Why Nazem Kadri is happy his line remains intact after Mikko Rantanen injury; plus, more on the cable wars

The second line, it turns out, is the one Jared Bednar really doesn’t want to mess with.

Three days after losing all-star right wing Mikko Rantanen for what remains an uncertain amount of time, the Colorado Avalanche coach made his decision on his replacement on the top line: J.T. Compher.

Bednar’s decision is significant as much for what he didn’t do as what he did do. He didn’t break up the second line of Joonas Donskoi-Nazem Kadri-Andre Burakovsky. That line has just been too good since coming together for Bednar to disassemble.

Count me among those who think he made the right call. And, also, Nazem Kadri.

“Obviously, (Bednar) likes what he sees. As a line, I think we’ve been playing some pretty good hockey,” Kadri told Colorado Hockey Now. “So, why change? When something like (the Rantanen injury) happens, you know there’s gonna be some decisions made. Obviously, there are going to be some tough ones. But for my line in particular, we’ve just got to keep doing the same things.”

Kadri has been around long enough to know: losing a top player, like a Rantanen, is never “good” for a team. But, there can be some good that comes from unexpected sources. Maybe Compher starts to really take on the responsibility of his new role and steps it up? Maybe new third-line right wing Valeri Nichushkin finally starts scoring some goals, gets a bunch of confidence, and he and the team are better for it? Adversity is just an open door to opportunity. Some philosopher might have said that.

“It’s a chance for guys to generate some new chemistry with each other,” Kadri said. “It’s a chance for some diversity to happen.”

Bednar, for his part, wants Compher to “use his speed” on that first line, and just felt that moving a Donskoi or a Burakovsky up on that top line would break up too much of a good thing.

“I like the way our lines played on that road trip, and we had some success last year with Compher playing with those guys,” Bednar said. “That’s going to be our first go-to here for tomorrow night (against Vegas). Same thing with the power plays; I’d like to leave as much as I can together here for a little bit. We’re open to change, but we just want to give this a crack before we go to anything else.”

So, the four lines right now are:

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Compher

Donskoi-Kadri-Burakovsky

Wilson-Jost-Nichushkin

Nieto-Bellemare-Calvert

D

Girard-Johnson

Cole-Makar

Zadorov-Graves

NOTEBOOK

• Philipp Grubauer will get the start tomorrow against Vegas, a game which starts at 4 p.m. MST because of it being a holiday in Nevada. Bednar said Pavel Francouz would start Saturday’s home game against the Anaheim Ducks.
• Bednar said he made the decision to pair Cale Makar with Ian Cole partially because Cole is such a good on-ice communicator and a more veteran presence from which Makar can learn.
• Bednar’s decision to move Nichushkin back into the lineup means youngster Vladislav Kamenev remains on the sidelines. He has yet to play a game this season. Bednar said Kamenev had just an “OK” training camp, but that his play at practice has been good of late, and that he hopes he can give him an opportunity at some point. Alas, that opportunity probably won’t come unless Bednar feels someone else isn’t doing the job. Ergo, he has to remain patient.
• Bednar said there was no change from anything he said the day before about the status of Rantanen. Essentially, that there probably won’t be any definitive timetable given for a few more days. That said, Bednar didn’t change anything when it came to his proclamation that the team is optimistic it’ll be “significantly” shorter than 4-6 weeks.
• After an Altitude executive, Matt Hutchings, was quoted the other day as saying things were “positive” about a possible resolution of the cable/Big Three mess with at least one carrier, Hutchings was quoted in today’s Colorado Springs Gazette saying, “We don’t feel like we’re getting anywhere. At the end of the day we’re all fans. We feel the pain and the anger of our fans because we’re fans as well. We want to get a deal done. To be treated this way after 15 years — to be stonewalled — is very frustrating and very aggravating. All we’ve asked for is to be treated equitably.” Hutchings added that the cable carriers have only brought “absolutely unacceptable offers.”
• Sigh. What an absolute mess that thing remains. I am hearing there will be a game broadcast on Ch. 20 locally in “early November”, but that’s it. Hutchings, in that Gazette piece by the way, said that any bars that stream the games are doing an illegal action. Some people out there had said Altitude would look the other way, for now, at bars that stream the games, but Hutchings’ comments put the kibosh on that. “It’s wrong. I understand they have a clientele, which are our fans. But it’s our fans. It would be like us going into their bar and saying, ‘Give us free beer. Give us free food.’ They’re stealing the signal. They’re pirating the signal. It’s a shame. And it’s shocking they’re being so public about it.”