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Colorado Avalanche: 5 Possible Forward Lineups

By Janik Beichler

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In the past season, the Colorado Avalanche needed a lot of time to figure out their perfect lines. About halfway through the season, the team got at least close to that perfection. The top line of Matt Duchene, Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla proved to have good chemistry and so did the second line that saw Ryan O’Reilly centering Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon.

However, MacKinnon got injured late in the season and Tanguay moved down into his spot. All of a sudden, everything was messed up again, although that second line still did a terrific job. Now O’Reilly is gone too and Head Coach Patrick Roy will have to figure out something new once more.

With the new additions and the remarks GM Joe Sakic made on them, a lineup like the following seems well possible.

Possible Colorado Avalanche lines #1

Tanguay — Duchene — Iginla
Landeskog — Soderberg — MacKinnon
Comeau — Grigorenko — Everberg
McLeod — Mitchell — Winchester
Bordeleau/Rendulic/Hishon/Hamilton/Rantanen/Martinsen/Cliche

This version is the one with the least change compared to last season. The first line worked out well, so why change it? The same goes for the second line and ex-Bruin Carl Soderberg seems to be a great fit between Landeskog and MacKinnon. In this scenario, it only gets interesting in the bottom six.

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Blake Comeau is Jamie McGinn’s successor and should be a good one at that. Mikhail Grigorenko was arguably rushed into the NHL, but should be good and experienced enough to center that third line. If healthy, Dennis Everberg would be a great fit for that last third-line spot. The trio could be a very good version of the skilled checking line modern hockey asks for.

On the fourth line we still have assistant captain Cody McLeod, along with John Mitchell — who could also play on the third or even second line at times — and Jesse Winchester. Winchester is still recovering from a concussion and missed the entire 2013-14 campaign. If he doesn’t fully recover and isn’t ready for opening night, there is a fairly long list of players that would love to take his spot.

Joey Hishon and Mikko Rantanen likely wouldn’t be the right players for those limited minutes and Andreas Martinsen will get some time in San Antonio, before maybe playing some games in the NHL. But that still leaves Patrick Bordeleau, Borna Rendulic, Freddie Hamilton and Marc-Andre Cliche. The latter will hopefully never put on a Colorado Avalanche jersey again (unless he shows up as a fan in the stands), but he’s still in the mix.

Possible Colorado Avalanche lines #2

Landeskog — Duchene — MacKinnon
Tanguay — Grigorenko — Iginla
Comeau — Soderberg — Everberg
Hishon — Mitchell — Cliche
Bordeleau/Rendulic/Hamilton/Rantanen/Martinsen/McLeod/Winchester

This lineup is actually taken from dailyfaceoff.com — a website that has updated lines of all teams during the season. In the off-season, the site often becomes a hot mess that lists multiple players for one position and such. However, right now (latest update July 9, 2015), it looks like a respectable lineup that is quite possibly just supposed to be the current depth chart.

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A top line of Landeskog, Duchene and MacKinnon has been my personal dream ever since MacKinnon joined the league. Unfortunately, that was probably the only line combination that never got a shift together. Oh well, it’s not too late to try it.

Combining Grigorenko with elite veterans like Tanguay and Iginla may be a perfect way to develop him into a top-six NHL player. That would push Soderberg down to the third line, which isn’t the plan, according to Joe Sakic. However, if Grigorenko has a strong showing in training camp, they might as well try it.

The fourth line is horrible as it is right now, but it can be easily fixed by putting in McLeod and Winchester or one of the other scratches. As mentioned before, Cliche shouldn’t be needed anymore and Hishon’s development would probably be slowed down if he played limited minutes instead of having a leading role in San Antonio.

Possible Colorado Avalanche lines #3

Rantanen — Duchene — Iginla
Landeskog — Soderberg — MacKinnon
Tanguay — Grigorenko — Comeau
McLeod — Mitchell — Everberg
Bordeleau/Rendulic/Hishon/Hamilton/Winchester/Martinsen/Cliche

Rantanen should probably start the season in San Antonio or back in Finland, if he isn’t ready for a top-six role yet. So assuming that he makes the team out of training camp, we can also assume that he would be ready for a bigger role. A top line of Duchene, Iginla and Rantanen would have so much talent on it, it would almost be impossible for it to fail. The perfect mix of rookie, legend and somewhere in between.

The second line is no different than in the first possibility, so I won’t elaborate that any further. The third line is very similar, but it has Alex Tanguay pushed out of the top line. That would make the lineup a little more balanced and results in a very dangerous third line. Last but not least, the fourth line would also be really strong, with McLeod and Mitchell, as well as Swede Dennis Everberg.

Possible Colorado Avalanche lines #4

Grigorenko — Duchene — Iginla
Landeskog — MacKinnon — Tanguay
Comeau — Soderberg — Everberg
McLeod — Mitchell — Winchester
Bordeleau/Rendulic/Hishon/Hamilton/Rantanen/Martinsen/Cliche

Another nice possibility would be to switch up MacKinnon and Grigorenko. Both are young centers, but with the Avalanche’s current center depth — compared to essentially zero right-wing depth — at least one of them will likely have to play on the wing. MacKinnon is arguably the player with more potential and he could develop into one of the best centers in the league — if he gets to play there.

Grigorenko could be a very good fit for the first line with Duchene and Iginla. This would be a good possibility if the option with Rantanen doesn’t work out just yet. The second line has a crazy amount of potential as well and finally has MacKinnon as a center again. The third line is the same as in possibility #1, except for the fact that Soderberg was slotted down, now taking up Grigorenko’s spot. With McLeod, Mitchell and Winchester, the fourth line would be the same solid bottom line as in the first possibility.

Possible Colorado Avalanche lines #5

Grigorenko — Duchene — Iginla
Landeskog — MacKinnon — Rantanen
Tanguay — Soderberg — Comeau
McLeod — Mitchell — Everberg
Bordeleau/Rendulic/Hishon/Hamilton/Winchester/Martinsen/Cliche

Again we have Grigorenko on the top line, pushing down Alex Tanguay. This time around, we also have MacKinnon on center and Rantanen on the wing, though. Landeskog, MacKinnon and Rantanen could make this top six extremely dangerous. For those arguing that the line wouldn’t have enough experience for that role — tell Palat, Johnson and Kucherov about it.

Soderberg wasn’t meant to be a third-line player for the Colorado Avalanche, but he could eventually turn out to be one. Along with Tanguay and Comeau, the Colorado Avalanche could have one of the best third lines in the entire NHL. If all of the players in this lineup pan out, the team could actually end up with an extremely deep group of forwards.

What do you think should be the Colorado Avalanche’s lineup for the 2015-16 season? Let us know in the comments!

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