Avalanche Morning Skate Notebook: Josh Manson Back

Today was the first morning skate of the 2022-23 season for the Colorado Avalanche, along with the first appearance of Josh Manson. He returned to the team after taking three days off for the birth of his second baby girl. Mikko Rantenen was in the facility, but remained off the ice for maintenance reasons. Val Nichushkin remains in a non-contact sweater, but only did the warm-ups and then left the ice.

Players present
Compher LOC Johansson Kaut Burke Zhuravlyov Girard Georgiev Cogliano Maltsev Nichushkin Miner Lehkonen Rodrigues Middleton Scott Manson Byram MacDonald Beaucage MacDermid Foudy Clurman Tardiff EJ Toews MacKinnon Olausson
Manson is here!!!#GoAvsGo #Avs pic.twitter.com/KBF5sonPOv

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) September 25, 2022

There was a heavy mix this morning of veterans and prospects on the ice this morning with half the team on the team on the road. It really became a guessing game as to who will be the players that will be in the lineup this evening. Logan O’Connor was able to confirm that he will be one of those veterans on the squad tonight. He jokingly said that he will be on a line with two other forwards and that is it. It is highly unlikely that Nathan MacKinnon or Artturi Lehkonen will play since they were just working on puck handling skills the entire practice. Cale Makar seems like a unlikely choice as well since he was working on his edges a lot.

Based on the sweater colors that were together these are the projected lines that I was seeing there today:

Blue: MacKinnon Lehkonen

Burgundy: Maltsev Kaut Beaucage Foudy

White: Tardif Burke O’Connor Scott

Grey: Olausson Compher Cogliano Rodrigues

It’s obvious that a lot of these veterans will not play tonight, but there maybe a chance we could see Evan Rodrigues for the first time in an Avalanche sweater. Rodrigues was taking part in the number one power play unit drills along with J.T. Compher and Bo Byram. There were a lot more prospects on the second unit for the power play like Alex Beaucage and Jean-Luc Foudy.

What looks like some power play work here.
Olausson Compher Byram Rodrigues Cogliano in on the unit #GoAvsGo #Avs pic.twitter.com/04IOBnbnXL

— Brennan Vogt (@AvsTerritory) September 25, 2022

On the other end, another power play unit. Foudy Beaucage Maltsev Kaut MacDonald #GoAvsGo #Avs pic.twitter.com/Ud0vZfuAe9

— Brennan Vogt (@AvsTerritory) September 25, 2022

It will be good to get back to some real hockey games tonight. The Avalanche play a split squad game in Minnesota at 2 today and it sounds like Alex Newhook may be playing there. The puck will drop for tonight’s matchup at Ball Arena at 7 p.m. against the Vegas Golden Knights. Make sure to follow me on twitter @AvsTerritory to see my journey tonight in my first game as a member of Colorado Hockey Now. I look forward to seeing some of you there.