Playoff Preview: Familiar face forwards

Let’s take a look at how the Avs and Stars will fare up front!

Well, folks, it’s officially playoffs time, with only one spot in the bracket settled. As I’m sure you have heard, if you frequent this site, the Colorado Avalanche are set to meet the Dallas Stars for round one in Dallas, TX. Let’s dive deep into this matchup, starting with hashing out Dallas’ forward group.

Projected Forward Lines

Jason Robertson — Roope Hintz — Mikko Rantanen
Mason Marchment — Matt Duchene — Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn — Wyatt Johnston — Evgenii Dadonov
Mikael Granlund — Sam Steel — Mavrik Bourque

Extras: Colin Blackwell, Oskar Back

First line

The Stars’ lineup is difficult to pin down, at least in terms of who will be slotted where, especially this time of year, so I gave it my best guess. Like the Avalanche, they may see the return of one of their vets, Tyler Seguin, which would bolster their forward depth. I doubt he starts back on the first line, but Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, and Mikko Rantanen are likely the group we will see unless Dallas decides to slot Rantanen further down the lineup. We’ve seen Evgenni Dadonov up with the top group to end the season, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him do so at times in this series.

Unfortunately, Jason Robertson is a player that Avalanche fans became familiar with last postseason. He scored seven points in the six-game series, all of which came in the form of assists, so he was playing driving last postseason and may be key on that again this year.

Roope Hintz is known for his hockey IQ and versatility in playmaking and goal scoring. If that scouting report sounds familiar, it also accurately describes Mikko Rantanen.

Ah, yes, the Moose, Mr. Mikko Rantanen and his playoff prowess now belong to Dallas, and that’s a bit scary if you ask me. Mikko is undoubtedly one of the game’s most successful playoff performers of late, posting a whopping 101 points in 81 appearances. That’s experience and success in the postseason, and if the Avalanche want to stick around in this playoff bracket, they will have to find a way to keep Moose in the mud. Or at least slow him down a bit.

Second line

The second line could and should feature the returning Tyler Seguin. Seguin came out of the gates flying to start the regular season before getting injured. So, unless he isn’t fully recovered or if that injury displays lingering effects, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be in Dallas’ top-six group. Seguin is a veteran presence that the Stars will welcome back as he and Jamie Benn present the bridge between eras in Big D.

Dallas is pretty stout up the middle with ageless wonder Matt Duchene still chugging along at an impressive pace. Crazy to think that the guy that Colorado drafted is already considered a veteran in this league. Duchene (in typical fashion) scored the series-clinching goal for Dallas in last year’s game six overtime victory. It’s very impressive that Duchene still realizes the amount of production he does at this age.

Mason Marchment has been listed as day-to-day as of late, but let’s be real, he’s gonna play in game one. Dallas can ill afford to be more shorthanded with Miro Heiskanen possibly missing a game or games in this much-anticipated series. Marchment set his career-high points marker in the 2023-24 season and hoped to do the same this year. He likely would have had he played the whole season, as he put up seven fewer points in 20 fewer games in 2024-25.

Third line

Now let’s peek at the bottom six, starting with our favorite Jamie Benn on the third line. Benn is a brutal and ruthless competitor who isn’t afraid to skirt the line between legal and illegal, dirty and clean. He’s someone that you must be aware of whenever you are sharing the ice with him. He’s also someone with net-front prowess and clutch abilities. Benn will undoubtedly get under our skin this year. Let’s hope it doesn’t work on the Avalanche, and cooler heads prevail/win.

Wyatt Johnston is a great young player with plenty of skill and ability. If Gabe Landeskog should slot back into 3LW, I’d expect this to be a key matchup with Johnston. Evgenii Dadonov would probably be a top-six player just about anywhere else, and he and Seguin will likely be interchangeable throughout the series based on Tyler’s health and performance. Dadonov can score, posting 20 goals this season, so if the Stars can pull off keeping him productive on the third line, look out.

Fourth line

Like any playoff team, the Stars could deploy a few different fourth lines with Colin Blackwell and Oskar Back as extras. My best guess is they go with this Grandlund, Steel, and Bourque look. All three players certainly suit the role of 4th liners, with Granlund offering the most experience. If we see a lot of this bottom six, it should mean that the Avalanche are earning lots of powerplay chances, so let’s hope they are out on the ice and disappointed a lot.

Wild cards

Well, this might be for the defenders’ preview, but the ultimate wild card is Miro Heiskanen’s return (or not) as he led the Stars in points in last year’s series against Colorado. If I keep things on topic, I must call Tyler Seguin back to the foreground. He’s played 133 playoff games, has 25 goals and 48 assists in that time frame, and was a Stanley Cup Champion with the Boston Bruins. That experience cannot be overlooked or overvalued at this time of year.

Who has the advantage?

I think the only way I can do this is first to project Colorado’s forward group, so here is what I think that will look like! I have no insight, this is just how I’d like to see things:

Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Valeri Nichushkin
Artturi Lehkonen — Brock Nelson — Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog — Charlie Coyle — Ross Colton
Joel Kiviranta — Jack Drury — Logan O’Connor

Extras: Miles Wood, Parker Kelly, Jimmy Vesey

Okay, first of all, that is a crazy forward group to put down after what this squad looked like back in October 2024. I will look at things in the scope of how I’ve described the Stars. In the Avalanche, I also see a deep and solid group up the middle, and plenty of scoring and playmaking potential between Nichushkin, Drouin, MacKinnon, and Necas. I also see a returning veteran and leader in Gabe Landeskog. Moreover, he represents Colorado’s wild card this postseason. All that I mentioned in terms of playoff success for Mikko was realized alongside Nathan MacKinnon, so I’d say that’s a wash.

This might sound wild, but I think this series will be won or lost in the bottom six for two reasons. First, I expect each team’s third line to be deployed situationally to bring more grit and defensive focus against top groups and powerplay units. Secondly, I think there isn’t much separation between the top six. All in all, I’ll give the Avalanche the slight advantage in the forward group. Why, you ask? Well, they have the best forward and ice hockey player in the world, and his name is Nathan MacKinnon.