The Colorado Avalanche will look to try and avoid a 3-0 hole against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday in the Stanley Cup playoffs. There has been a lot of chatter about the team’s top players not being able to get going that well in the playoffs in general.
Leading the way is Nathan MacKinnon. In 11 games this postseason, he has seven goals and seven assists. In comparison, Pavel Dorofeyev has 10 goals and four assists in 14 games. Brett Howden has nine goals and two assists, while Mitch Marner has seven goals and 12 assists.
Now, it does go a lot deeper than the goals and assists. While those are the more important stats, Hockey is much more detailed.
During the 2023-24 regular season, Bednar placed Colton on the top line alongside MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. He went off with with eight goals and an assist in his first 10 games with those linemates. Now, I understand Rantanen is no longer with the team, but MacKinnon is. So, why not at least try Colton out on that line again?
Gabriel Landeskog or Martin Necas would be the one to move down the lineup, but the whole point of doing so it to spread the talent across all four lines.
I know Colton had a rough season, putting up just nine goals and 15 assists in 73 games, but every player in the NHL have rough patches. I say, it worked in the past—why not at least try it out for a little bit?
Perhaps Bednar likes the role Colton is in right now, though in the nine games he has played in the postseason, he has eclipsed 10-minutes of ice time just three times. I’m not sure what is going on with Bednar and Colton, if anything.
But I’m just thinking that, hey, Bednar has yet to try this shakeup, so why not? It could help everyone involved.
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