Welcome to Evan’s mailbag, where each week Avalanche reporter Evan Rawal answers all your Avalanche- and hockey-related questions. Mailbag questions can be sent to evan.rawal@gazette.com.

Is Charlie Coyle the Avalanche’s ‘2C’?

I do think it’s something people might need to prepare themselves for going into next season.

Brock Nelson seems destined to hit free agency, although that’s not set in stone until July 1. Outside of Sam Bennett, whom we’ll discuss in the NHL Insider later this week, there aren’t a ton of potential free agent options at center.

Coyle is signed for next season. Although his offense picked up in Colorado, he’s not an ideal fit at 2C at this point in his career. They might not have much choice, though. The alternative is signing an aging free agent to a big contract with term, so they may just decide to start the year with Coyle in that spot and look at the trade market as the season goes on.

Can you talk about Sam Malinski as a bright spot for the future?

Malinski had an up-and-down season. I liked what he brought in the playoffs (outside of the penalties), but there were long stretches in the regular season where he wasn’t providing a whole lot of anything. I’m not sure his ceiling is much higher than what it currently is, a bottom-pairing defenseman.

As for him being a future bright spot, it’s important to keep in mind he’s not exactly a young guy. He turns 27 this summer, the same age as Sam Girard. Depending on what type of contract he signs this summer, he could become an unrestricted free agent in a year.

How does the Avalanche organization create a better balance between the need to play better defensively, as a whole, & the offense from its skilled players?

To me, the third line needs a better mix of jam, energy and skill. The Drouins of the NHL are empty calories.

Gabriel Landeskog not only returning but being really good likely threw a wrench in Colorado’s forward plans during the playoffs. They seemed to plan on him being a bottom-six guy when he came back, but he was so good they needed to adjust and increase his ice time. That meant Jonathan Drouin, who really struggled, moving to a third-line role. The coaching staff knows he’s not suited for that. If Ross Colton had come back healthy, Drouin likely would have been the guy coming out.

All things considered, the Avalanche were set up really well heading into the postseason with a forward situation Jared Bednar loves. He doesn’t likes saying first line, second line, third line, etc. He likes a bottom six and a top six, and that’s what he had at his disposal to open the playoffs. Replicating that formula at the start of next season will be difficult because odds are they aren’t going to look the same.

They have MacKinnon’s line and they have Drury’s line ready to go next season. Those are good starts to a strong top and bottom six, but the six forwards in between will make or break it.

How far do the Avs go in the 2023 and 2024 playoffs with Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog?

I never felt that 2023 team was a Stanley Cup contender, even before the Nichushkin situation in the playoffs. They went on a run at the end of the season to win the division, but that team never had the juice. J.T. Compher just wasn’t a ‘2C,’ the bottom six was a mess, and Josh Manson’s inability to stay healthy hurt a defense that lacked depth. With Nichushkin, they could have gotten past Seattle. But I don’t think they would have gotten much further.

The 2024 season was a different animal. Despite sub-par goaltending, that team was deeper and stronger than the year before. With Nichushkin playing the way he was they had a shot to get past Dallas. Do I think they could have beaten Florida in the final? No, I don’t. The Panthers bullied the Avalanche during the regular season and I think Florida would have handled Colorado had the Avalanche gotten that far.

Any hypothetical involving Landeskog in the lineup is difficult because the rest of that 2024 team would have looked different. They knew Landeskog wasn’t playing in the regular season so they used his cap space to get guys like Ross Colton and Miles Wood. I’d rather have Landeskog over both, but it’s still tough to wrap your head around that “what if?” scenario.

Should the Avalanche pursue Mitch Marner?

Mitch Marner is a great player and he’ll likely benefit from getting out of Toronto and playing somewhere where people aren’t hounding him on the street every day about last night’s game.

Should the Avalanche pursue him? They don’t have the cap space to do it, for one. If they figured out a way to do it, isn’t that a strange look from the front office?

The whole point of trading Mikko Rantanen was to avoid having three guys making a ton of money on the cap. To turn around and sign Marner, who will get a massive contract, wouldn’t make any sense. If that’s the direction the team wanted to go, why didn’t they just sign Rantanen? You know he’s a fit here and his playoff track record is significantly better than Marner’s.

I just don’t see it happening and the logistics of it don’t make sense. Chris MacFarland and Joe Sakic said they have no regrets when it comes to the Rantanen trade. But if they signed Marner, they’d be admitting they have some.