Mackenzie Blackwood hasn't had the fortune of playing on many good teams in the NHL, and when you play on bad teams, you usually end up with a high draft pick.
Higher than players prefer.
"It's got to be a record, right?" Blackwood joked about how many No. 1 overall picks he counts as former teammates.
Blackwood does not have the record. Anyone who played on the horrific 2015-16 Edmonton Oilers squad that featured four No. 1 overall picks has a leg up on the competition. But Blackwood, at just 28, has been teammates with five: Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, Macklin Celebrini, and now, Nathan MacKinnon.
The four veterans have combined for 16 All-Star game appearances and two Hart Trophies, while the young Celebrini will only pump up those numbers as his career unfolds.
"They all go first overall for a reason," Blackwood said.
It's only been a month, but it's clear to Blackwood that while they're all supremely talented and special players in their own right, the Avalanche superstar is built a little different.
"Nate's a special player," he said. "What separates him is how competitive he is, day in and day out. Some of the guys, they're just more talented and kind of do the same stuff as everyone else. (MacKinnon) is the guy that drives the bus here."
None of this comes as a surprise to Avalanche fans or hockey fans as a whole. MacKinnon's competitive nature and work ethic on and off the ice has been well documented. Earlier this week, just 14 hours after playing 26 minutes and picking up three assists in an overtime win over Buffalo, the 29-year-old forward was the first player to hit the ice for practice.
If fans have heard the stories of what MacKinnon's competitiveness, you can bet other NHL players have as well.
"He's got that reputation," Blackwood said. "Seeing it (up close), it just kind of confirms what everybody says. One of the hardest-working guys, competitor, and he cares.
"It's all true."
That's not to downplay the other talent Blackwood has been around. Hall edged MacKinnon for the Hart Trophy back in 2018, a year before Blackwood entered the NHL. Hischier has developed into one of the most complete forwards the league offers. No one would be surprised if Hischier's teammate, Jack Hughes, leads the league in scoring some day.
Including Blackwood.
"I got to watch (Hughes) grow," the Avalanche netminder said. "Jack's more high-flying, shifty, and less physical. Amazing player in his own right. Jack's like a Patrick Kane-esque kind of guy."
Then you've got the 18-year-old Celebrini, with whom Blackwood played this season in San Jose. From the outside looking in, Celebrini looks like a special talent who can do a bit of everything.
I see Celebrini with a bit of MacKinnon and Crosby to his game. That's not a unique assessment.
"I would agree," Blackwood said on the MacKinnon comparison. "(Celebrini) is more like Nate where he's heavy on the puck, physical, that kind of stuff."
What separates Celebrini from some other recent No. 1 overall picks is his overall game. He won the Hobey Baker award last year as a 17-year-old playing at Boston University, and it wasn't solely because of his offense.
From the moment the teenager arrived at training camp in San Jose, he was on another level.
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"I was most impressed with how complete a player (Celebrini) was at his age," Blackwood said. "He's physical, he's responsible defensively, he cares. There's not a lot of obvious growing pains that he's experiencing right now. Obviously there's learning curves, but he's driving a first line in the NHL already, so it's pretty incredible."
At the moment, the league is currently being led by the likes of MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Leon Draisaitl and Alex Barkov.
It won't be long until Celebrini is considered to be in that tier.
"He has it," Blackwood said. "Being 18 years old, you don't get to express it maybe to the level that Nate can now. He hasn't really grown into the personality of being able to lead the locker room just yet, but I have no doubts in my mind that he'll be that player one day."
"I bet you if we have this conversation again in four years, we'll be talking about him in a similar fashion (to MacKinnon)."
That would make for some fun Colorado-San Jose matchups in the coming years.
What I'm hearing
—Colorado has a veteran locker room full of players who have won in the past and want to keep winning. Can that be intimidating to a player trying to break into the league full-time?
"No, I wouldn't say so," Keaton Middleton said. "The guys are great. They're welcoming. It's a great group of guys, so that helps."
—Ross Colton had nine points in 10 games before breaking his foot at the end of October. Since returning, he has just 5 points in 15 games, despite playing predominantly in the top six. His physicality was key to Colorado tying the game this week against Florida, and Jared Bednar wants more of that from him.
"That's the way we need him to play," Bednar said. "He's got to be a hungry, physical, tenacious, relentless worker and that's when he's at his best."
What I'm seeing
—Casey Mittelstadt is trending up with three points in his last five games. He still doesn't look right, though. During a third period power play against the Blackhawks, he had an ugly giveaway that nearly resulted in a goal against. He was beaten too easily on the game-winning goal in the neutral zone and was not one of Bednar's top choices to put out there when he pulled the goalie to try to create offense. In fact, Juuso Parssinen and Jere Innala hit the ice before Mittelstadt.
To me, the biggest drop-off in his play has been along the boards. When he came over last season, he was winning board battles left and right, despite being the smaller player most of the time. That hasn't been happening for a few months.
—MacKinnon's time-on-ice the last five games: 23:12, 26:16, 25:24, 23:25, and 27:19. The Avalanche did go through a stretch where they were able to limit his minutes, but with more forwards missing due to injury, they're learning on him again. While most players will get a break in February, MacKinnon will not. He'll be one of the top players on Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
What I'm thinking
—I wasn't sure what to make of Vegas before the season, but they look like one of the top teams in the NHL right now. If the Avalanche can't lock down a top-three spot in the Central Division, there's a chance theyface the Golden Knights in round one. That's not ideal.
—Given the tragic death of Johnny Gaudreau right before the season, the Columbus Blue Jackets should be a sentimental pick as a playoff team. They're currently holding down the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference and have surpassed expectations.
Zach Werenski leads the league in time-on-ice per game and has kept pace with Cale Makar in the points race. He might make the Norris Trophy voting interesting at the end of the year.
