Adrian Dater
Joonas Donskoi came within two victories of winning a Stanley Cup in 2016, playing on a San Jose Sharks club that had players such as himself, Joe Thornton, Brent Burns, Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau. On Wednesday, however, via a Zoom call with the local media, Donskoi said this season’s Avalanche club is “the best team I’ve ever played on.”
“Bang. … Zoom!”
Fresh from Wednesday’s third Phase 3 Avalanche training camp workout at the Pepsi Center, Donskoi lavished praise on his team, saying “we have so much depth, five good lines even” and said he isn’t bothered at all that, right now, he is skating on a third line.
“Not at all. I don’t know why that would bother me. We have four good lines, who can all score goals and play offensively and play good hockey,” said Donskoi, who has 50 career playoff games to his credit, all with San Jose. “I actually really like our lines right now.”
Donskoi has spent time on each of the top two lines this season, and he put up a career-high 16 goals in 65 games, with 33 points overall. Heading into the playoffs in Edmonton, he seems penciled in as the third-line right wing, on a line with J.T. Compher and Vladislav Namestnikov. Andre Burakovsky seems set as a left wing on one of the top two lines, while Valeri Nichushkin seems set as a second-line right wing.
Donskoi, signed as a free agent last summer from San Jose, can check off a lot of boxes that coach Jared Bednar wants from a third-liner. He can definitely pitch in offensively, and he’s a very tenacious forechecker who also goes strong to the net. He was everything the Avs hoped he would be when they signed him, and then some. The only rough points for Donskoi were two concussions, both suffered in games against the New York Rangers.
Donskoi missed some significant time after the first one, and he suffered the second one in the final game, at home, before the pandemic shutdown. The Finnish veteran has obviously recovered sufficiently from the second one by now.
He and Burakovsky really added a lot of strong offensive depth to this year’s club, something Burakovsky was familiar with previously too, having played for a Stanley Cup-winning team with the Washington Capitals two years ago.
“We have so much depth in our lineup,” Burakovsky said. “To win the Stanley Cup, you need four lines that can play against any line, and I think we definitely do have that. We have four lines that can defend and can score at the same time. I think we proved that when we went through a lot of injuries. Guys were stepping up and everyone can play with everyone. That’s a huge upside for us coming into the playoffs here.”
Probably the only remaining “camp battle” for a top-12 forward spot is between Tyson Jost and Matt Nieto. That says quite a bit about your forward depth right there, when you’re talking about a former first-round pick (Jost) against another guy who played for a Cup four years ago with the Sharks (Nieto).
“We’re looking good,” Burakovsky said.