The Colorado Avalanche finished 2013 with the worst record in the Western Conference, mostly due in part to their poor defense and goaltending. While the offense was fairly solid, the team often allowed more goals than it could make up for.

And who better to fix goaltending problems than not only the best goalie to wear an Avalanche uniform, but one of the best goalies of all-time?

Patrick Roy was hired as the head coach of the Avs this past summer, taking his first job as a NHL bench boss ten years after playing his last game.

Despite the change behind the bench, Colorado did little to address its defensive and goaltending issues. The Avalanche owned the first overall pick in the draft and the top-rated prospect was a defenseman and a Denver native named Seth Jones.

Perfect match, right?

Wrong. Nathan MacKinnon, another forward, was selected first overall and the Avalanche passed on an opportunity that seemed too good to be true. While MacKinnon is extremely talented, Colorado already had a plethora of good young forwards including Matt Duchene, PA Parenteau, and Gabriel Landeskog.

So the Avalanche were once again planning to score goals, but not prevent them.

Recipe for disaster, right?

Wrong. The season is only six games young for Colorado, but it has won all of them. Better yet, the Avs have only allowed six goals. If you're good at math, that means they have only been surrendering one goal per game on average. With Semyon Varlamov in net.

Is all of this success due to Roy's influence? Will it continue?

It's way too early to answer either of these questions, but if the Avalanche continue to stay ahead of powerhouses like the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues in the Central Division, Roy deserves some serious credit.

They should be expected to slow down and maybe compete for a Wild Card spot, but anything can happen. This is hockey, where eight-seeds win Stanley Cups and someone who went undrafted outscores Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos.

If the Avalanche make the playoffs, there is no doubt that Roy should be at least considered for the Jack Adams Award for best coach. The problem is, there are only three nominees each year, and he will have to out-do coaches like Dave Tippett of the Phoenix Coyotes and Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings to have a shot at the award.