Colorado Avalanche Rookie Showcase Set for Trial Run
By Ross Sellers
The 2016 Colorado Avalanche Rookie Showcase is set to debut in all the glory of a maiden voyage.
The Colorado Avalanche will be hosting a tournament event — featuring the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks — that will run concurrently with rookie camp, and allow the rookies to play in game style situations.
In other words, don’t confuse the 2016 Colorado Avalanche Rookie Showcase with the 2016 NHLPA Rookie Showcase. That’s an event that Upper Deck attends, and it features on-ice drills only for the sake of pictures for rookie cards, which these rookies then sign.
The Colorado Avalanche are hosting a competitive event that will hopefully help to develop the rookies involved in the event.
Here’s the schedule:
Colorado Avalanche Vs San Jose Sharks Saturday, Sept. 17 — 2pm
Colorado Avalanche Vs Anaheim Ducks Sunday, Sept. 18 — 1pm
San Jose Sharks Vs Anaheim Ducks Monday, Sept. 19 — 2pm
And since the showcase is running conjunctively with the Colorado Avalanche rookie camp, those sessions will occur Friday, Sept. 16 at 9:15 am and on Monday Sept. 19 at 9:45 am.
So here’s a link to Colorado’s roster, along with a link to both San Jose’s and Anaheim’s roster.
Now, let’s see how the team stacks up.
San Jose Sharks Vs Colorado Avalanche
According to Hockey’s Future, San Jose’s top-rated prospects who are also attending the event are: Rudolfs Balcers, Kevin Labanc, Marcus Sorensen, Rourke Chartier, Michael Brodzinski, Jeremy Roy and of course Timo Meier. Seems like a lot of late round talent to me, aside from Jeremy Roy and Timo Meier.
The Colorado Avalanche will have the likes of J.T. Compher, Chris Bigras, Mikko Rantanen, A.J. Greer, Nikita Zadorov, and Nicolas Meloche there meanwhile. Some of the highest drafts picks the Colorado Avalanche have made in recent years, along with some prospects they’ve picked up in trades.
Still, the San Jose Sharks have a lot of young talent on their team, and it should be a fun competition, even if players like: Nikolay Goldobin Nikita Jevpalovs, and Mirco Mueller aren’t there for the Sharks.
Anaheim Ducks Vs Colorado Avalanche
The Anaheim Ducks have a considerable amount of talent on their rookie showcase roster with players like: Sam Steel, Max Jones, Nick Ritchie, Shea Theodore, Julius Nattinen, Nic Kerdiles, and Brandon Montour all drafted in the first and second rounds.
The competition between the Ducks and Avalanche figures to be a lot more competitive, but the Ducks might have the edge with the amount of young talent that they have.
Nick Ritchie is ready for the NHL and Sam Steel, Max Jones, and Shea Theodore have extremely bright futures if they continue to develop.
The same could be said for Mikko Rantanen and his chance at the NHL this season, as well as J.T. Compher, A.J. Greer, and Nicolas Meloche with their development and future.
Furthermore, with Chris Bigras and Nikita Zadorov on the roster as well, the Avalanche figure to be featuring a couple more defensemen that are nearly prepared for the NHL if not there already.
Conclusion
Each team is featuring some good young talent for this event, but Anaheim and Colorado are certainly featuring the more exciting roster as far as talent is concerned.
With the World Cup taking place at the same time, it’s going to be difficult to justify watching the rookies live, but the event figures to be a lot of fun, and it’s free.
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Plus, the World Cup games take place in the evening mostly anyway, so the avid, rabid and deranged nature associated with a hockey fan come these months may be soothed by an intense immersion into both Rookie Showcase hockey, and World Cup hockey at night — just what the doctor ordered.
Stop by for more information on the Rookie Showcase — like who is showcasing the best, and what players to be excited for come actual training camp.