How Should Jared Bednar Deploy the Avalanche’s Top Six?

After the Avalanche’s 5-4 shootout victory over Montreal on Saturday, I touched on Jared Bednar’s top-six blender and how I feel it’ll only benefit them in the playoffs.

Simply because we’ve seen this before.

I’ll never forget asking him after the 2022 trade deadline about the line jumbling. He said that the cushion his team built as the No. 1 seed has allowed him to test some things out — to see what works and what doesn’t before the playoffs begin. At that time, Gabriel Landeskog was already out for the remainder of the regular season, but Artturi Lehkonen was acquired at the deadline to replace him.

Between Mikko Rantanen, Andre Burakovsky, Valeri Nichushkin, and Lehkonen, Bednar had ample opportunity to mix and match those four guys with either Nathan MacKinnon or Nazem Kadri. Then when Landeskog returned in the playoffs, he would slot him in as needed.

The Avs are again in a similar situation, albeit without the No. 1 seed locked up. Brock Nelson was brought in as the No. 2 center and is finally looking comfortable with his new team. Valeri Nichushkin, Jonathan Drouin, and Lehkonen have missed a combined 83 games, which in total amounts to almost 40% of their seasons. And the fourth winger, Martin Necas, has only been around for two months.

Basically, it’s MacKinnon and five guys who he has spent large chunks of the season without.

After the deadline, Nelson played most of his first games between Nicushkin and Drouin. And since the Mikko Rantanen trade, Necas was mostly glued to MacKinnon and built some pretty great chemistry with the reigning Hart Trophy winner. But the top six was struggling to produce last week, and Bednar again decided to switch things up.

It went as far as having Nelson on the wing alongside MacKinnon for a short period.

Nelson has since settled in. He has three goals and four points in his last two games. With that, and with the top six permanently figured out for the stretch run, how should Bednar go about deploying his top six?

I will preface sharing my thoughts by saying that I’m a big fan of using multiple combinations.

For example, I loved how Bednar used his top six against the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022. How, depending on whether the Avs were at home or on the road, and whether they had last change or not, MacKinnon and Kadri were flipping wingers. It was Rantanen and Lehkonen with MacKinnon at Amalie Arena. And it was Landeskog and Nichushkin with No. 29 at Ball Arena.

But with that, I’m all for Bednar sticking with a couple of duos. To me, the pairing of MacKinnon and Necas should be a permanent pair until an opposing team stops them. Which, given who they’re likely facing, could be as early as the first round. It’s at that point where the current mixing and matching can come in handy to resort to something else.

The other duo that should remain together are Drouin and Nelson. Yes, Drouin has chemistry with MacKinnon. But he’s fully capable of being the top playmaker on his own line. And like the other pairing, you can look into separating Drouin and Nelson if or when they’re being shut down.

This gives each line a top set-up winger. And on the other side, Lehkonen and Nichushkin — two of the best puck hounds with a knack for scoring goals — can alternate whichever line they’re playing on.

When Nichushkin returned several weeks ago, I was firm on the thought that he needed to play with MacKinnon and Necas. But it’s hard to ignore what Lehkonen has done this year. Even with missing all of training camp, the pre-season, and the first 12 games of the year, Lehkonen returned in November and started to produce instantly.

His 27 goals are one back of MacKinnon for the team lead despite playing a dozen fewer games. He’s already blown past his career high and is well on his way to a 30-goal season for the first time.

Lehkonen looks the best he’s ever looked. This means a weapon like Nichushkin — the true heartbeat of the team in a way — could feast on lower competition on the second line. Just by having him healthy and bringing in Nelson, Colorado flipped from a one-line team to having arguably the deepest top-six in the league.

In the end, Bednar should continue to test every possible combination because he’ll need to use them at some point. But if everyone remains healthy, mark me down as someone who would like to see MacKinnon and Necas together and Nelson with Drouin to start the playoffs.

What say you?