avalanche news
Avalanche Roster Cut to 30: Final Battles Remain
Following Monday night’s latest round of cuts, the Avalanche’s roster now sits at 30.
Colorado announced after a 6-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights that Sean Behrens, Jean-Luc Foudy, Jere Innala, Jayson Megna, Trent Miner, Jason Polin, and Matt Steinburg were all reassigned to the Colorado Eagles’ AHL training camp. The team also cut Jack Ahcan, Matthew Phillips, and Calle Rosen, but the trio need to pass through waivers before joining the Eagles.
With that, the Avs roster now consists of 19 forwards, eight defensemen, and three goalies. Here’s how it breaks down:
Forwards
If you eliminate Valeri Nichushkin, Gabriel Landeskog, and Artturi Lehkonen from the group, the remaining forwards vying for an opening night roster spot is 16. We pretty much can pencil in Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Jonathan Drouin, Casey Mittelstadt, Miles Wood, Ross Colton, Logan O’Connor, Nikolai Kovalenko, and Joel Kiviranta for nine of those spots.
The remaining three will be made up of Parker Kelly, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ivan Ivan, T.J. Tynan, Calum Ritchie, Chris Wagner and Ondrej Pavel.
Tynan, Wagner, and Pavel stand out to me as the least likely options to be part of the 12 that suit up next Wednesday at Vegas for opening night. And from the remaining four, I would suspect Ritchie is going to play. I just can’t see the team sending him back to the Ontario Hockey League before giving him up to the maximum nine-game audition.
Bellemare is still on a PTO, but I’d suspect it’s either him or Ivan centering the fourth line on opening night. I think Bellemare has a slight edge because of his veteran presence and familiarity with the core group so they’d need to sign him to a contract before Oct. 9. This means one of Kelly or Ivan would round out the top 12 to start the season. But assuming the team carries 13 forwards, they would both be on the roster. Something like:
Drouin — MacKinnon — Rantanen
Kovalenko — Mittelstadt — Ritchie
Wood – Colton – O’Connor
Kelly – Bellemare – Kiviranta
Ivan
Defensemen
The eight blueliners remaining on the roster are the group we’ve spent ample time talking about. Head coach Jared Bednar said earlier in the week that he’ll likely carry eight defensemen to start the season. Since Nichushkin’s $6.125 million cap hit is off the books until he’s reinstated, it’ll allow Bednar and his staff to carry all eight blueliners while they asses which of the newcomers fit and which don’t.
As it currently stands, both Erik Brannstrom and Oliver Kylington have struggled at times. But I can’t see the team writing either of them off yet. I predicted before preseason began that those two would make up the third pair when the season begins, but I’ve flipped completely to the other two options. We know Bednar wants to see what he has with both low risk, high reward signings. And I’d assume they each get into at least a handful of games in October. But right now, the blueline looks something like:
Toews — Makar
Girard — Manson
de Haan – Malinski
Brannstrom, Kylington
Goaltenders
Not much of a surprise here either. The Avalanche will start the season with the same duo that ended last year, Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen. With Miner getting sent down, the third remaining goalie still on the roster is Adam Scheel. The 25-year-old isn’t the Avs’ third best goalie option. I’d argue he’s not even the fourth. But I also wouldn’t read much into him eventually being the final goalie cut from camp.
Bednar mentioned at the start of camp that he’d like to get each of Georgiev and Annunen into three games. They’ve both already dressed twice with two games remaining. That says to me Sheel is sticking around to give each of them a night off either in Utah or Vegas to close out preseason action. Miner, who I’d say is comfortably the third best goalie in the system, will benefit from joining Eagles camp sooner rather than later.
Valeri Nichushkin Expected to Practice With the Avalanche in November: ‘There’s Not One Single Player That’s Not Going To Welcome Back Val With Open Arms’
Deen’s Daily: Rosters Are Set; Regular Season Opens Today; Panthers Get Their Rings
LTIR Explained: How the Avalanche Used the Tucker Poolman Trade To Maximize Cap Space
Artturi Lehkonen Not Expected Back for Several Weeks
Notebook: Is the Avalanche’s Front Office Running Low on Patience?
Avalanche Roster Cut to 30: Final Battles Remain
Avalanche Cut Oskar Olausson, 4 Others on Sunday
Deen’s Daily: Avs’ Olausson Cut; P.K. Subban Is Angry
Avalanche release Pierre Edouard Bellemare from his PTO
Preseason Observations: Avalanche Adjust Lines as Mittelstadt Debuts, Injuries Challenge Depth
Of all the guys sent down most disappointed in Foudy. Didn’t see that same spark to his game when he got called up for a number of games back in 22 – 23. Now have to wonder if both he & Olaussen have essentially been written off organizationally as legitimate future NHL regulars. You only get so many kicks at the can at making a roster with the same organization that drafted you.
OO is done. Foudy I believe still has a shot. I think they want to see him play 40+ games without injury issues. If he can stay healthy and develop just a little more, I can see him coming up late or possibly just making the team next year. I also think that Brannstrom and Kylington are at best fighting for the 7 slot on D. When we start to get those 3 forwards back, 1 of them is getting waived and I don’t see them getting picked up, so the Eagles get them.
