The Avalanche’s Stanley Cup rings: Symbols, colors and many diamonds

DENVER — Brendan McNicholas wanted to limit who was in the know. Players didn’t get to see, and neither did coaches. Even general manager Chris MacFarland only got a look at a preliminary design.

The Stanley Cup rings were a secret until Monday night, when Avalanche players received them at a private ceremony at Castle Pines Golf Club.

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“Our goal was to keep it to as few people as possible,” said McNicholas, who manages the Avalanche’s player relations.

The process started in early July, when Chris Poitras — an executive for Jostens, the company that manufactured the rings — started having regular calls with McNicholas and longtime Avalanche administrator Charlotte Graham. After talking through various concepts, colors and logos with McNicholas and Graham, Poitras flew to Denver with a sample ring.

A piece of history.

Capture the memory forever and shop the Official Fan Collection: #AvsRing #GoAvsGo

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 11, 2022

Poitras, McNicholas, Graham and Josh Kroenke from the Avalanche’s ownership group met in a Ball Arena conference room. Poitras brought around 25 of the championship rings Jostens had made in past years, which served as inspiration during the ensuing brainstorming session.

“We had a lot to look at and draw from,” McNicholas said.

“They did not leave any stone unturned,” Poitras added.

McNicholas looked at the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers World Series rings, as well as Stanley Cup rings from the Blackhawks, Blues, Penguins and Lightning. Poitras also showed the group a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl ring, as well as a Packers ring from the first Super Bowl, which Jostens designed in 1967.

One element of the Braves ring in particular stood out to McNicholas. It featured 44 emerald-cut diamonds in honor of Hall of Famer Henry Aaron, who died the January before Atlanta’s World Series win. That got McNicholas’ mind churning with ideas. He wanted to make a nod to Joe Sakic, the general manager of the championship team who moved to the role of president of hockey operations during the offseason. In honor of Sakic’s jersey number, the ring has 19 diamonds on the snow portion of the team’s logo.

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“He’s the only guy to win it as a captain and GM of the same franchise,” McNicholas said. “With what he’s meant to the city and that organization, for us it was a no-brainer.”

Sakic saw the final ring design, but no one told him about the 19 diamonds in his honor.

“I don’t think he’s going to like that,” McNicholas said the day before the ceremony. “Joe is not a ‘me’ guy.”

By the end of the in-person meeting with Poitras, the group had enough ideas and concepts for Jostens to start making another sample. They made adjustments after input from both Sakic and Josh Kroenke and added other ideas they liked. Approximately two weeks after the meeting at Ball Arena, Jostens mailed the Avalanche another sample. The team approved, and production began.

“Every single ring is cast individually,” Poitras said. “Every stone is set individually.”

That process can take eight to 10 weeks, so the company had to rush to get the Colorado’s players’ rings done in time for the preseason ceremony.

The final product: an 18.50 carat ring with 669 diamonds, 42 rubies and 20 sapphires. It’s filled with symbols beyond the 19 diamonds for Sakic’s number:

• The “A” in Colorado’s logo is made with six rubies. Why six? It’s the number of games it took the Avalanche to beat the Lightning.
• The 19 diamonds in the snow are a total of 0.22 carats because the Kroenke family has owned the Avalanche for 22 years.
• The two sapphires on the left side of every ring represent the Avalanche’s previous two Stanley Cup wins.
• There are 72 diamonds on the right side of the ring: one for every combined win in the regular season and playoffs.

The left side of every ring features the recipient’s name and, for players, their jersey number. Diamonds on the right side make up three Stanley Cups, representing the Avalanche’s victories in 1996, 2001 and 2022. Each Cup has a year written on it, with the 2022 one in the middle. The ring also features the outline of the Denver skyline. “Find a way,” the slogan adopted by the team, is etched onto the interior of the ring, as are each of Colorado’s series results and 6-26-22: the date of Game 6 against Tampa Bay.

“Our job is to tell the story of the team and the franchise’s history on this ring,” Poitras said.

Championship ring appraisals vary year to year — The Lightning’s 2020 championship ring had an estimated retail cost of $66,000 — but the ones going to Colorado’s players and staffers are likely appraised somewhere between $40,000-$50,000, judging by past Stanley Cup rings. There will be different tiers of rings for others around the organization, too.

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In a fortunate turn of events for defenseman Jack Johnson — a member of the championship team who signed with Chicago in the offseason — the Blackhawks play the Avalanche for the season opener Wednesday. The schedule allowed Johnson to come to Denver early and attend the ceremony. 

Though the former Colorado players who were traded or claimed on waivers during the season — Tyson Jost, Justin Barron and Jonas Johansson — will not receive rings, every player who appeared in at least one game for the Avalanche and remained with the organization for the whole season will get one, even if they finished the year in the minors. That’s good news for the likes of Stefan Matteau and Jordan Gross, both of whom played only one game with the NHL club. Their contributions, however limited, were recognized.

The ring ceremony marked one of the final championship celebrations for the 2022 Cup-winning team. The players can now turn their attention to the 82-game slate ahead of them: their eyes set on earning a second piece of jewelry.

What’s in the box?#AvsRing #GoAvsGo

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 11, 2022

(Photos courtesy of Colorado Avalanche)