Avalanche Notebook: Opening-Night Lines Are Set (+)

Jared Bednar’s mind is made up. His forward lines, at least for opening night of the Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup defense, are set. They look quite different from last year’s opener.

When asked if his lines for today were what we could expect tomorrow, Bednar replied, “Yeah, I think they’re close.” Bednar said that with a chuckle, which in Bednar-speak means he doesn’t quite like to give things away in advance but, well, those are going to be the lines unless something bad happens overnight.

These were the lines:

Lehkonen-MacKinnon-Rantanen

Nichushkin-Newhook- Rodrigues

Cogliano-Compher-O’Connor

Blidh-Sedlak-Meyers

Mind you, two veterans (captain Gabe Landeskog, veteran Darren Helm) remain sidelined. So, these lines will definitely change at some point. But, for now, these are the men who will suit up tomorrow against Chicago in what will be a gala event, with the raising of the banner of the Avalanche’s third Stanley Cup.

Asked if he was happy with his team’s training camp, Bednar said he was satisfied with it, but added “I think we will have to find another level of intensity.”

Bednar was asked when was the time that he felt they needed to move on from last year and without hesitation he said, “After last night. After the ring ceremony. That’s the last celebration for last year. It was a great event.”

The latest update on Landeskog is that “he doesn’t have a timeline. But he is putting in a lot of work off the ice,” Bednar said.

He is doing the work, so that is the most encouraging part of his issue. In the meantime, Artturi Lehkonen will take Landeskog’s place on the left wing for the first line.

Helm‘s injury is “progressing a little slower than we would like. He has been doing a lot like handling the puck besides contact, but I’m not sure when he will be ready for contact,” Bednar said

It seems a little worrisome that Helm is having trouble recovering from the surgery, but the coaching staff did not seem worried themselves. Lukas Sedlak will be taking Helm’s place on the fourth-line center to start the year and for opening night.

Technically, Jacob MacDonald is still on the roster because he got hurt during training camp and can’t be sent down to the Colorado Eagles while on injured reserve. He is said to be progressing faster than expected, but Bednar did not make it sound as though he was going to be sent down anyway. This may be MacDonald’s break that he finally needed to crack the NHL roster.

The D pairings are thus:

Makar-Toews

Girard-Manson

Byram-E. Johnson

MacDermid

Goalie

Georgiev

Francouz