My article Sunday night about where Jonathan Drouin could end up and how his return would shift around lines had a few scenarios — one of which played out in practice on Monday.
Head coach Jared Bednar kept his first and third lines the same but his No. 2 and No. 4 lines differed. He had Drouin on the left wing, Ross Colton at center and Mikko Rantanen on the right.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57099307/853286824.0.jpg)
“We need to get something out of that line. They’ve been just okay, but with the caliber players that we have on that line now, especially Mikko and now Drew (Drouin) coming back in, we got to get some production out of those guys as well,” Bednar said after practice Monday.
Rantanen has played with Colton on the second line for several games and most of last season with Drouin on the top line, so he’s familiar with their styles.
“It’s obviously good to have Drew back, he hasn’t played a lot this year. He’s a big part of our team and can help us offensively for sure, a lot,” Rantanen said. “We have good chemistry with Drew and also with Colts (Colton). He plays hard, he goes to the net, he wins battles. He is hard to handle out there, so he’s going to help me and Drew, for sure.”
Casey Mittelstadt moved to center the fourth line with Jere Innala and newly acquired Juuso Parssinen. The young center has struggled to produce and is lacking the confidence of the highly-skilled player he has shown flashes of since joining the Avs last season.
“A lot of it’s mental. But there’s work involved from the player too. It’s not one side. I can’t fix Casey, he’s got to,” Bednar said. “I can help try and fix his game and get it to where I want it to go. But a lot of the responsibility’s got to fall on the player. He’s clear on it, and he’s going to work his way through it."
“Played wing for a little bit this year, played center. So just going back, nothing really too much to think about, just focusing on playing well in the D-Zone, and then obviously the offense hopefully comes,” Colton said. “So again, nothing too crazy, nothing too much to look into. We’re getting guys back, so lines are going to juggle. I don’t know how long it’ll last, or anything like that. So again, just play my game, play with some speed and try and form some chemistry.”
Lines are not set in stone as players gel/don’t gel, or get injured — which factors into where guys end up playing. Bednar knows the strengths and weaknesses of his players and adjusts accordingly. He has had to navigate his lineup the first half of the season through rotating injuries but for the first time, he has an excess of high-level talent. Guess things could be worse for the Avalanche, eh?
