’s Cross Country)

Peyton Murphy (Women’s Lacrosse)

Karsten Nyarady (Men’s Lacrosse)

Kalan O’Hara (Men’s Lacrosse)

Isabel Olson (Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field)

Lucas Pastor (Men’s Tennis)

Caleb Peimann (Men’s Swimming)

Holden Perry (Men’s Track & Field)

Devin Philio (Men’s Basketball)

Adrian Price (Men’s Basketball)

Delaney Rach (Volleyball)

Collin Ralston (Men’s Swimming)

Sydney Rankin (Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field)

Aidan Richter (Men’s Diving)

Ava Risser (Women’s Soccer)

Edgar Romero (Men’s Basketball)

Kyle Rowland (Women’s Basketball)

Scott Ruegg (Men’s Basketball)

Luke Sadhwani (Men’s Swimming)

Kelsey Shankle (Women’s Lacrosse)

Elliot Singer (Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field)

Kevin Somerville (Men’s Lacrosse)

Annie Steger (Volleyball)

Ashley Stewart (Women’s Soccer)

Laura Strenk (Women’s Basketball)

Kaylie Stuteville (Volleyball)

Hannah Sweeney (Women’s Lacrosse)

Andrew Tan (Men’s Lacrosse)

Zoe Tomlinson (Women’s Basketball)

Ryan Trapasso (Men’s Lacrosse)

Brett Tsamasfyros (Women’s Soccer)

Charlie Wagner (Men’s Soccer)

Alexander Ward (Men’s Soccer)

Henry Wilder (Hockey)

Kaelin Woodruff (Women’s Soccer)

 

 

 

Posted on May 18, 2025

By Harold C. Ford

While many of Flint’s most notable athletes found success in basketball, football, baseball, and track and field, Rico Phillips found it in ice hockey.

The son of an African American father and a German immigrant mother, Phillips grew up in Flint and graduated from Flint Southwestern High School in 1987. In March, he was inducted into the Greater Flint African American Sports Hall of Fame
(GFAASHOF), making him one of just four Flint athletes feted in the sport of ice hockey between GFAASHOF and the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame. The honor also makes him the only African American with Flint hall of fame recognition specifically for ice hockey.

An East Village Magazine (EVM) review of 265 individuals and 15 teams in the GFAASHOF found only one other reference to ice hockey. Norman Graham Jr. was inducted in 2018, and while a sentence of his seven-paragraph tribute indicates he “was one of seven African-American children from Flint’s Southside to join the Greater Flint Hockey Association,” and that “he was selected team captain” and “the leading scorer on all but two of his teams,” the rest of the message notes Graham’s long list of track accomplishments.

Despite making history, in an interview with Phillips after his hall of fame induction, the star athlete noted that ice hockey was “the furthest thing” he believed he would ever participate in.

From floor to ice

Phillips recalled his first experience with hockey taking place in the gymnasium of Flint’s Lincoln Elementary School. That’s where he discovered that he enjoyed a game played with sticks used to shoot a puck or ball into a net.

“I really loved it,” Phillips said, adding that he had liked playing goalie.

But at home there was less hockey and more basketball, as his backyard featured a hoop in the driveway where the older neighborhood boys would come to compete.

“I was always the short guy,” Phillips remembered. “I never was really good at it.”

So, he volunteered to grab the whistle and referee those driveway basketball games – an experience that would serve him well in years to come as an on-ice hockey official.

Not being built for basketball isn’t what led Phillips to hockey, however. Instead, it was a bit of serendipity.

Phillips got his certification in first aid and CPR while in eighth grade, which led the head athletic trainer at Flint Southwestern High School (SWHS) to ask Phillips to be an assistant. Phillips immediately said yes.

“It was an opportunity to use hands-on skills,” he recalled. Plus, Phillips wanted to become a firefighter at the time, and he knew the experience and first aid-CPR training would be useful.

During his freshman and sophomore years at Southwestern, Phillips saw the hockey teams up close from his position as an assistant trainer.

“I knew there’s going to be some injuries so I get to hone my [first aid and CPR] skills,” Phillips recalled.

That experience as an assistant trainer for Southwestern’s ice hockey team turned out to be transformational. “I couldn’t believe the speed, the skill, the passion,” he said. “It was from there that I found my love for the sport.”

Phillips’ budding sideline interest led him to ask the ice hockey coach if he would teach him how to skate.

“He looked at me as if I was kind of crazy,” Phillips said, but the team’s assistant coach did end up working with Phillips, one-on-one, to teach him.

“That’s how I got on the ice,” Phillips said. “At first I was just grabbing the boards and holding onto them the whole time.”

After a short stint on the SWHS team during spring hockey season, Phillips came back for more.

“I don’t know why I came back to hockey after that [spring] season because I was getting the snot knocked out of me,” he said with a laugh.

