Adrian Dater
Final cuts were made this afternoon over at Avalanche headquarters, with the team getting down to the 23-man limit. A couple of days before, Jared Bednar said this about how he’d make the final determinations on who would stay and who would get a pink slip:
“It’s gonna go back to what I said in my opening meeting of training camp; When I set a lineup, it’s because that’s how I see it that day. Players are going to have to perform to stay slotted where I see them. That’s going to be a fluid thing all year. The guys that are playing the best and the hardest and the chemistry we like are going to play. And, honestly, it doesn’t matter to me if you’re a young guy, an old guy, been around, haven’t been around. You’re gonna have to earn it.”
Conor Timmins, Val Nichushkin, Ryan Graves, Vladislav Kamenev – guys who were considered question marks to make the club – well, they all apparently have earned an NHL job.
Timmins, Nichushkin, Graves and Kamenev were the survivors of the final cuts Tuesday, with Colorado sending Kevin Connauton, Jayson Megna and Calle Rosen back to the Eagles of the AHL.
The Avs will start the season with 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies. A source tells Colorado Hockey Now that Timmins – who missed all of last season with concussion symptoms – will play in Thursday’s home-opener, with Mark Barberio the likely healthy scratch.
It was a remarkable achievement by Timmins to make the big club out of training camp. Conventional wisdom, to which I admit I subscribed in this case, was that Timmins would need more seasoning at the AHL level before becoming an NHLer. But he just kept looking better and better in camp, to the point where he was actually the quarterback of the first power-play unit at Tuesday’s practice. (This is because, as noted earlier, Cale Makar missed practice with a “tweak” of something, but Bednar called it more of a maintenance day more than anything and said Makar should be “good to go” for the season opener).
Still, the fact that it was Timmins manning the first PP unit in his stead – and not someone like Sam Girard or Erik Johnson – was proof positive of how impressed Bednar and the rest of his staff have been with the former second-round pick from the Ste. Saint Marie Greyhounds.
I talked to Timmins after practice – but before the final cuts were announced – and here is the audio of that. In short, Timmins feels confident he can stay at this level, given the chance:
I think it’s an awesome story, and although the kid is a bit low-key and monotone with us media folk, I couldn’t be happier he’s on the club. He EARNED it.
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