Who will play with Casey Mittelstadt on the second line remains a mystery. The Colorado Avalanche’s opening night top line will most likely be Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen but the other lines are not set yet. The third line with Miles Wood, Ross Colton and Logan O’Connor may be broken up until some players return (i.e. Artturi Lehkonen, Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin).
“He’s been playing with some different guys, because that’s a question mark,” head coach Jared Bednar said ahead of the second preseason loss against the Dallas Stars. “If we can’t find someone to fit into Mitty’s (Mittelstadt) line after six exhibition games and umpteen practices, then it could be OC (Logan O’Connor), etc, and then we’ll have to fill in below it with with other guys to kind of fit the mold of what we’re looking for in the bottom six.”
Mittelstadt is expected to play against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena and Cal Ritchie will likely get a shot on that line. Nikolai Kovalenko has played two games and impressed Bednar so he is a possible linemate for Mittelstadt as well.
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“We still got two games left that we’re going to experiment with the Mittelstadt line. So there’s a couple of guys that I want to see on that line yet before we make decisions on that,” Bednar said. “But if you’re talking top six guys, he’s (Kovalenko) the one guy that’s making the push for that position right now.”
Mittelstadt joined the team at the trade deadline last season, but he proved well enough in that short time that he deserved to stay in burgundy and blue. He signed a three-year deal worth $17.25 million ($5.75 million AAV).
“More than anything I want to really learn the system and depth and obviously last year I learned a lot but there’s still so much to learn,” Mittelstadt said during training camp. “I think Bedsy (Bednar) really understands how I play and when he talks to me I think he knows what he’s talking about and he’s definitely correct. Definitely excited to learn from him.”
Bednar has referred to the young center as a smart player and is set on building his second line around him.
“He was a good player for us when he came and yet, I think he understands, and we understand that he’s still got another level that he can get to. I got a lot of confidence in his ability to take another step this year,” Bednar said.
Colorado’s head coach will use the last two exhibition games to figure out who will play on Mittelstadt’s line to start the season. Once Lehkonen returns, he’ll probably play on that line as the two showed chemistry last season.
“Just being here last year, for whatever it was three months, it helps you hit the ground running this year. And get to know some guys so I’m not walking into the locker room blind,” Mittelstadt said. “That side of it more than anything is very important. Got to know the system and felt pretty comfortable in it by the end of it. Trying to pick up where we left off and find that same feeling.”
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