The Colorado Avalanche have to figure out who they will choose to replace the departed Jonathan Drouin, who just signed with the New York Islanders on Tuesday on the first day of NHL free agency. Drouin signed a two-year deal to play out East.
The Avalanche tried Drouin out on the second line and then he eventually climbed up to the first line to play alongside Nathan MacKinnon for a good chunk of his time in Colorado. Drouin finished his Avalanche tenure with 122 games played, 30 goals and 63 assists in two seasons. On the surface, that’s not terrible production. However, while he played in all but three games in his first season with the Avs, he missed 39 games this recent season.
Durability was a concern after last season’s outing, so it makes some sense in that regard that the Avalanche chose not to sign him back.
With Drouin no longer on the team, the Avalanche have to figure out who will replace him.
How should the Colorado Avalanche replace Jonathan Drouin?
The team is confident that Gabriel Landeskog will be good to go in 2025-26 after he played in a couple of postseason games with Colorado, following two games with the Eagles. Landeskog is listed as the second-line left wing, while Arturri Lehkonen is on the top left wing spot.
Additionally, Martin Necas is on the other side of MacKinnon, while Valeri Nichushkin is on the right side of the second line beside Brock Nelson.
It remains to be seen whether or not the Avalanche will ever move Martin Necas, who was reportedly unhappy with his role on the team last year (though I do question how real those rumours actually were, since we haven’t heard anything for a while). For now, it’s a situation that fans and media will be monitoring until some developments come along.
I understand that the Avalanche likely would want to spread talent across different lines instead of being completely top-heavy. That’s probably a reason why Nichushkin isn’t always on the top line. However, I don’t think that it would hurt for head coach Jared Bednar to see what different types of lines could look like. In fact, that’s what the team did for a little while last year.
Who knows? Maybe they will add someone else into the fold. If they don’t, though, having continuity on the upper two lines would not be so terrible. If I had it my way, give me a Landeskog - MacKinnon - Nichushkin line.
Maybe his replacement is already on the roster and perhaps it’s somebody that hardly anybody is talking about.