William Nylander and Drew Doughty were injured in preseason action on consecutive days. While we don’t know yet if Nylander is going to miss significant time (Doughty is out month-to-month), it doesn’t change Avs coach Jared Bednar’s mindset with five preseason games remaining.

Bednar still expects to play his veterans to allow them proper time to prepare for the regular season.

“It’s hockey. You gotta play,” he said. “You gotta be ready to start the season and they won’t be ready to start the season if they don’t play exhibition.”

Bednar is dressing a younger lineup in Dallas on Friday, which was always the plan. Among the familiar faces expected to play are Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Calvin de Haan and Sam Malinski. Alexandar Georgiev will also get the nod in goal for half the game.

“As competitive as we are in practice, you have the exact same chances of getting hurt or similar chance of getting hurt in practice in five-on-five drills as you do in a game,” Bednar said.

After the rematch against the Stars, Colorado will host Utah Hockey Club at Ball Arena on Sunday. But they’ll take Saturday and Monday off following each game.

Safe to say, the team is going to cut quite a few players from camp before their next scheduled practice on Tuesday.

Against the Stars, the Avs are facing a veteran-heavy lineup. Dallas is dressing Wyatt Johnston, Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Miro Heiskanen, Matt Duchene, and Thomas Harley, to name a few. Jake Oettinger is also expected to start in goal.

“There are new guys coming into the lineup, I want to see what type of impact they make,” Bednar said of his team. “[I want to see] how they’ll respond going into a tough building with a good lineup.”

Tonight’s Stars roster vs. Colorado: pic.twitter.com/cAXwIiVNip

— Lia Assimakopoulos (@Lassimak) September 27, 2024