In fact, Phillips recalled his dad saying to him, “You don’t want to play hockey; they get their teeth knocked out.”

A few years later, Phillips did, indeed, lose his front teeth playing hockey, but it didn’t much matter by then.

“I was having the time of my life,” he said.

“Go ref basketball where you belong”

During his junior year at SWHS, Phillips remarkably advanced to a head trainer position for all of Genesee County high school hockey.

In locker room conversations between periods, adult ice hockey officials convinced Phillips, still a senior in high school at the time, that he should become an on-ice referee. It would be challenging for certain, but he would be compensated for his time.

While the challenge of refereeing was expected to come from having to skate at the same speed as the players (and stop quickly, which Phillips had yet to learn to do well), the challenge would also prove to come from Phillips’ complexion in the nearly all-white world of ice hockey arenas.

“I would start hearing things from people in the stands,” he recalled. “Why don’t you go ref basketball where you belong?” was one such example.

White referees would insultingly remind him that a faceoff with a puck drop was not the same as a jump ball in basketball.

“I didn’t know how to accept it,” Phillips recalled of hearing such things from his colleagues.

Then, while officiating at the former IMA ice arena in Flint, 17-year-old Phillips admittedly blew a call. He was summoned to the bench by an angry coach, and once there, the team’s assistant coach called him a “n*****” and threatened to assault him in the parking lot after the match.

“It was a moment that shook me up,” Phillips remembered. “There was nobody that could support me; I refed the rest of the game in a fog.”

Ultimately, Phillips’ co-official (a white adult) skated over to the bench and threw the offending coach out of the contest.

After the match concluded, he offered Phillips advice that remains salient for him to this day: “Rico, either today you’re going to grow up or you’re going to stay a kid. You’re going to come across people that are racist in your life, and it’s how you’re going to deal with that racism that’s going to dictate how happy you are.”

His co-official reminded Phillips that he, Phillips, could’ve and should’ve thrown the offending coach out of the contest.

“But I had your back,” he said. “People will have your back.”

Even knowing he had allies on the ice, after the incident, Phillips considered leaving the sport that he’d grown to love.

Racism continued to taint his hockey experience, but he said he learned how to weather it over time.

Early on, Phillips said he used self-deprecating humor. “I was endearing because I would make people laugh,” he explained. But later, he realized that he was “normalizing bigotry,” and he’d had enough, saying to himself, “this shit ain’t funny no more; I’ve gotta stop joking.”

Adding to the hate he endured on-ice, Phillips also caught hell from his Black friends who didn’t understand his passion for ice hockey. “Why are you playing this white sport?” he remembers being asked.

Phillips struggled to explain to his friends the speed and skill of ice hockey.

“All they really knew about the sport is there was fighting,” he said.

Phillips eventually moved past the criticisms of his friends, though, noting, “I began to become proud I was the only Black person on the ice.”

Rico Phillips (back row, left) and members of FICYHP. (Photo by Savannah Edwards)

Flint Inner City Youth Hockey Program

Throughout his hockey career, Phillips came to realize that many of the participants in youth ice hockey were white and rather privileged. That’s what sparked the idea for a Flint Inner City Youth Hockey Program (FICYHP) to serve children of color. He said he longed to “influence young Black families … about how the sport is so great and offers so much.”

“Diversifying the sport is my goal,” Phillips explained. He hopes to help move ice hockey to a stage where a future Rico Phillips is not the only person of color to ref or play. “When that happens, racial slurs will begin to disappear from the sport,” he said.

FICYHP, established in 2010, now lists its mission “to introduce, teach how to ice skate and develop hockey skills to kids who would otherwise not have an opportunity to enjoy the sport” on its website’s home page.

With considerable pride, Phillips told EVM that 16 FICYHP graduates have gone on to play organized hockey at higher levels. In particular he referenced William Walker, who began playing FICYHP hockey at seven-years-old and was eventually
awarded a partial-ride scholarship at Michigan’s Adrian College.

“He’s furthering his education,” Phillips said. “There’s legacy there.”

Reflecting on his recent hall of fame induction, Phillips added that “legacy is important” to him as he grows older and passes his sport on to the next generation.

He said he hopes to be remembered as a giving person.

“It’s been my passion my entire life,” Phillips said. “I wanted to help.”

Phillips was inducted into the GFAASHOF on March 23 along with basketballers Thomas McGill, Anthony Pendleton, Demetrius Calip, and Evette Ott; tracksters Edward Taylor and Eugene Taylor; and baseballer Hershel Pritchard.

Team inductions included the 1984 and 1985 Flint Northwestern HS men’s basketball teams and the 1980 Beecher women’s basketball team.

This article also appears in East Village Magazine’s May 2025 issue.

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