Kickin' it with Kiz: Where did the championship mojo of the Avs go? And is major change coming to this talented core?

The Avs need a goalie.

– T.F., Boulder

Kiz: The championship window for the Avalanche is not closed, but this team has lost its championship swagger. Hey, stuff happens when you’ve underperformed since winning the Stanley Cup in 2022. Where to place the blame? Maybe it’s on the front office’s steadfast belief an elite goalie isn’t essential to making a deep playoff run. Maybe some of the responsibility should fall on coach Jared Bednar for failure to maximize the generational talents of Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. Maybe you chalk up the cracks in confidence to the unfortunate trials and tribulations endured by Gabe Landeskog and Val Nichushkin. It’s a little bit of everything. But this season feels like the last, best shot for this talented core to hoist the Cup.

I’m worried a berth in the NHL playoffs isn’t a done deal for the Avs.

– Kevin, staying thirsty

Kiz: These Avs? Miss the playoffs? Surely you jest. Nobody would be more shocked than me. But if that sad situation even seems like even a remote possibility after the holidays, the major changes I do regard as inevitable for this organization will happen much sooner than later. I'm in no hurry to trade Mikko Rantanen, but there will come a point where the Colorado locker room might be too small for all the big contracts.

No one knows how Bo Nix will turn out as a pro quarterback, but working with Sean Payton and the Broncos seems like about as good a situation as a young QB could ask for. I always go back to poor Brady Quinn. He came out of Notre Dame and ended up in the worst place imaginable. What I thought would be a great NFL career went down the Cleveland cesspool.

– Matt, QB tracker

Kiz: In these contentious times, when anyone who isn’t ride-or-die can be quickly cast as a hater, is it OK to not be 100 percent sold on Nix after five NFL games? I’m a big believer in his competitive moxie and his refusal to surrender to adversity, traits essential to a successful pro quarterback. His ability to escape the pocket and gain a first down with his feet might be the best we’ve seen in a Broncos quarterback since John Elway. But I’m not sold that his arm talent is more than Grade C by NFL standards.

I’m cheering for the New York Mets to win the World Series. They’re a fun example of what happens when you have a franchise owner who wants to win, as opposed to one who just wants attendance numbers.

– Joe, rocking October

Kiz: Well, they don’t call me Mr. Sunshine for nuthin’. So I’m fully confident that we will see your Colorado Rockies emerge as champions basking in the glory of a victory parade through our dusty old cowtown. I’m not so certain, however, the parade will happen during my lifetime. Or in the lifetimes of my yet unborn grandchildren, for that matter.

And today’s parting shot is a lament for a 401k investment opportunity lost.

Kiz, if I had a dollar for every time you referred to Denver as “our dusty old cowtown,” I’d be Elon Musk. Just saying.

– Elliot, isn’t that rich?