John Ludvig kicks off our long offseason series, going over the players who played for the Colorado Avalanche this season. Starting in numerical order, the tall No. 3 defender started the year with the Avalanche.

Ludvig only played in eight games this season for the big club. He tacked on two assists with his time with the Avs. In his entire NHL career, he has played 41 games. He still has three goals, but now has four assists to his name.

His last game of the season with Colorado came on December 5 on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes. His last point came almost a month earlier against the same Canes team when they were playing at Ball Arena.

Ludvig joined the Avalanche this season right before it got underway. He was claimed on waivers on October 5, leaving the only team he’d known at the time, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 24-year-old defender has spent most of the season playing for the AHL-affiliate Colorado Eagles. The 6-foot-1 defender from the Czech Republic has actually been reliable up in Loveland. In his 31 game appearances, he has notched one goal and 11 assists.

The Eagles are still in their run for the Calder Cup as of the publishing of this article, with Ludvig at the helm on the blue line. He’s featured in four games so far, with one goal and one assist. It is definitely far from where he once was.

In the WHL with the Portland Winterhawks, he was outstanding going forward. As their captain, he had 62 points in 60 games with 17 goals and 45 assists. This came in the 2019-20 season, and he hasn’t been the same since then.

John Ludvig is in the last year of an expiring league-minimum contract. However, he is an RFA and has exclusive rights with the Avalanche for the time being. However, with the Eagles still in the running for a championship of their own, he’s sure to be a feature going forward as long as he is healthy. He left the last game with an injury, and his status is unknown.

If he’s able to keep going, it could just help him earn another contract.