Aside from the two guys who haven’t been with the club all season and a couple of missed practices, the Colorado Avalanche has been a healthy team in the first month.
Seventeen of the 18 skater positions were filled by the same guy in each of the first eight games — Andrew Cogliano replacing Kurtis MacDermid after the opener representing the lone change. Alexandar Georgiev started all eight games in net.
Avs coach Jared Bednar made his first major alterations to the lineup Wednesday night when Colorado defeated St. Louis 4-1 to snap a two-game skid and improve to 7-2 this season. Veteran newcomers Tomas Tatar and Jonathan Drouin were scratched, with MacDermid and Riley Tufte replacing them.
“Obviously, there’s disappointment,” Bednar said of the discussions with Tatar and Drouin. “Players want to play, right? I tried to ensure them that it is more of an overall team view. It’s not that I’m super disappointed in their play or something. I feel that both of those guys have been OK. Both guys are working hard. I love their attitudes and all that. Tufte, MacDermid — they’re a part of our team, too. I have to take a big-picture approach. In order to do that, someone’s got to come out.”
Tatar and Drouin have both been productive players at other NHL stops. They’ve also both dealt with being scratched from the lineup before. They were both seen as low-risk, high-reward signings this past offseason for the Avs.
For themselves, this is a chance to play on a contender next to talented players and potentially rebuild their value for a better contract next offseason. Tatar has four points in eight games, but played fewer than 11 minutes in the loss at Buffalo that preceded the lineup changes.
Drouin had a strong camp skating almost exclusively on the top line next to Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. He had an assist and a strong game on opening night, but hasn’t found the scoresheet since. He’s bounced around on three different lines, but also had several games with great scoring chances.
Tatar has three primary assists at 5-on-5, which is tied for third on the team, but only one shot on goal at even strength and the worst underlying numbers among the forwards on the team.
Drouin has nine high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5, which trails only MacKinnon and Rantanen, but he hasn’t converted and the team is shooting only 6.25 percent when he’s on the ice at even strength. The only players with a worse on-ice shooting percentage are the fourth line, the third defense pairing and Miles Wood.
“We’re professionals. We’ll move forward,” Tatar said. “I don’t think it was anything too bad. We lost two in a row, and we didn’t score any goals. I’m not the first guy, and I won’t be the last one.”
Drouin returned to the top line for practice Thursday, while Tatar slotted back on the second line. Tufte, who earned praise for his Avs debut from Bednar, was sent back to the Colorado Eagles in the AHL, but the coach also hinted that he could be back as soon as Saturday to play again against Vegas.
Artturi Lehkonen missed practice with a maintenance day, though he did crash into the post near the end of the second period Wednesday night and was clearly hurting after. He also came back for the third period and scored a goal on his first shift.
If Lehkonen can play, there might only be room for one of Tatar and Drouin to return to the lineup, unless Bednar decides to give someone else a rest.
“We have some decisions to make for the next game,” Bednar said. “My approach to it is we’re all in this together. We’re going to need everyone in that room.
“We need all these guys and they’ve all got to play, so if that means guys getting a rest here and there I don’t want them to take that as I’m really down on them. I believe in all those guys and I think we’ll get to where we want to be. I’ve just got to keep everybody involved.”
Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.