Avalanche’s certainty at center helps ease cloudy future

It hasn’t been a great week for certainty about the future of the Avalanche roster.

The Avs already had one key player — captain Gabe Landeskog — whose future contributions remain in question due to a long-term injury. But Valeri Nichushkin’s suspension and mandated return to the NHL-NHLPA Player Assistance Program has left Colorado with two of its highest-paid players as significant question marks for the 2024-25 season and beyond.

One position on the roster where the Avs have significantly fewer questions than they did at the start of this season is the most important one. Before this season began, the depth chart behind Nathan MacKinnon at center was arguably the biggest unknown about the 2023-24 roster. It remained one for much of the regular season.

It hasn’t been a linear path, but the Avs reached Game 6 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a much brighter and clearer outlook down the middle.

“I like where we are at,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I think everyone in the middle of the ice has a specific role. They know what is. They are perfectly capable of accomplishing that role and playing really good hockey for us.”

The Avalanche will be without Yakov Trenin, who has settled in as the No. 4 center since arriving just before the trade deadline, Friday night against the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena. But the addition of Casey Mittelstadt and the development of Ross Colton has changed the future outlook for the position in a big way.

When the season began, the Avalanche had MacKinnon coming off the most productive season of his career, but questions at every other spot on the depth chart. Colorado traded for Ryan Johansen, Colton and Fredrik Olofsson during the offseason, and they were centers two through four in the opening night lineup.

Johansen did not work out. Colton had some early-season struggles. Olofsson proved he could be a regular in this league, but the Avs ultimately determined they needed more size and speed at the No. 4 spot to compete with some of the bigger, faster Stanley Cup contenders in the Western Conference.

Mittelstadt and Trenin arrived before the deadline and instantly transformed the depth at the position from a question mark to a strength. Colton’s progression has helped make him a plus on the third line as well.

“Exponential (growth),” Bednar said. “I mean he comes in playing a position he hasn’t played in years, that he hasn’t played in this league. There’s some growing pains early, some positional stuff. Habits that you have to break as a winger to play center. There’s a lot of detail that goes into it. He put the work in. We saw a huge growth after about a month of the season and then it kind of settled off. I think he’s having a great playoffs.”

There were games after Bednar lost confidence in Johansen where Colton became the team’s de facto No. 2 center, but after Mittelstadt’s arrival and some improved health on the wing, he has settled into the role the Avs hoped he could fill as the No. 3 guy.

Colton and his buddy Miles Wood are the anchors on a physical, fast third line.

“I think the coaches did a great job of sticking with me, working with me,” Colton said. “There were some ups and downs, but I feel like I’ve settled into the role. Trying to be sound in all three zones. A lot of that was taking the extra time to watch video with the coaches, doing some extra work. It helped a lot.”