Avs Training Camp Day 3: Makar, Toews and Bowers continue to impress

(Photo courtesy of @Avalanche)

With Day 3 of Avs training camp officially under wraps, we’re now officially one week away from opening night against the St. Louis Blues.

The news regarding the five “unfit” Avalanche remains the same. That is to say, Gabe Landeskog, Brandon Saad, Erik Johnson, Philipp Grubauer and Keaton Middleton are all still out and have yet to make an appearance at camp. According to head coach Jared Bednar, none have been in the building either.

We’ve prodded and tried to find unique ways around asking what ails these five unfit Avs in hopes of catching Bednar off guard. However, his steely resolve and strong constitution won’t allow it. At this point, though, we can kind of deduce what’s happening here.

Bednar has said it a couple of times that different guys among the five are in “different protocols.” This leads me to believe, indeed, some have probably been exposed to covid and are now quarantining while others may be dealing with another ailment. Either way, Bednar said after Day 2 that he expects everyone back by puck drop on Jan. 13.

In other news, Day 3 of Avs training camp saw the first scrimmage of the shortened pre-season practice schedule. These are easily the best part of these training camps, and unfortunately, nobody — including us media — can view it in person. So, instead, I asked coach Bednar who stuck out to him the most during the scrimmage.

“The guys that you would expect to be sort of leading the charge in scrimmage were real good,” he said. “Like the MacKinnon line was good, Mikko scored a nice goal. Makar and Toews stood out to me.”

In other words, the usual suspects. Bednar did, however, mention another player, who has been gaining some steam of late and has been mentioned by name a couple of times now as a guy who has stood out.

“I liked Bowers today,” he added. “He stood out to me today as a player making a positive impact. You know, there wasn’t too many guys out there that I didn’t like, but you know for a young guy coming in and trying to make a push to make our hockey team, I thought he was good today.”

I asked his Colorado Eagles teammate, Conor Timmins, what he thought about Bowers’ camp. He reported “he was really good. Obviously he has great speed, so when he’s using that and getting in on the forecheck he’s tough to play against.”

Everyone likes to talk about the Bowen Byram’s and the Alex Newhook’s and the other sexy, en vogue first-round-forward’s names — and rightfully so — but let’s not forget about guys like Shane Bowers, another former first-rounder, who is oft-forgot and is also knocking at the door of the NHL. I think Bowers makes the taxi squad until the AHL gets going.

Other news and notes from Day 3:

• The Makar-Toews top-pair duo continue to impress: “I did really like the Toews and Makar group today in the scrimmage,” Bednar said. “Both real good skaters so it’s hard to get anywhere to create any offense against those guys; they’re defending well. Then they’re puck-moving ability is exceptional. They were up on the rush, helping out the offense, moving pucks out of their zone — all the things that you would expect them to do. This is the reason why we like them together…They’re obviously going to see a lot of time on the ice with the MacKinnon line, so they can help be part of our offense and help drive that as well.”

• With Landeskog and Saad still unfit to participate, there’s a big hole on that second line, with Nazem Kadri being the sole member of the trio. Bednar said he’s been trying a couple of looks there, but Tyson Jost and Bowers have been manning Kadri’s wing for two straight days now.
• The third line has remained intact. Looks like Nichushkin – Compher – Donskoi will stick heading into the season.
• Martin Kaut has been rotating in on the fourth line with P-E Bellemare and Matt Calvert, as have Logan O’Connor and Kiefer Sherwood.
• I believe Kaut will be a taxi-squad guy until the AHL gets up and running. Same with O’Connor. Then we’ll probably see guys like Kiefer Sherwood, Mike Vecchione and those other AHL depth guys get the call up to the taxi squad.
• Conor Timmins spoke with the media for the first time this season and told me he’s “100%” recovered from his playoff injury that occurred in the Dallas series….Now, “I’m just trying to go out there and compete everyday and get my game down. And so far I’ve felt good.”
• Bowen Byram will hop on a flight to Denver on Thursday and will need to serve a seven-day quarantine and pass four negative tests before he can officially join the Avs. That said, he’s eligible to begin practicing with the team on Jan. 14.
• “It’s very exciting,” Makar said when I asked about all the young, talented defenseman (i.e., Byram, Timmins, etc.) that are about to take over this team. “We have a lot of depth, and I think that’s gonna be a strength of our team moving forward. We have so many guys coming up the pipeline that are great players, so I’m excited to see what everybody can do.”
• Looks like the Avs will debut some new pants to go along with their 3rd jerseys.
• Did everyone wish AD a happy birthday today?

No practice or media availability tomorrow.