Foudy only got like 9 min of ice time.
Can’t show too much with limited ice team.
Not only that, he didn’t get to play with NHL players. Fans need to realize AHL players (the guys that have been there a long time and are on AHL or two-way contracts) are in the AHL for a reason: they learn bad habits that don’t translate to the NHL. Assuming that young players don’t get a chance because they “haven’t earned it” is ignorant of this reality.
Foudy is never going to be a top six guy in the NHL. So he should probably learn how to make the most out of limited ice time with guys that have a lesser skill set. He played only a handful of games @ the pro level 2 years ago & wasn’t getting 15 – 20 mins of ice time. Yet everyone who watches the games & pays close attention noticed him. Not because of him scoring or producing offense, but because of all the little things he was doing. His speed, hustle, drawing penalties, winning puck battles, etc. Blame… Read more »
I agree and was impressed by his speed and tenacity. I think he just might take the next step and make it a harder decision and I haven’t seen it so far this year. his time late last season had some real spark and it would have been nice to see him with some higher skill players.
A lot of people seem to like Foudy, but looking at his stats, I just don’t see enough upside to suggest a long term placement in an NHL roster. No hidden gem here I am afraid.
Now Olausson…our late first rounder from the 2021 draft. A quick glance at NHL.com reveals that only 11 players from that draft class have seen significant ice time in the league so far. So the odds of him turning into a NHL players are actually also pretty low.
I’m hoping the 4C position goes to one of the younger guys. It is about time the Avs showed some generosity toward their own prospects. That is how they discovered LOC’s potential. Guys like Ivan Ivan, Ondrej Pavel or Parker Kelly have upsides that could be uncovered through experience/opportunities. Bellemare is not that much better or worse than the prospects, so why not go with the youngsters?
Two words and a hyphen- D-Zone Faceoffs.
I wouldn’t mind PEB as the 13th forward
All things being equal, they’re going to go with the vet so, PEB it is
Kovalenko is looking like a guy that will play every game if healthy, but may see time up and down all 4 lines pending. I really like him so far. But!!!! Please tell me I am not the only one who notices that he has no finishing ability! Maybe 6 great scoring chances in preseason and none of them have really come close. Missed nets and weak shots into tendys crest.
He’s scored 21 goals in a season in the 2nd best league in the world; he’ll eventually get there
I did say I am liking his game, just pointing out the weak spot so far. If he starts adding goals to the nice passes, good positioning and heavy play, we may have a real star here!
I would agree to some extent. That’s why in the NHL his ceiling is most likely as a 3rd line wing who can produce some offensively. If he could become a 15ish goal guy that would be a huge win for the Avs organizationally.
From my perspective the proposed 4th line does not inspire much confidence.
Fortunately, most of these fowards are waivers exempt so when they get cut, the Avs don’t need to worry about being able to call them up later. Brannstrom and Kylington are not exempt, so if/wben they go down who knows what happens, but should count on the Avs needing callups.
Kelly will be on the team and there is almost no chance they go with Ivan over PEB. So, that really just leaves one spot up front. The Avs don’t typically do 9-game auditions but they might make an exception for Ritchie considering the absence of all that skill; they might even let him hang around a while until Nuke comes back or maybe even longer if he does well. No need to worry about burning the 1st year of the ELC; it’s better if he hits RFA sooner anyhow. None of Brannstrom, DeHaan or Kylington have played well but… Read more »
PEB was cut.
I’m a little surprised Behrens got sent down. I thought he was the best non-Makar defenseman on the ice for us last night, making some really smart defensive plays. I was kinda hoping he’d get a game or two next to Malinski, as I see them as something of a Toews/Makar-Lite. Guess that will have to wait!
Lol, Toews Makar VERY light. The skill is there, but both are way too small to pair together effectively. Malinski wurh DeHaan should be a solid 3rd pair.
They didn’t really leave themselves much of a choice; he’s waivers-exempt and the other guys aren’t
Same I thought he looked solid, guessing they wanted to get him down to the eagles earlier like Miner
Malinski is 1A with De Haan 1B based on camp. Brannstrom and Kylington both have been poor so far. I’m not saying they get sent down or released, especially given De Hann’s injury history, but the $1m plus we are paying Kylington can be better allocated IMO.
They’ll waive Kylington or Brannstrom eventually to make room. DeHaan will almost certainly miss time so they need bodies but their organizational depth is very, very thin.
Aarif, has Pavel recovered from his injury? He didn’t look very close when I last saw him at camp. I had him pegged as a guy that would start the year on IR.
Just heard the guys on the Power Play reporting that Parker Kelly is getting that 4C spot. That would be a shock.
Assuming that Lehky starts the season on IR, my guess on the three spots would be Bellemare, Kelly, and Ritchie. Ritchie will get his 9 games and then likely go back to Oshawa with a list of specific goals to work on during the season and WJC. Ivan and Pavel are waiver exempt, so they’re easy to move back and forth if necessary. of the guys sent down, i bet we’ll see several of them for at least a few games during the season.
Horrible mistake to send Richie back to ohl. Nothing left to prove in that league. If he has impressed this far so going back would not help develop