With training camp still ahead and the offseason in its quietest stretch, the Avalanche have time to sort through a few different ways to open the season. Colorado has enough NHL-ready talent to make the conversation interesting, even if some of the younger names are still in the development phase. Jared Bednar has options, and the safest one is also the most straightforward.
The basic idea here is simple: replace the departed pieces one for one and keep the rest of the structure largely intact.
That gives Colorado a projected lineup that looks like this:
Artturi Lehkonen - Nathan MacKinnon - Martin Necas
Jaden Schwartz- Brock Nelson - Gabriel Landeskog
Gavin Brindley - Nazem Kadri - Nic Roy
Parker Kelly - Fedor Svechkov - Logan O’Connor
Devon Toews - Cale Makar
Brett Kulak - Sam Malinski
Josh Manson - Brent Burns
Noah Juulsen
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
In this version, Jaden Schwartz steps into the opening left by Valeri Nichushkin, Gavin Brindley takes over Ross Colton’s third-line role, and Fedor Svechkov slides into the fourth-line center spot that belonged to Jack Drury.
It’s the kind of setup that keeps the Avalanche from overhauling too much at once. Bednar has never been shy about changing things when he needs to, but he also likes to leave productive combinations alone, even if that usually happens later in the season.
This approach gives Colorado some stability while still creating room for younger players to win bigger jobs. Rather than forcing a bunch of new pieces into new places right away, the Avalanche can let the season breathe and make adjustments from there.
Of course, none of those roles are handed out in advance.
Brindley might be the leading candidate to replace Colton because he already has familiarity with the group from last season, but he’ll have competition in camp. Zachary L’Heureux, Fabian Lysell, T.J.
Hughes, and maybe another young forward will all get a shot to push for that spot. L’Heureux, in particular, sounds like the closest challenger.
Svechkov also has work to do before he can be trusted in that center role. He’ll need to show he can handle the defensive demands and the faceoff volume that come with playing center in Bednar’s system, especially on the fourth line.
Schwartz is probably the cleanest fit of the three. He won’t replace everything Nichushkin brought, but he does bring experience, a strong two-way game, penalty-killing value, and enough forechecking to fit alongside skilled teammates.
The bigger question is whether he can provide enough speed and puck retrieval next to Brock Nelson and Gabriel Landeskog. Put plainly, that would be an older line.
The appeal of this setup is continuity. MacKinnon’s line stays together, Nelson and Landeskog remain paired, and Colorado avoids asking too many younger players to jump into unfamiliar responsibilities too soon. It’s cautious, maybe even a little conservative, but it keeps the roster from getting scrambled before the season even starts.
The real tests are pretty clear.
Can Brindley hold down a top-nine job? He looked like an NHL player for the first two months of last season before his production faded later on. If that early stretch was real, Colorado may already have found Colton’s replacement.
Is Svechkov ready to center a line on a Cup contender? The tools are there, but Bednar’s trust at center depends on reliability in all three zones and success on faceoffs.
And is Schwartz the right stylistic match? Replacing Nichushkin is about more than points. Colorado needs someone who can battle, recover pucks, and keep pace with two veteran linemates on a second line that isn’t getting any younger.
This is the conservative route. The next look will go in the opposite direction, with a setup that loads up the middle and fills in around it.
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The new stop brings him back to his home state of Ohio, where he will work in a successful college hockey environment focused on player development. It is a notable first coaching job for a veteran who spent years on NHL blue lines, and it adds another layer to the long, winding career arc that has already included a championship, scouting work and now a bench role. [Read more 🡒]