DENVER — After a whirlwind week heading into Friday’s trade deadline, the Avalanche’s roster for the push toward the playoffs has been finalized. Colorado said goodbye to Kurtis MacDermid, Bowen Byram, Ryan Johansen and Ben Meyers while welcoming Casey Mittelstadt, Sean Walker, Yakov Trenin and Brandon Duhaime. All four new acquisitions made their debut for the Avs on Friday at Ball Arena.

Colorado defeated the Minnesota Wild 2-1 in overtime.

The lineup was shaken up more with the return of forward Valeri Nichushkin. After being cleared of the NHL Player Assistance Program last week, Nichushkin played his first game since Jan. 10. He was slotted in on the new-look second line with winger Jonathan Drouin and Mittelstadt. That line failed to record a point at even strength and it’ll likely take some time to build chemistry between Nichushkin and Mittelstadt. But Nichushkin went on to score the OT game-winner on the power play.

“It’s great to have him back and it’s great to see the support he’s getting from our fans,” head coach Bednar said of Nichushkin. “To go out and get the OT winner. I mean, no better start to his return.”

Nichushkin and the four new additions meant Colorado had nearly a third of the roster turned over from Wednesday’s 7-2 victory over Detroit. Veteran forwards Zach Parise (lower body) and Chris Wagner (upper body) did not play, defenseman Caleb Jones was a healthy scratch, while Ondrej Pavel and Jean-Luc Foudy were both sent back to the AHL. The Avs were also without Logan O’Connor, who missed Wednesday’s game with an upper-body injury.

All of that is to say: Colorado has depth. And lots of it. Aside from the lack of a true No. 2 center, this was far and away its biggest need. Mittelstadt will fill the new second-line center hole while Trenin, Duhaime and last month’s signing of Parise help fill out the depth needed to compete in a long playoff run.

“It’s a war of attrition come playoff time and you’ve still got 20-something regular season games to get to,” general manager Chris MacFarland said before Friday’s game. “We felt the value of those players, for what they can bring, is pretty important.”

Trenin played on the wing with Ross Colton and Miles Wood but took most of the faceoffs. Duhaime slotted in at left wing on the fourth line, shifting Andrew Cogliano to center with Joel Kiviranta on the right. Aside from Colton, it’s not hard to picture a scenario where the other five parts of the bottom six are scratched at some point given the healthy competition among the forward group. And this doesn’t even consider that forward Nikolai Kovalenko is expected to join the team from the KHL in short order. He, too, is pushing for playing time.

No spot is safe. Simply put, most of the Avs’ forwards will have to earn their place and minutes.

“The biggest thing for us with those guys is that (Jared Bednar) likes having a bottom six, as opposed to a third and fourth line, To use conventional speak,” MacFarland said. “He’s got that in the bottom six now. That he can play 10-plus minutes a night interchangeably. I think that’s where the improvement will be.”

The top line was the only trio that was untouched. And for good reason. Superstar center Nathan MacKinnon and his wingers Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen provided the Avs with the game’s first goal and combined for 15 of 40 shots. They, as usual, led the charge offensively. Colorado outshot Minnesota 40-30.

Lehkonen scored in regulation for the Avs, who improved to 26-6-0 at home. MacKinnon set up the first goal from Lehkonen just 42 seconds in. The assist increased his season-opening home point streak to 32 games. He’s also riding a 12-game point streak and has 10 points in three games at Ball Arena over the past five days. MacKinnon, who also had the secondary assist on Nichushkin’s OT winner, matched his career-high 111 points from a season ago. He reached the mark in six fewer games this year.

On the blueline, the top two pairs remained the same. Walker lined up on the right with Jack Johnson on the third pair, the spot once held by Bowen Byram. Walker also killed penalties, helping the Avs go a perfect 4-for-4 on the PK.

Throughout the week, many figured the Avalanche would make a move for a new backup goalie. Instead, Justus Annunen will remain the No. 2 goalie after an admirable few weeks of games. Annunen backed up starter Alexandar Georgiev again on Friday. Colorado’s top goalie made 29 saves for his league-leading 33rd win of the season (tied with Thatcher Demko). Georgiev is 6-2-0 in his last eight starts with a stellar .921 save percentage.