In my previous lineup scenarios, I looked at what the Colorado Avalanche might do if they stacked the top six with their best forwards.<\/p>\n
I also explored a lineup where head coach Jared Bednar keeps each of his top four centers down the middle, shifting Nicolas Roy into the vacancy left by Jack Drury\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n
But what if the Avalanche actually followed through on their desire to play the kids? What if Joe Sakic and Bednar committed to giving young forwards meaningful opportunities to develop into legitimate lineup options past the trade deadline and into the postseason?<\/p>\n
The regular season is the perfect time to develop players, assuming you\u2019re not jeopardizing your playoff position.<\/p>\n
If Bednar committed to playing two young forwards in the top nine, the lineup could look something like this.<\/p>\n
Scenario 4: Let the Kids Play<\/p>\n
Artturi Lehkonen \u2014 Nathan MacKinnon \u2014 Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog \u2013 Brock Nelson \u2014 Gavin Brindley
Jaden Schwartz \u2014 Nazem Kadri \u2014 T.J. Hughes
Parker Kelly \u2014 Nicolas Roy \u2014 Logan O\u2019Connor<\/p>\n
Devon Toews \u2014 Cale Makar
Brett Kulak \u2014 Sam Malinski
Josh Manson \u2014 Brent Burns
Noah Juulsen<\/p>\n
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood<\/p>\n
This version still keeps the Avalanche\u2019s top 10 veteran forwards in the lineup. To me, \u201cplaying the kids\u201d doesn\u2019t mean scratching Logan O\u2019Connor or Roy just to squeeze in another young forward. But with the amount of young talent Colorado has accumulated, I\u2019d like to see some of those players earn larger roles.<\/p>\n
That starts with giving one of them a top-six opportunity in Valeri Nichushkin\u2019s absence. Assuming he has a strong training camp, Gavin Brindley should get the first crack.<\/p>\n
Beyond that, I\u2019d also like to see another young forward alongside Nazem Kadri. Zachary L\u2019Heureux, Fedor Svechkov, and T.J. Hughes are all legitimate candidates. I gave Hughes the spot because he\u2019s a right-shot winger with what I believe is the highest offensive ceiling of the group.<\/p>\n
More than anything, though, this scenario is about changing the mindset.<\/p>\n
If Schwartz gets hurt, don\u2019t automatically bump O\u2019Connor or Kelly into the top nine and stick one of the kids on the fourth line. Give L\u2019Heureux that opportunity. If Landeskog misses time and Roy slides back to center, let Svechkov enter the lineup.<\/p>\n
Reward the young players with meaningful minutes instead of simply using them as placeholders.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how players develop.<\/p>\n
Most Cup contenders don\u2019t willingly hand young players opportunities. Usually, it takes an injury or suspension. But the Avalanche have reached a point where they should be creating those opportunities when players earn them.<\/p>\n
If Lehkonen misses a few weeks, keep Landeskog where he is and promote whichever young forward is playing the best, whether Brindley, Hughes, or L\u2019Heureux. Let them spend an extended stretch skating alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas.<\/p>\n
Develop. Develop. Develop.<\/p>\n
Why It Works<\/p>\n
This approach injects youth into the lineup while keeping the veteran core fresher over the course of an 84-game season.<\/p>\n
Yes, you could simply move Landeskog onto the top line and play him 20+ minutes every night if Lehkonen is unavailable. But if Colorado is comfortably sitting in a playoff spot and one of its young forwards is producing, why not reward that player instead?<\/p>\n
The Avalanche don\u2019t need MacKinnon playing 25+ minutes because they\u2019re trailing Columbus 4-1 midway through the second period on a Tuesday in December.<\/p>\n
Find the balance between winning hockey games and developing talent.<\/p>\n
If Colorado can do both, it has a better chance of avoiding the physical and mental fatigue that seemed to catch up with the group during the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights. <\/p>\n
Biggest Questions<\/p>\n
Will the kids earn it?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n This is the biggest qualifier. None of these opportunities should be handed out simply because a player is young. They have to earn them. If Brindley looks like he did during his impressive October stretch last season, let him run with it. The same goes for Hughes, L\u2019Heureux, Svechkov, or even Fabian Lysell. Performance has to dictate opportunity. But good performance should lead to opportunity. More than it has in the past. <\/p>\n Will the veterans be more accepting?<\/strong> Two years ago, MacKinnon famously said, \u201cYou can\u2019t win with kids.\u201d I was in that scrum when he said it. I understood the broader point he was trying to make, that it\u2019s difficult to develop young players while chasing a Stanley Cup, but I also think that mindset has to evolve. That\u2019s something Elliotte Friedman brought up during the July 6 episode of 32 Thoughts. The Avalanche\u2019s leadership group has to become more comfortable allowing young players to grow through mistakes rather than defaulting to veteran options every time.<\/p>\n How much opportunity will there be?<\/strong>\u00a0This might sound like a silly question, but what if the Avs don\u2019t have a lot of injuries? What if Schwartz, Landeskog, Roy, etc., all play close to a full season? I\u2019m more confident in what the Avs have when they do face injuries, and, assuming they look good in training camp, I\u2019d be perfectly fine with all of Hughes, Brindley, Svechkov, and L\u2019Heureux in the lineup at the same time if two veterans were out at the same time. But I just don\u2019t know how much you can play the whole group, or most of them, if there aren\u2019t spots for them to fill. At the very least, two of them should be playing at all times, and the whole premise of this scenario is to share that I\u2019d like to see both of them in the top nine, and at least one in the top six. I wouldn\u2019t just want to see Brindley on the third line and Svechkov as 4C. Find more ice time than that for this group. <\/p>\n Ironically, this could become the biggest obstacle. What if the Avalanche stay relatively healthy? If Schwartz, Landeskog, Roy, and the rest of the veteran forwards all play close to a full season, where do the young players fit? That\u2019s a good problem to have, but it\u2019s still a challenge.<\/p>\n If training camp goes well for them, I\u2019d be perfectly comfortable dressing Hughes, Brindley, Svechkov, and L\u2019Heureux at the same time whenever injuries create multiple openings. But even when everyone is healthy, at least two young forwards in the lineup every night, and preferably one of them in the top six, and perhaps both in the top nine. That\u2019s the entire premise of this scenario. I don\u2019t just want to see Brindley on the third line and Svechkov centering the fourth line for eight minutes a night. Find real ice time for this group, if they do enough to earn it. <\/p>\n Coming Next<\/p>\n What might the Colorado Eagles\u2019 roster look like once the Avalanche make their final training camp cuts? I\u2019ll get into that next. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In my previous lineup scenarios, I looked at what the Colorado Avalanche might do if they stacked the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":968019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[42],"tags":[2995,34987,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-968018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-gavin-brindley","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117006336432471211","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=968018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/968019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=968018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=968018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=968018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}