3 Camp Battles To Keep An Eye On With The Avalanche

It’s not quite hockey weather here in Denver, but it’s just about hockey season, as the Colorado Avalanche will hit the ice on Thursday for the first day of training camp.

The front office made changes this summer, but none of them quite compare to what they pulled off a year ago. With little to no cap space, thanks in large part to the situations surrounding Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin, Chris MacFarland and company had to be frugal this summer, focusing on shoring up the depth in the organization. The absence of those two, combined with Artturi Lehkonen being limited when camp opens, create some opportunity up front heading into camp. Even beyond the top six, there will be some battles to keep an eye on when the Avalanche (finally) hit the ice at Family Sports.

Here’s just a few of them.

Second Line Wing

Lehkonen may or may not be ready for the start of the season. We’ll likely get an update on that when Jared Bednar meets with the media on Wednesday, but even if Lehkonen is ready, there is room for someone to slide into the top six to start the season.

Will it be Calum Ritchie? Colorado’s first round pick has bulked up in a big way by adding 17 pounds this summer, and could be in line for a taste of the NHL when the season starts. Could it be one of Nikolai Kovalenko, Jere Innala, or Jean-Luc Foudy? They’re all a little older than Ritchie and may be a bit more ready for a top six role. Or will the coaching staff default to just putting a veteran like Logan O’Connor in the top six until everyone returns to health? The staff will likely experiment a little bit, which is exactly what training camp is for.

Fourth Line Center

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, even without a contract, seems like the odds-on favorite to earn the 4C job, but he’s got to show he can still keep up. He spent a lot of last season in the press box up in Seattle, and the Avalanche play with a little more pace. He’d be a great guy to have in the locker room, but can he still get it done on the ice?

Beyond Bellemare, the other internal options are Chris Wagner, Ondrej Pavel, Ivan Ivan, or moving a winger to center. Ivan is an impressive young player and had another strong rookie tournament, but it would be a surprise to see him start the season in the NHL.

There’s also a chance that the 4C to start the year isn’t currently on the roster. This team is never afraid to check out the waiver wire as the season nears, and I’m sure they’ll keep an eye out for anyone they think can help right now.

Third Pair

The Avalanche will enter the season with the exact same top four on defense that they ended with last year. After that, there have been quite a few changes.

Outside of Sam Malinski, 5-10 0n the defensive depth chart is full of new additions, although some of them are a bit more familiar to the staff than others. And here’s the kicker – all of them require waivers to make it to the AHL, and I’m not sure all of them would make it though. It could be a real battle to see who earns those final spots on the roster. One would think Calvin de Haan would have a leg up on the competition because he provides something a little different than the others, but he’s also the oldest and has to show he can keep up in Colorado’s system.

It’s never a bad thing to have depth, and Jared Bednar is a big fan of guys competing for their jobs. That’s certainly what’s going to happen on the blueline.