Deen’s Daily: Mittelstadt Gives Avalanche Options; Colorado Gets First Win

Many of us thought Casey Mittelstadt was going to be a candidate to have a breakout year but I don’t think any of us expected it to happen this quickly. Not while the Avs are dealing with as many injuries to their top wingers as they’ve had to endure in the earlygoing.

No Gabriel Landeskog, no Valeri Nichushkin, no Artturi Lehkonen, no Jonathan Drouin, no problem. Mittelstadt is playing with Nikolai Kovalenko and Logan O’Connor these days and carrying his line at five-on-five. He’s also been a pleasant surprise on the power play and continues to pitch in offensively in both situations.

In the Avalanche’s first win on Friday, Mittelstadt scored the team’s first goal on the breakaway and he did it with style. He faked the forehand shot before going backhand for his fourth goal of the season. After being acquired from Buffalo on March 6, Mittelstadt had four regular-season goals for the Avs in 18 games. He reached the same number in just five games this season.

Having Mittestadt at center has also given head coach Jared Bednar the option to utilize Ross Colton on the wing. Without all the aforementioned wingers missing from the lineup, Bednar has needed to rely on Colton and Mittelstadt for scoring. And because of the lack of options to play in the top six, it was an easy decision for Colton to join Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen on the top line. Playing on the wing with skilled forwards was something he did well in Tampa. And having a proper No. 2 center has finally allowed Bednar to use him like the Swiss army knife he should’ve been since he was acquired.

“Part of Colton’s game, which makes him really good as a winger, is he likes to skate and move and keep a little momentum,” Bednar said. “He’s a terrific forechecker, physical, like he can get on the hunt more. When you play goal line to goal line, if you have to go back and help our D all the time and you’re stopped down there in the battles, it’s the wingers that are taking off and doing that skating. And you gotta work to try and keep up with them. And then you’re often f3 in the offensive zone. Well, part of his strength is being f1 or f2 and hunting the puck down and checking it back.”

Colton has four goals and an assist through five games. It might be hard to shift him back to center if or when the Avalanche are fully healthy upfront. But boy does it feel good to see him on the wing. We all felt it was a big part of why he was acquired but the lack of center options never allowed for it to happen last season.

Kudos to Mittelstadt, who also has four goals and five points. He’s going to be a star for this team and the early returns of his first full season are proving exactly that.

Colorado Hockey Now

The Avalanche earned their first win on Friday, but it didn’t come easy. Colorado trailed 2-0 after the first period off of two questionable calls by the officials which directly led to both Anaheim goals. And after scoring three times to take the lead, the Avs gave up the game-tying goal with 12.9 seconds remaining in a game where they dominated for basically 55 minutes of regulation.

Nathan MacKinnon was the OT hero, and the Avs earned their first two points in the standings because of it. What does MacKinnon get for the win? An oversized hat.

The player of the game gets a big ol' hat. And it's got its own box too.

MacKinnon says Landeskog got it for the team pic.twitter.com/aFYsLNnpFZ

— Aarif Deen (@runwriteAarif) October 19, 2024

Alexandar Georgiev got the nod in goal for the fifth time in as many games. He was better against Anaheim, but he still boasts some of the worst goaltending numbers in the league this season. Could the Avalanche be looking elsewhere for help between the pipes?

Before the big win, I caught up with Logan O’Connor for a 1-on-1 after the Avs’ optional morning skate. O’Connor was critical of his team and how they had played through four games — highlighting what needed to be better to start winning. But he also did it in the most respectful, leadership type of way. This guy has all the tools to be a captain in the NHL someday. It might not happen with the Avs, but I would not be surprised to at least see him wearing an ‘A’ at some point. Even if it’s as a fill-in during a game where one of the big stars is not dressed.

The O’Connor piece was my first CHN+ article this season. I look forward to sharing a lot more exclusive content with CHN subscribers. I hope you get a chance to subscribe and join me for the ride.

Around The NHL

Winnipeg: The Jets can’t stop winning. Winnipeg is 4-0-0 to start the season after dominating the San Jose Sharks 8-3. The Sharks on the other hand are now one of two teams left in the league without a win.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Building off of the article I referenced yesterday, it would appear that Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan is being upfront about the issues with Tristan Jarry. Albeit the Pens didn’t fare too well without him in goal on Friday, falling 4-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes.