There was a fun perk waiting for Casey Mittelstadt after joining the Avalanche in a trade from the Buffalo Sabres — beyond his first chance to compete for a Stanley Cup.
For the first time in his six years as a professional hockey player, Mittelstadt’s team had an off day in his home state. The Avs’ schedule allowed him two full days in the Twin Cities before they played the Minnesota Wild this past Thursday at Xcel Energy Center after arriving Monday night from Columbus.
“I’ve never really had that before. It was nice I think amidst all the chaos to go home and reset a bit,” Mittelstadt said.
Mittelstadt was able to have dinner and hang out with his family one day, then catch up with friends the next. He deemed it a chill experience, which is the opposite of what he’s dealt with as a Minnesota high school phenom who also starred for the Gophers.
The trip home gave Mittelstadt a chance for a deep breath. Now he’s trying to fully settle in with his new team and get ready for his first Stanley Cup Playoffs experience.
“The first few games you are really running around on adrenaline,” Mittelstadt said. “Once you finally get through that, you hit the point where now you’re really learning and trying to find some comfortability, find your spot in the system. For me, I try to keep learning, getting better every day. It’s quite a bit different. So just keep learning and working on my game. I have faith that I’ll get to where I need to be.”
Mittelstadt was one of four new additions for the Avs in the days leading up to the March 8 trade deadline. The honeymoon period in the first two weeks could not have gone better.
Colorado tore through a seven-game stretch once the quartet was available, looking very much like one of the top contenders for the Stanley Cup. The past two weeks have brought about the first adversity for Mittelstadt, Sean Walker, Brandon Duhaime and Yakov Trenin, though the latter has already had a minor injury to work through.
The Avs have lost five of seven. The team defense has looked in disarray the past couple of games since leaving Minnesota.
Mittelstadt has been solid — four goals and nine points in 14 games is just below the rate at which he produced for Buffalo the past two seasons — but he’s also clearly in a second-line role for the Avs.
“I think he’s a work in progress,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “It reminds me a little bit of when (Jonathan Drouin) first got here. Didn’t happen overnight for him. He’s putting the work in. He’s playing with a really good conscience on the defensive side. Still not perfect. Still caught in between a little bit of using his instincts and playing instinctual hockey and trusting that and also still trying to play mistake-free, good in-the-structure-type play.
“I want him to find a balance there. I think he has another step to get to on the offensive side, where he can get more dangerous using his feet more as the solution.”
Mittelstadt has sensed the tangible progress he’s made fitting into the Avs’ style of play. He’s realized now when he makes a mistake, he instantly knows how and why. Learning from those missteps and instinctively doing the right thing the next time is part of the finishing touches on the process.
Several of the new additions at the start of this season had ups and downs with finding the melding point between how they need to play as an individual and within the team’s structure. Those guys had several months to work out the kinks. Mittelstadt’s timeframe is weeks.
“Overall, I’m really happy with the way he’s played,” Bednar said. “I see certain games where he lets loose a little bit and he’s more impactful. I’d like to see that on a nightly basis, a little more consistent basis. But he’s aware of that and working at it. We’re seeing gradual improvements in a bunch of different areas.”
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