Nichushkin, 4 new additions in lineup against Minnesota Wild
Forward Valeri Nichushkin will return to the Avalanche lineup after missing nearly two months while he received care in the NHL Players Assistance Program.
After a busy two days ahead of the NHL trade deadline, the Colorado Avalanche face off against the Minnesota Wild with four new players in burgundy and blue for the first time — and welcome the return of Valeri Nichushkin.
"One of our top six forwards so he's gonna help us for sure a lot," Mikko Rantanen said about Nichushkin's return. "The way he was playing this year earlier, think he's going to keep up the same speed and it's gonna be good."
The 29-year-old Russian missed 22 games while he received care in the NHL Players Assistance Program for about six weeks.
Head coach Jared Bednar said it's important to have an "impact player" back in the lineup and Nichushkin will likely be on the second line with Casey Mittelstadt at center. Sean Walker will pair with Jack Johnson and Brandon Duhaime and Yakov Trenin will end up somewhere in the bottom six.
Bednar said after practice on Thursday that Mittelstadt is emerging as a high-end player who could make an impact on the team with more consistency and maturity. The young forward said he's just excited to get going and contribute to the team.
"That was probably the most I've sweat in morning skate in a long time just flying around, but I'm excited," Mittelstadt said. "I think, you know, selfishly what an opportunity for me — for the team, can see where they are and obviously I've played against them and I hated playing against them, so definitely excited to join them. We've got a great opportunity here and I'd love to help them."
Duhaime was traded from the Wild so his transition was quite quick. He said it's better to play against his former team immediately to get it out of the way and move forward.
While Walker and Mittelstadt said they don't have any relationships with players on the Avalanche, Trenin said he and Nichushkin are friends and come from the same area in Russia. He was glad to be traded to the Avalanche and said he likes the team and wants to help them win.
Mikko Rantanen said it was very tough to lose his good friend Bowen Byram but thinks the additions were necessary to help the team win games and succeed down the line.
"I think we added some pieces that we needed you know, we were missing, and we got some grit with Duhaime and Trenin, and obviously skill with Casey (Mittelstadt) and another solid defenseman with Walker," Rantanen said. "So yeah, I think it was needed to do, you know, you don't want to lose guys that you've been around with forever. But you know, it's sad, that part is sad, but I think players we added it's gonna help us."
Projected lineup
While it's difficult to determine where players who have never played with the team before will be, here's what NHL.com has up for this matchup and what The Hockey News' Colleen Flynn believes will be the lineup.
Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Valeri Nichushkin — Casey Mittelstadt — Jonathan Drouin
Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Joel Kiviranta
Andrew Cogliano — Yakov Trenin — Brandon Duhaime
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Josh Manson
Jack Johnson — Sean Walker
Alexandar Georgiev
Justus Annunen
While Minnesota is coming off a back-to-back after beating the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night, the Avalanche had a day off after a 7-2 victory against the Detroit Red Wings. This is the second of four meetings between the Central Division rivals with the Avs up one in the series so far (3-2 win on Nov. 24). The puck drops at 7 p.m. at Ball Arena.