Column: Bednar’s Deployment of Lindgren Will Bring Best Value

Ryan Lindgren was a staple of the New York Rangers’ top defensive pair last year. They went on to win the President’s Trophy and got two wins away from the Stanley Cup Final.

But things didn’t quite go as well for the 27-year-old this season. Now, with 21 games separating most NHL teams from the playoffs, Lindgren is a member of the Avalanche.

And with that, he’ll get a new role — one that head coach Jared Bednar feels will better suit him.

“If Lindgren comes in and he’s playing a minute, or two, or three minutes less that what he was playing in New York, then that might benefit his game,” Bednar told me on Sunday.

READ MORE: Deen’s View: Lindgren Addition Addresses Avalanche Need, But Is It Enough? (+)

Lindgren was averaging around 20 minutes per game with the Rangers. The only defensemen the Avs have who play that much are Cale Makar, Devon Toews, and Samuel Girard.

Bednar also said he’d like to keep Josh Manson and Lindgren on separate pairs, which tells me that Manson will continue to play with Girard when he’s healthy again.

If the Avs were to make another move on the blueline before Friday’s deadline, you’ll likely see them acquire a right-shot defender to pair with Lindgren.

Simply put, He’s not going to be asked to do as much in Colorado. In New York, Lindgren was stapled to Adam Fox. When he was with him, his metrics looked great. But anytime he was separated from the 2021 Norris Trophy winner, his metrics took a nosedive in the wrong direction.

This doesn’t bother Bednar in the least bit.

“We may deploy him different, right? We have Toews and Cale — it was him and Fox. He might see less time against some of the top guys in the league. He might see more in certain situations. He might see less time overall.

“We look at what we think the strengths are of his game and what we like about that. We’re excited about the physicality and the net-front presence and all the defending metrics.”

READ MORE: Avalanche Mailbag: Mock Trade Thoughts — Can Avs Acquire O’Reilly and Ristolainen?

With Lindgren, the Avs finally have stability on the third pair. They have a defenseman who will log heavy minutes on the penalty kill and give you consistent hockey with a physical edge — two things that were lacking in veteran defenseman Calvin de Haan this season.

That’s why the trade was made.

“We’ve been struggling with our D to be productive with three pairs. So to add a guy of his caliber, for us, is exciting,” Bednar said. “The analytics side of it could be tricky sometimes. If we feel like we can get an understanding of his game, get him clear in our system, and deploy him the right way, we feel that those numbers will be moving in the right direction.”

Spreading the Ice Time

Bednar referencing the ice time deployment for his top guys is also worth noting. For years, the Avs have been running their superstars into the ground. That mindset started to shift, at least with the forwards, when Mikko Rantanen was shipped off to Carolina.

Now, we’re seeing another shift. This time on the blueline. Bednar was open about this and believes Lindgren will help with this, too.

“Getting another guy that can defend top-six forwards on other teams and has done it and done it well is really important because it can free up Toews and Cale,” Bednar said. “It just feels like some nights they try to do everything. They’re trying to help create offense when they play with MacKinnon and then they gotta check the other team’s top line that comes off the ice. Now we have some options to move that around a little bit.”

READ MORE: What the New Veteran Additions Bring To the Avalanche

This next part makes it sound like Bednar is all but guaranteeing another defenseman is coming. Or he’s at least making it publicly clear that he wants one.

“If we were super deep, those minutes would get spread out,” Bednar said about the defense.” You’ve seen our forward minutes kind of start getting spread out now that we’ve added Val back in the lineup. I think we’re two games in a row with Nathan MacKinnon just barely breaking 21 minutes. And we’ve had everyone at above 10-or-so minutes.”

Editor’s Note: The weekly Monday Notebook is being rebranded as a weekly Column. That’s ultimately what it became over the past handful of months. Same weekly piece from Aarif Deen, different name.