Josh Manson Has Always Been More Than the Avalanche's Tough Guy
Dave Manson was one of the NHL's most rugged defenseman in the late 80s and throughout the 90s. Manson played in 1,103 career games and curently sits 13th all-time in penalty minutes with 2,792. He never won a Stanley Cup. His son Josh did.
Dave was an Edmonton Oilers assistant when the Avalanche faced the Oilers in the 2022 Western Conference Final. After the Avalanche swept the Oilers in four games, Tim Campbell of NHL.com reported that when father and son came together in the handshake line, the elder Manson told his offspring, "Congratulations. Go and finish it. I love you."
Despite growing up with an NHL father, Josh wasn't a "can't-miss" hockey prodigy. Instead, Manson's path was much less straightforward. He sharpened his teeth at Northeastern University, where he eventually became captain and was named Hockey East's Best Defensive Defenseman and was a Second-Team All-Star in 2013-14. Suddenly, Manson had become a prospect who had landed NHL teams' radar.
Sixth Round to NHL Regular
The Anaheim Ducks drafted Manson 160th overall in 2011, yet he became one of the Ducks' longest tenured defensemen. He played 453 games for Anaheim while becoming the franchise's all-time leader in hits by a defenseman.
After playing eight seasons for the Ducks, the Avalanche came calling at the 2022 trade deadline. They wanted to secure Manson's services, so they shipped defenseman Drew Helleson and a second-round pick to Anaheim in exchange for the six-foot-three, 218-pound blueliner.
The Avalanche already had tremendous skill in Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Mikko Rantanen. What they were lacking was size, physicality, and defensive nastiness. Manson checked all those boxes.
He paid immediate dividends in the playoffs when he scored his first career playoff goal, which was also an overtime winner, against the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of the second round. After disposing of the Oilers in the Conference Final, the Avalanche won their third Stanley Cup in franchise history when they toppled the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.
Colorado gave Manson a two-year contract extension through 2027-28 in July 2025. He showed why general manager Chris MacFarland had such strong faith in him when he finished the 2025-26 campaign playing in 79 games, while tallying five goals, 26 assists, 31 points and a plus-42 rating. At 34, Manson shows no signs of slowing down.
Manson followed his father into the NHL, but he never followed the conventional path his father did. While Dave was a former first-round pick of the Blackhawks, Josh wasn't a highly touted prospect and had to fight for nearly every step of his career.
More than 700 NHL games later, Manson has something his dad doesn't: his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. And four years after helping the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup, he's looking to help the Avalanche chase another one.
Jason Fink is an NHL writer and lifelong hockey fan who fell in love with the game when he watched Wayne Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers defeat the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1987 Stanley Cup Final. When he’s not writing, Jason enjoys spending time with his wife Michelle and their son Theo and daughter Stella. Whether he’s following the latest NHL news or cheering from the rink, his passion for the sport has been a constant throughout his life.