In net the Avalanche have
Spencer Martin
Calvin Pickard
Jeremy Smith
Semyon Varlamov
The goaltending situation for the Avalanche is probably the most clear cut situation we have currently. Most would assume that Semyon Varlamov and Calvin Pickard will make the final cut for the NHL roster on opening night. Spencer Martin and Jeremy Smith would then be sent down to their respective minor league teams.
There is one really interesting story line here to watch for me personally though, that is how does Varlamov look? If he looks in camp and pre season how he has the last two seasons then I would not be surprised at all to see Coach Bednar go with Pickard as the starter on opening night.
That being said I have full faith and confidence in Varlamov to get his game back to where it was three seasons ago when he was a finalist in the Vezina (best goal tender in the league) voting.
The last couple years there have been many off ice issues that would if we are honest effect any one of us in a big way. This is the first off season in a couple years that Varlamov has had completely clear of any of the significant off ice distractions and I anticipate that he has used that time to re focus and to get himself back ready to take the ice for the Avalanche this year and show the league that he is back.
Now lets take a look at the Defenscemen on the camp roster still.
BARRIE, Tyson
BEAUCHEMIN, Francois
BIGRAS, Chris
BOIKOV, Sergei
CORBETT, Cody
GELINAS, Eric
JOHNSON, Erik
LINDHOLM, Anton
SIEMENS, Duncan
STANTON, Ryan
TYUTIN, Fedor
WIERCIOCH, Patrick
ZADOROV, Nikita
The Avalanche have a pretty solid group of players here and a good mix of vets and younger players. I believe the next wave of reassignments will include Ryan Stanton, Anton Lindholm, Cody Corbett and Sergei Boikov. I have been impressed with all of them at various points of camp and preseason but i feel that they are all players who would benefit from some more time with their minor/junior teams.
After these players are reassigned that would leave us with 9 players left on the defensive side of things. This is where it would get a bit trickier. We all know that former Coach Roy liked to keep 8 defenscemen on the active roster for practices and to keep competition in the team in practices.
We will have to wait and see what the tactic is that Coach Bednar uses but if we are going to keep with the 8 on the active roster there would have to be one more player reassigned. Many would look at the comments from Joe Sakic in the off season when he said that both Nikita Zadorov and Chris Bigra would be with the team full time in the coming season and take them off as any potential player to be reassigned.
The more obvious choice would probably be Duncan Siemens to be sent back down to the American Hockey League. Sense they drafted him Siemens has yet to even play in a preseason game until this year.
Joe also mentioned that when they moved Nick Holden that it was a move to give a chance for the younger guys including Duncan to get a shot at making the team. When all is said and done I think that Duncan will be the last reassignment and that would leave us with
BARRIE, Tyson
BEAUCHEMIN, Francois
BIGRAS, Chris
GELINAS, Eric
JOHNSON, Erik
TYUTIN, Fedor
WIERCIOCH, Patrick
ZADOROV, Nikita
The only real reason i edge out Gelinas over Siemens right now is because of the rocket of a slapper that Gelinas posses. Both Siemens and Gelinas are big strong players but Gelinas has a bit of an edge in the offensive side of things.
Gelinas has a history of back problems though and he may not even be healthy come October. (fingers crossed that he is healthy though best of luck Gelinas!)
Now to the trickiest part of the team to try and figure out who is in and who is on the bubble for the forwards. There are currently 27 listed on the camp roster and they need to cut that down to 13 if we keep the 8 defensemen on the roster. That number can be 14 if you only carry 7 defenscemen on the active roster as well.
I will start by listing the players i think that are locks to make the opening night roster
COLBORNE, Joe
COMEAU, Blake
DUCHENE, Matt
GRIGORENKO, Mikhail
IGINLA, Jarome
LANDESKOG, Gabriel
MacKINNON, Nathan
MITCHELL, John
RANTANEN, Mikko
SODERBERG, Carl
This gives us 10 forwards on the active roster. I think that after that it gets a bit more of a group of players who are on the bubble to fill out the last 3-4 spots. Here are some of the players i think are on that bubble
McLEOD, Cody - while he is a fan favorite there is another player who brings the same physical strong nosed game but can skate very fast and has not taken the unnecessary penalty to this point in the preseason. I know most fans think this is impossible and that there is no way Mcleod isn't on the active roster for sure you have to remember that with Coach Bednar's style Mcleods game really sticks out like a sore thumb. He is not fast enough to keep up with the new style of play defensively or offensively. Granted i am predicting he will make the opening night roster but if he plays or not consistently will be seen. Do not be surprised to see him as a healthy scratch on most nights unless we are playing a particularly large physical team.
GREER, A.J - This is the kid I think will be taking over for Cody if not this year then in the near future. He has all the physical skills and can hit people and stick up for them physically. The biggest difference here though is that Greer can flat out fly too. He may not be Mackinnon fast, but he can get up and down the ice very quickly. Coach Bednar was very happy with his play after the first two preseason games. There is an interview with him on www.coloradoavalanche.com if you would like to hear his thoughts on the kid to this point.
COMPHER, J.T - this guy not be huge ( 6"0') but he can skate and he has high end offensive skills. He reads the game at a very fast pace and has the tools to react and play a that pace as well. These are reasons that I think he could potentially do well in a Coach Bednar system. He has not done enough to make him a clear cut roster player to this point in his career but if given a shot he maybe able to do just that.
GRIMALDI, Rocco - This kid is not huge, in fact he is down right small when it comes to the NHL at 5"6' 180 lbs. What makes this kid stand out though is he blazing speed and his elite offensive skill set. He is someone who many overlooked in the draft because of his size. Look at Johnny Hockey last year and watch some of his highlight reel plays. Well, Rocco is more skilled and talented then Johnny Hockey. Yeah, I said it. yes i believe it and you will too when he is given his shot to show what he can do. In a Coach Bednar system i think that it could be exactly what Rocco needs to really put his skills on display for the rest of the league.
MARTINSEN, Andreas - Martinsen is a big physical hard working player. Last year for the Avalanche i was very impressed with his high mottor and his high work rate that you saw most shifts last year for the Avalanche. If he is going to make the team this year he is going to have to show Coach Bednar that he is going to bring it 150 percent every second he is on the ice. He is someone that could be a very big asset to a playoff team but he is the kind of player that is going to have to work as hard as he can every shift night in and night out to stick in the line up. I believe in him and he even showed some flashes of offensive brilliance last year on a few 1 on 1 situations he got himself into from his hard work and hard skating.
The Avalanche also have 2 players on PTO contracts (professional try out contracts) When the pre season is over they will either be signed to a full NHL contract or they will be let go. Those players that are on the PTOs are BOURQUE, Rene and BOURQUE, Gabriel. Either of them could fill a solid role on the bottom six forwards for the Avalanche this year if they can impress in the preseason.
Last year we had a PTO player make the roster in Jack Skillie and he played a solid role for us all year. They are both on the bubble as well and have both had some nice moments in camp and in the preseason.
Whitney is also a guy who is smaller but has been really impressive in the first couple of pre season games. I am going to put him down as the dark horse that could surprise a lot of people and make it on the opening night roster.
