When the Utah Hockey Club first moved in April, I named three teams that could become their rivals.

Enter the Colorado Avalanche, who will be one of the seven divisional rivals that will grace the Utah schedule three times, all in the 2024 calendar year.

This is a team that won the Stanley Cup two years ago over the Tampa Bay Lightning, and will conclude a 12-day stretch that will provide a good test for the young club when the Avs visit Delta Center on October 26.

(In that stretch, Utah will also face the Presidents’ Trophy-holding New York Rangers on Oct. 12 at Madison Square Garden and host Boston on Oct. 19.)

And one thing about this team you will notice right away: they’re physical, as are many teams in the Western Conference, but they’re quick and extremely skilled in transition.

Yes, Nathan MacKinnon is still there, and Gabriel Landeskog is expected to be healthy again, with the services of Mikko Rantanen terrorizing opposing defences.

But it’s the unsung heroes — Arturri Lehkonen, Miles Wood, Casey Middlestadt, and Ross Colton — who help set the tone for Jared Bednar’s team.

They simply speed you up and wear you down at the same time, and it’s no wonder Tampa Bay couldn’t find enough juice in the tank to keep up in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.

Utah defenceman Mikhail Sergachev knows Colorado extremely well from that encounter, too, so he can provide some great insight into what the weaknesses of the Avs are.

There definitely may not be many, however; and even though the team is slightly retooling this year, expect Colorado to be as hungry and dangerous as ever in the Central Division.