When Nazem Kadri says it feels like he’s playing with everyone right now, he’s right.
The Colorado Avalanche began the season with two convincing victories, but also with a look the club rarely shows. Avs coach Jared Bednar, because of injuries to Zachary L’Heureux and Logan O’Connor and salary cap limitations, deployed 11 forwards and seven defensemen in an 8-4 win against the Los Angeles Kings and then a 6-1 rout of the St. Louis Blues.
Kadri and fellow veteran forward Nicolas Roy were two of the players who moved around the lineup the most. The former took at least parts of three even-strength shifts with each of the other 10 forwards who dressed.
“It’s a lot to process from shift-to-shift,” Kadri said. “Thankfully, I’ve got great teammates who help me talk it out. A lot of things within the structure are instinctual. I’ve been around and have lots of great experience.
“Maybe it’s not as easy as I’m making it look, but it’s been pretty seamless and I’m enjoying it.”
The Avs are likely to revert to the traditional look — 12 forwards, six defensemen — as soon as Wednesday night in Winnipeg. Bednar said he expects both L’Heureux and O’Connor to play during this two-game road trip.
Still, the first 11-7 experiment for the first two games was certainly a success. And don’t be surprised if the Avalanche go back to it later in the season when another forward injury pops up. The Avs want to free up as much cap space as possible before the trade deadline, and a trustworthy No. 7 defenseman like Noah Juulsen could give the coach more comfort with the unorthodox alignment.
“I think with the flexibility we had, it just allows you to balance the minutes out and keep everyone involved,” Bednar said. “You’ve got different guys who can jump in and give our centers a break.”
Sometimes when a team goes 11-7 in a game, the result is three lines playing more, with the two extras getting a shift here and there. For the Avs, that might mean heavy usage for Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas and Brock Nelson in particular.
Through two games, Kadri leads Colorado’s forwards in even-strength time on ice. Fedor Svechkov, one of the candidates to get squeezed, is second. MacKinnon is fifth, just ahead of rookie T.J. Hughes.
The Avs’ ability to take a lead and then extend it in both games certainly helped Bednar spread out the ice time. But having seven guys among those 11 forwards who can play center at the NHL level was critical for Bednar to mix and match.
“I’ve got a rotation I like to use in my head, but then you’ve got to ad lib for a little bit,” Bednar said. “TV timeouts, special teams, guys get rested — I have a good idea of who I want to pick up the extra shifts and who I want to use.”
Using the NHL’s full play-by-play data, we can see how Kadri played with everyone else, and how Roy moved around as well. Through two games, Kadri has had 46 “shifts” at even strength.
A longer shift might include 20-30 seconds with more than two linemates as the team changes on the fly, so that one technically counts as two for this exercise.
Nelson and captain Gabe Landeskog have been Kadri’s most-frequent linemates in both games. That is Colorado’s second line, until the ad-libbing has to begin. Nelson (27) and Landeskog (24) were 55.4% of Kadri’s 92 possible linemates.
Artturi Lehkonen was next with seven, but Kadri took as many shifts with MacKinnon and Necas as he did with Fedor Svechkov (six each). He didn’t have any even-strength shifts with Jaden Schwartz in the opener, although they did plenty of good work together on the second power-play unit. Then Kadri had three with the ex-Blues star against St. Louis.
Roy did not play with everyone at evens, but he got close. Parker Kelly (23) was Roy’s go-to linemate, and Svechkov was the only other guy in double digits (10). He took three with both MacKinnon and Nelson, though none with Necas and Landeskog.
Kadri took shifts at left wing, center and right wing in both games. As one of the few righties up front, Roy didn’t take any shifts on the left side.
Still, even where they thought they’d play for some shifts can change with the flow of the game. Players like Kadri and Roy, who can process and adapt quickly at different positions, are valuable over a long season, especially when the Avs decide to roll with just 11 forwards.
“With our system, the first guy back in the (defensive) zone is taking the low guy,” Roy said. “We’re mostly man-on-man, so that’s not that big of a thing. It’s mostly with faceoffs, whether you’re taking them or not, and assignments off faceoffs.
“Every player on this team is really good, so that definitely helps. It doesn’t really matter who you play with. Playing with 11 forwards, the rotation is a little different. We’re ready to go, no matter what.”
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