95 — the number of points accrued by the fast-tracked, rebuilt Colorado Avalanche. An achievement of monumental proportions that shocked the NHL world, improving from 48 points just a season ago.

Lead by general manager Joe Sakic at the top, he’s known that this young core the Avalanche possess is good. Real good — and he couldn’t be more proud of the young kids in how they’ve played this year.

In an interview with Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro of Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7, Sakic dishes on the turnaround from 48 points in 2016-2017 season, to the nearly-doubled 95 points of this year and how the young faces are changing the fortunes of the Avalanche.

“Going into the year, we have a lot of new faces on this team. A lot of kids,” Sakic said. “You really never know how they’re going to react to the ups and downs in the course of a year… These young kids all came in excited to play; brought energy to the dressing room. Every single one of them — a great group of kids with a lot of character, and all want to win.”

Sakic talks about the close-knit bond between the Avalanche players and how that’s playing a major part in weathering the storm of ups and downs in a full season.

“I’m really proud of this group. That dressing room is a close dressing room. You talk about chemistry, and if you don’t have it in the dressing room, you have a tough time going through ups and downs.”

Sorry – this audio content is no longer available., including what he had to say about the Avalanche moving forward, the series against the Predators and more, or listen to the podcast below.

Sorry – this audio content is no longer available.

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