Back to the Colorado Avalanche Newsfeed

Avalanche Journal: Are middle-six centers Ryan Johansen, Ross Colton an upgrade from JT Compher, Alex Newhook?

Avalanche fans can spend the 2023-24 season paying attention to an extended game of 2-on-2 hockey if they want to risk torturing themselves.

Ryan Johansen and Ross Colton vs. J.T. Compher and Alex Newhook. Note: The four contestants will be playing separately, in three different cities, across seven months.

The Avalanche’s 2022-23 second-line center, Compher, moved on in unrestricted free agency this offseason. The team traded away the rights to its third-line center, Newhook, who negotiated his new contract with Montreal. Rather than run it back with last year’s fulcrum in the middle of the lineup and in the middle of the ice, the Avs went in a new direction.