J.T. Compher did a fine job punching above his weight class in 2022-23, but he was slotted into it because Alex Newhook couldn\u2019t develop into that role. Then there was the failed Ryan Johansen experiment, the Bowen Byram-for-Casey Mittelstadt blunder, before the team ultimately landed on Brock Nelson.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old has played 246 consecutive games after missing 10 games in 2021-22 with an injury. And before that, Nelson missed only two games in seven seasons. That\u2019s the type of reliability the Avs need. And they should have it with their new full-time 2C.<\/p>\n
Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen are two of the best two-way checking forwards in the game. But the fact that they\u2019ve missed 96 and 68 games, respectively, over the past three seasons, is a huge problem. That averages out to 32 per year for Nichushkin and 22 for Lehkonen.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s put that into perspective.<\/p>\n
Since 2022-23, Nichushkin has averaged 42 goals in every 96 games and Lehkonen 29 goals per 68 games. That\u2019s a lot of offense they\u2019ve missed. And that doesn\u2019t include what missing them did to the ice time of MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, who were far and away the two most-used forwards over the last three years.<\/p>\n
Rantanen is gone now, and Martin Necas should be here for the foreseeable future. This will be the first year with Necas as a full-time member of the roster. If he can continue to elevate his production, I see no problem with him being a key piece of this team moving forward.<\/p>\n
All five of these guys, the five that will make up the top two lines with MacKinnon, were not in the lineup for opening night a year ago. All for different reasons.<\/p>\n
MacFarland built a top six that can win. They need to be available to achieve that goal.<\/p>\n
Organizational Fit: Be More Strategic with Future Acquisitions<\/p>\n
Basically, find the right depth pieces. It\u2019s easier said than done.<\/p>\n
When the Avs won the Cup in 2022, they hit on a depth acquisition in Andrew Cogliano at the trade deadline. In the following years, guys like Lars Eller, Yakov Trenin, Brandon Duhaime, Juuso Parssinen, and Jimmy Vesey were all misses.<\/p>\n
When they won in 2022, Josh Manson came in and made an impact. They didn\u2019t get that same impact from Sean Walker in 2024 or Ryan Lindgren in 2025.<\/p>\n
When they needed help in the middle of the year, they picked up Nicolas Aube-Kubel off waivers, and he was a mainstay of the roster throughout the regular season and a key depth piece for the playoff run. Since then, they\u2019ve gotten pretty much nothing out of recent waiver claims like John Ludvig and Ivan Prosvetov.<\/p>\n
Darren Helm wasn\u2019t supposed to be the fourth-line center in the playoffs in 2022 and was barely a factor in the regular season. The front office went out and acquired Nico Sturm to play that role. But the veteran forward, who played on the wing all year, was shifted to center and did everything and more that was asked of him. Nowadays, the coaching staff is struggling to find fits for players. Tomas Tatar was here, and then he was gone, before he had a chance to find his place. That\u2019s just one example.<\/p>\n
And that doesn\u2019t even include their ability in the past to find the right type of players. They once added Nazem Kadri to be their 2C. His willingness to do anything it takes to win was an attribute missing from Johansen and Mittelstadt.<\/p>\n
How has the pro scouting department fallen this much?<\/p>\n
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