Fans scramble to process alarming revelations from opening week of Avalanche camp
Photo credit: Timothy Hurst / Denver Gazette
With NHL hockey just around the corner, the Colorado Avalanche wrapped up their first week of training camp and kick off preseason on Sunday. The team looks as complete as it has in years, signalling another potential Stanley Cup contender.
The rest of the league will have their hands full every night they face the Avalanche this season.
First week of training camp shows that the Colorado Avalanche look primed for a deep Stanley Cup run this season.
Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now broke down Colorado's first week of training camp, as they prepare for the preseason starting on Sunday against the Utah Mammoth.
"For the first time in what feels like forever, the Avalanche didn't have any PTO's at training camp. For the first time in years, they have a fully healthy top six, a nearly completely healthy lineup in general, and a lot more stability in each spot than probably any year since 2021." -Deen
Deen emphasized three points following training camp for the Avalanche.
Firstly, he mentioned center depth doesn't appear to be an issue, at least for the time being.
"Jared Bednar confirmed during Wednesday's media day that Jack Drury would get the first shot at being the third-line center. Drury centered Ross Colton and Victor Olofsson during Thursday's skate. On the fourth line, Zakhar Bardakov was between Parker Kelly and Joel Kiviranta, confirming that he's getting the first chance to be the solution to the need for center depth. Having Drury and Bardakov both excel in their roles is probably the most ideal scenario. But they're not, by any means, the only options." -Deen
Secondly, Sam Malinski will have a generous grace period, following his switch over to the left side.
"On Thursday, Bednar said he's going to give Malinski a very long leash to get acclimated to the new position. He's hoping Malinski can be as effective on that side as he was on the right side late last season. But he can't judge his effectiveness in camp, it'll have to be in actual game action." -Deen
Lastly, head coach Jared Bednar has a lot more room to be creative with his lineup this season.
"This year, Bednar has all six of his top two lines healthy and available. And none of them are new offseason additions. He knows what he has, he saw combinations that worked last year, and he's finally able to experiment with new combinations this season." -Deen
All this to say, everything seems to be positive news. It finally feels like the Avalanche have all the pieces filled to go on another deep Stanley Cup run, and the rest of the league will soon find out how good they actually are.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 20 | 18 ANSWERS Fans scramble to process alarming revelations from opening week of Avalanche camp Do you think the Avalanche have a better prospect pool than projected? | ||
| yes | 12 | 66.7 % |
| no | 6 | 33.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
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