Comparing the Cores of the Avalanche, Stars & Oilers: Who's the Best?

Which Western Conference team, with star players on their roster, have the best core for the playoffs?

It’s always fun to compare entire teams to see which one takes the cake. But what about major cores? As in, the players who win you championships?

Here, I’ll be taking a look at 12 players across the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, and Edmonton Oilers to determine which core is the best. Make your voice heard by voting on the poll at the end of the post!

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Colorado Avalanche

Core: Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Martin Nečas, Devon Toews

Though the Avalanche’s core underwent a major change in the middle of this season, swapping out Mikko Rantanen for Martin Nečas, it’s not like they downgraded. In fact, it could be argued that they’ve only gotten stronger—especially considering their trade deadline moves.

But first, let’s start with the core here. On defense, Colorado is once again led by the unstoppable duo of Devon Toews and Cale Makar. Check out their numbers throughout the years, at 5-on-5:

2020-21: 24 goals scored, 13 goals allowed (64.86% goal share)

2021-22: 55 goals scored, 24 goals allowed (69.62% goal share)

2022-23: 44 goals scored, 27 goals allowed (61.97% goal share)

2023-24: 54 goals scored, 43 goals allowed (55.67% goal share)

2024-25: 40 goals scored, 27 goals allowed (59.70% goal share)

While the Avalanche’s top pairing isn’t quite at the same levels of dominance they were in 2020-21 and 2021-22 respectively, they are nonetheless a top pairing with nearly a 60% goal share. Handling elite competition with ease, this is a Cup-winning formula (literally).

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar hoists the Stanley Cup after defeating the Tampa Bay Lighting 2-1 in Game 6 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final (Photo by Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

An interesting note to make here is that, despite their excellent work, things don’t quite go as well when Nathan MacKinnon isn’t on the ice. Over the past two seasons, Toews and Makar are outscoring teams 72-49 when they also share the ice with MacKinnon. But when he’s on the bench, the advantage is 22-21.

MacKinnon is still one of the league’s most valuable players. Thus, bringing in Nečas from the Carolina Hurricanes was a brilliant move disguised as a “trade down.” His chemistry with MacKinnon has been immediate. Per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play, they are scoring 3.92 goals and allowing just 1.96. With actual and expected goal shares above 65%, these two complement each other tremendously.

Nečas, a player who is able to maximize MacKinnon better than Rantanen was, makes this team stronger. It could be what propels them back to the Stanley Cup Final.

Adding Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle to the mix is also worth noting, but it’s those core players who will have the biggest impact. Are they the best?

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Dallas Stars

Core: Miro Heiskanen, Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson, Thomas Harley, Wyatt Johnston

Inspiring this post were the Stars, who landed Rantanen at the trade deadline without sacrificing a single one of their core members. On the same day, they extended 21-year-old Wyatt Johnston to a reasonable five-year, $8.4 million cap-hit deal. Quite impressive.