Choosing four players to create a Colorado Avalanche Mount Rushmore sounds easy until you look at the names that have come through Denver since the team arrived from Quebec in 1995.

Joe Sakic, Patrick Roy, Peter Forsberg, Milan Hejduk, Gabriel Landeskog. Nathan MacKinnon. Cale Makar. Ray Bourque even had a few cups of coffee with the Avalanche before he rode off into the sunset with a Stanley Cup championship in 2001.

This isn't necessarily a ranking of the four most talented players to wear an Avalanche sweater. It's about production, championships, individual honors, longevity, and each player's importance to the identity of the franchise.

Colorado Avalanche former center Joe Sakic Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The conversation begins with the greatest player in the history of the franchise, Joe Sakic.

He played in 1,378 career games, while scoring 625 goals, 1,016 assists, and 1,625 points. He also scored 188 points in 172 career playoff games.

He is a two-time Stanley Cup champion and has a Conn Smythe Trophy, Hart Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award (now the Ted Lindsay), and a Lady Byng Trophy to his credit. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012.

He is the franchise's all-time leader in nearly every offensive category, and he still holds the NHL record with eight career playoff overtime goals.

Sakic captained the Avalanche to their first Cup in 1996, and then went into the front office after retirement and constructed the team that won the third Cup in franchise history in 2002.

He has to be the first face carved into the mountain.

Patrick Roy: The Missing Piece

Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy Credit: RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Colorado already had a good team when Patrick Roy was acquired from Montreal in December 1995. He took them from good to great.

Roy was the final piece to the puzzle as he helped backstop the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup in a four-game sweep of the Florida Panthers in 1996.

He would win another Cup in 2001 and also take home the Conn Smythe Trophy the same year.

In a league that was dominated by Wayne Gretzky in the 1980s, Roy is the only player in league history to win the Conn Smythe three times, with two of those won in Montreal.

His career ended with 551 wins, four Stanley Cups, and three Vezina Trophies with the Canadiens. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The franchise eventually had to find another player capable of carrying the mantle that Sakic left behind. They got him number one overall in 2013 and Nathan MacKinnon has been nothing short of spectacular since his arrival.

If anything, he has just continued to get better. MacKinnon has now played in 950 career games, scored 420 goals, added 722 assists, and tallied 1,142 points. And he doesn't turn 31 until next month.

In 2025-26, he had 53 goals, 74 assists, and 127 points. He's won a Stanley Cup, a Calder Trophy, a Hart Trophy, a Lady Byng Trophy, and the Ted Lindsay Award. He also won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for last season's leading goal-scoring campaign.

MacKinnon isn't simply accumulating statistics. He was the offensive centerpiece that returned Colorado to the top in 2022. Unlike Sakic and Roy, MacKinnon's Avalanche resume is still being written.

Cale Makar: The Controversial Selection

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The first three weren't particularly difficult. The fourth was. That's because Peter Forsberg has an outstanding argument.

But at the end of the day, Cale Makar took the final spot. He's won a Calder, a Stanley Cup, two Norris Trophies, and a Conn Smythe Trophy. This is all at the age of 27.

Makar wasn't simply part of Colorado's third championship, he was judged the most valuable player of the entire 2022 postseason.

Forsberg won two Stanley Cups, a Hart Trophy, and an Art Ross Trophy. He won the Calder when the team was still based in Quebec, but that didn't play a role in why he was left off Mount Rushmore. He has a monster resume.

There are five Mount Rushmore-worthy Avalanche players, and unfortunately, there are only four spots.

Makar who is arguably already the greatest defenseman in franchise history, was the MVP of a Stanley Cup run, and remains in the prime of a career that could eventually catapult him to being one of the greatest defensemen in NHL history.

Leaving Peter Forsberg off an Avalanche Mount Rushmore feels wrong. The problem is that leaving any of the other four off feels even more wrong.

You've got Sakic, the captain who defined the franchise. Roy is the goaltender who helped turn Colorado into an immediate champion. MacKinnon is the superstar who led the franchise's second great era. Then there's Makar, the generational defenseman who helped bring the Cup back to Denver. Two of the four faces are still playing.

MacKinnon and Makar can still add Cups, awards, records, and years to their already impressive resumes. So in the end, it might become less about whether they belong and more about whose place becomes vulnerable next.