Parker Kelly’s friends back in Alberta certainly had some fun with his breakout year.
Kelly blew past his previous career highs, producing 21 goals and 35 points for the Colorado Avalanche this past season. He had never reached 20 points in the NHL, let alone his new standard as a 20-goal scorer.
“The guys had some funny jokes,” Kelly said. “I had some fun with it, too. I think if you went and asked everyone I skate with or see in the summer, they know my game. Yeah, I had a good year last year. But getting on the scoresheetap not usually what makes me successful. You could ask those guys and they’ll tell you the five other things I value other than scoring goals. Yeah, it’s all good fun.”
Now comes the hard part for Kelly. He became a “glue guy” for the Avs in his first season after arriving from the Ottawa Senators. That earned him a four-year contract.
Then he became a critical depth scorer in his second season. He finished fifth on the Avs in goals, the team that led the NHL in that category. What can Kelly, 27, do for an encore?
“You look at most of my goals last year, I’d say 15 of them were probably around the net,” Kelly said. “I pride myself a lot on the last five summers, six summers, being good in front of the net. Coming here, I just watch (Artturi Lehkonen). He’s so good in front of the net. Thatap what I wanted to do was to be an elite net-front tipper. Itap started to show. I just keep practicing it every day, keep getting into good areas.”
The number that sticks out for Kelly is his shooting percentage. He scored 21 times on 104 shots, so he shot 20.4%.
The previous two years, he shot 8.1% and 9.3% and finished with eight goals each year. Even for the best players in the world, 20.4% would be high.
So, on the surface, Kelly looks like an obvious regression candidate. Joel Kiviranta scored 16 times in 2024-25 while sporting a 19.0% shooting percentage, then three times last year when it plummeted to 6.0%.
Here’s some cause for cautious optimism with Kelly though. While his shots on goal were similar from 2024-25 to 2025-26 (99 to 104), Kelly crated 18 more scoring chances last year. And the big number — his high-danger scoring chances increased by 31%, from 40 to 58.
Avs coach Jared Bednar said earlier in training camp that he thinks Kelly can score 20 again. Why?
“Everything. Extremely hard worker, competitive as heck. He’s got a good shot,” Bednar said. “Thinks the game. The consistency of it, the number of scoring chances he gets, and then the number that he finishes off was at a pretty good rate. He shot it pretty good. I think creating the chances, that pace can continue.
“Then it’s just a matter of what kind of goaltending we see and how he’s able to finish off some of those chances. But to me, he’s a guy that can always be kind of pushing for that number. I think it’s everything that he does just kind of sets him up to be a real good player that will be able to score.”
from last year. Here’s a quick summary:
- 7 tip-ins
- 7 rebounds or one-timers, either at the net or going to the net
- 4 wrist shots from distance, including a highlight-reel, 1-on-4 play at Utah
- 2 breakaways
- 1 empty-netter
That’s a lot of goals around the net, just as Kelly mentioned. There will be some fluctuation in finishing luck for every player, but being around the net is good way to avoid slumps and find goals.
One of his deflections, which became goal No. 20, went off two defensive players after he tipped it. Sure, that was a pair of fortunate bounces. And he might not weave through a quartet of opponents and snap one past a goalie like he did against the Mammoth.
But the foundation of a consistent depth scorer is there. The Avs don’t need Kelly to score 20 every year, but mid-double digits would make him consistently one of the better bottom-six scorers.
And the Avs are always going to count on him being a dependable, 200-foot grinder. If he can do that, plus add even 12-15 goals, that makes his contract, with a $1.7 million cap hit, an exceptional bargain.
“I’m confident on the ‘D’ side of the puck,” Kelly said. “I know exactly what I need to do to be successful there. It’s just always reminding myself to skate with the puck and just keep creating plays. I’m always focused on being a good forechecker, getting the puck and instead of just ripping it low to high, believe in yourself. Cutbacks – watch (Gabe Landeskog). How many cutbacks where he just hangs guys on his back the whole time while he protects the puck? Thatap something that I’m trying to work on every year.
“I think more of them than not are replicable. I’m going to try, but if not I’m not going to freak out about it. Hopefully there are other things about my game that everyone likes about my game.”
