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Gone are the days when top players wanted out because they viewed the Avalanche as an NHL outpost that would grind and claw just to make the postseason, but were too many steps from raising the Stanley Cup.

Gone is the time when the Avalanche wasn’t just the NHL’s poorest team, it was 21 points behind the next-worst team and scored 112 fewer goals than its opponents.

And gone is the era when the Avalanche, as an organization, simply hoped to make a postseason dent, possibly winning a round to equal parts excite (look at what we did!) and tease (we’re not really close, but let’s act like it!) a fan base.

Oh, how things have changed for this Avalanche team, this general manager, this coach and this core of homegrown draft picks. From last in the league only five seasons ago to the center of the hockey world Wednesday when it hosts the twice-champion Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, four wins from glory.

“Colorado is going to be an unbelievable challenge,” Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said Tuesday. “They are a phenomenal team. They probably have a bunch of all-time great players when it’s all said and done.”

So what were the tent-pole moments on the Avalanche’s path to phenomenal? How did those potentially all-time great players get to this point with this organization?  Every player has a story, but it can be boiled down to four moments, all revolving around the draft. The Avalanche has more hits than misses in the first round of the draft, period.

“You have to be able to have a vision for what your team is going to be and wants to be and then you have to do the best you can with the draft picks you have,” said ESPN NHL analyst Ray Ferraro in a phone interview. “They have to be the core of your team because you can’t build your team through free agency in the cap world.”

As Colorado prepares for its first final-round appearance in 21 years, a look back is required to see how it arrived here.

June 24, 2011. Edmonton drafted Ryan Nugent-Hopkins first overall and the Avalanche followed with Gabe Landeskog. Through this regular season, Landeskog leads his draft class in games (738), goals (248) and penalty minutes (601) and is fifth in points (471). A year after being drafted, Landeskog, 19, was named the youngest captain in NHL history.

Leave it to the longest-tenure Avalanche player to sum up Landeskog’s impact.

“That’s tough for a 19-year old (to become a captain), but if one guy could handle it, it was him and he took it all in stride,” defenseman Erik Johnson said. “He might be the most important person in the whole organization.”

Johnson isn’t delivering a stretch-of-the-truth.

Landeskog may not have the speed of Nathan MacKinnon or flash of defenseman Cale Makar, but he has the “it” factor required to thrive and survive in the cauldron of the playoffs. Fight Brayden Schenn in last year’s first round against St. Louis? Done. Deliver quality performances in Game 3s at Nashville (two goals and two assists) and Edmonton (plus-4) to set up a sweep? Gabe did it.

“He leads by example, but then isn’t afraid to step up and challenge our team and challenge different individuals and keep trying to drive our team to raise the bar in all kids of different areas,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said.

Riding shotgun on the top line centered by MacKinnon, Landeskog knows how to set himself up for MacKinnon’s pass and isn’t afraid to get into the dirty areas of the offensive zone — in front of the goalie — to provide the perfect screen for a point shot from Makar.

“Over time, I think good leaders, and Landeskog has this, there is a steadiness and determination to the way he plays,” Ferraro said.

June 30, 2013. The Avalanche finished 29th out of 30 teams in the 2012-13 season and had an 18.8% chance of winning the draft lottery. It hit the jackpot and selected MacKinnon first overall. Among his draft class, he ranks third in games (638) and first in goals (242), assists (406) and points (648).

“There was no decision to be made,” Ferraro said. “Whoever was drafting first was drafting MacKinnon.”

MacKinnon, like Landeskog, made the major junior hockey-to-NHL jump and had 10 points in seven playoff games in the 2014 postseason. But then he struggled. He was durable but scored 14, 21 and 16 goals in Years 2-4.

Just as the Avs were ready to return to the playoffs, MacKinnon raised his game. Thirty-nine goals. Forty-one goals, Thirty-five goals. He had become an offensive force.

Playoff success eluded MacKinnon, though. A year and four days ago, his frustration boiled over after the Avs cratered in its second-round series against Vegas (up 2-0 and lost in six games).

“I’ve been here nine years and haven’t won (squat),” he said on a post-game Zoom interview.

Emotional, yes. But also accurate. MacKinnon scored 88 points this regular season, with a solid plus-22 and he has 11 playoff goals to pace the Avs.

“He’s a lot like most incredible players,” Ferraro said. “There is a certain point where they lose the stubbornness in their game to try and provide offense on every shift. There are some shifts that are just a shift — there is no play (to be made). Their game evolves into what we think of as a winning game.”

TNT analyst Darren Pang worked eight Avalanche playoff games from between the benches and saw a different MacKinnon than in years past.

“People would ask me, ‘Is MacKinnon getting frustrated?’” Pang said in a phone interview. “I said, ‘No.’ He was in control….That’s the evolution of maturity and calmness under fire.”

Nov. 5, 2017. Center Matt Duchene asked for a trade in December 2016 and a year later, Sakic found the right deal — a three-team blockbuster with Nashville and Ottawa. The Avalanche acquired top-six defenseman Sam Girard (who is out of the Finals with a broken sternum sustained in the St. Louis series) and a first-round pick that was top-10 protected in 2018 but not ’19.

The Avalanche was on its way to a playoff return when Sakic flipped Duchene. Call it a franchise re-set, a necessary move, a future table-setter or all of the above. The most important part: It helped the core of players chart the course with teammates who wanted to be here.

“Joe Sakic hit it out of the park with that move,” Pang said.

The Avalanche was surging in the standings and now had the fourth overall pick in 2019 to improve its roster. Enter defenseman Bo Byram.

“The day before the draft, you have your meetings with however many teams, but before the draft, I met with (Sakic) and the rest of the staff and I felt like the meeting went really well,” Byram said Tuesday. “But I was still surprised on draft day when they picked me.”

Byram played for Vancouver of the Western Hockey League in 2019-20 before moving into the Avalanche organization. Concussions have forced a start-and-stop-and-start to his career but he has been excellent in the playoffs (seven points in 14 games), seeing increased playing time after Girard’s injury.

“If Bo Byram continues to progress, you’re looking at another rock-solid player,” Ferraro said.

Said Pang: “Joe Sakic has found himself another gem.”

June 23, 2017. Before this draft year, the highest a player from the Alberta Junior Hockey League had been chosen was Joe Colborne at No. 16 to Boston in 2008. The Avalanche selected Makar fourth overall. Among his draft class, he is third in points (180) … as a defenseman.

Count Brooks Bandits coach Ryan Papaioannou among those surprised Makar was selected that high.

“We talked throughout the season with almost every NHL team but the interesting part for us is that as we got closer to the draft, the fewer teams we spoke to because the consensus was that he was going high,” Papaioannou said in a phone interview. “Geez, did I think he would go fourth? No. I didn’t think anybody would step out and make a pick like that, but you have to credit Colorado for not worrying about where he was coming from and knowing exactly what they were watching.”

What is it like to watch Makar at ice level?

Ferraro: “He’s as entertaining a player as there is to watch this side of (Connor) McDavid. He makes fast people look slow. I’m just constantly amazed with his agility and his athleticism and ability to create.”

Pang: “It’s special. He doesn’t do very much wrong and another impressive part has been his defending.”

Makar leads the Avalanche in points (22) and ice time (27:05) during the playoffs.

Landeskog becoming the captain. MacKinnon playing like a top overall pick. Sakic pulling the trigger on the Duchene deal. And adding Makar as a franchise defenseman. When the postscript of this Avalanche season is told, they will be the main characters.

“This team poses a unique challenge in what maybe others haven’t because of the high-end talent they have, what they have on the back end (and) the pace they play with,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

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