Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson was having a career-best season when he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in late January, and he is on track to return to the Colorado lineup in about two weeks.
When Johnson is back, Avalanche coach Patrick Roy, in tandem with assistant Andre Tourigny, who handles the defensemen, will decide whether to immediately: a) attempt to use Johnson and Jan Hejda against the opposition top line or, b) keep doing what Colorado has been doing recently — deploying Brad Stuart and Nick Holden in that role.
Stuart and Holden will be doing that Saturday night against the Calgary Flames at the Pepsi Center as the Avalanche attempts to stay as close as possible to a Western Conference playoff spot with five consecutive road games up next.
“I knew what they could do, and that’s the reason we went after Brad Stuart in the offseason,” Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said after Colorado’s morning skate. “We wanted a bigger defenseman, a defenseman that was able to move well and in positioning is very solid. And he’s physical. Plus, I really believe that he brings great leadership to our team. Guys like Holden, (Tyson) Barrie, (Zach) Redmond, they look up to him. When we made the trade, I was pretty excited to have a guy like him and I think it’s a good step in the right direction to make our defense better.”
On Friday, Roy responded to a question about Barrie with , who came to the Avalanche in a trade with San Jose last summer for two draft choices and later was signed to a two-year contract extension that ties him up through 2016-17. So Roy’s comments Saturday, in response to a question about Stuart and Holden’s role as a pairing, was a followup to that.
“We’ve played a lot together this year and I think we’re at a point where we understand each other’s games without having to necessarily talk about it all the time,” Stuart said Saturday morning. “The only difference lately is that we’ve been playing against the other team’s top line, but I’m still killing penalties and doing a lot of the same things. It’s just playing against different players a little more consistently. … I’m at a point where I know my game, I know what I bring to the table and what I don’t bring to the table and I just try and keep it simple and consistent and bring the same things every night.”
The Avalanche also showed considerable faith in Holden, who is making $600,000 this season. Colorado last summer also signed him to a three-year, $4.95 million extension, taking him through 2017-18.
Holden said Saturday of the pairing going against top lines: “I don’t think things have changed much. Obviously, you have to be a little more responsible, thinking about D coverage because if you press a little bit too much, their top players will make you pay. Besides that, I think Stewie and I have done a good job of playing against top lines and trying to move pucks to your forwards, getting the puck of our D-zone so the top lines can’t play in our zone. It’s a great challenge every night and kind of an honor because you always want to push yourself to be the best you can be.”
At 73 points, Colorado will go into Saturday’s games six points behind Los Angeles, which is in the final wild-card spot in the West. Dallas (74), San Jose (76) and Winnipeg (78) are between the Avalanche and Kings, making this more than a chase of one team for Colorado.
After facing the Flames, the Avalanche has the next five at Arizona, Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or twitter.com/TFrei
