Colorado Avalanche Make Surprising Roster Moves

The Colorado made some surprising moves to reduce their roster to 27 players. The team must still trim four more players before opening night.

The Colorado Avalanche, like every team in the NHL, have to reduce their roster to 23 players by the NHL’s opening night, this year on October 12. As happens every year, the team makes a big cut or two early on, with the roster reducing radically. As players get a few games in, the stream of players sent down to the AHL or cut from the team altogether goes down to a trickle.

As of yesterday’s cuts, the Colorado Avalanche’s roster is reduced to  27 players. With opening night just five days away now, that’s not the surprising part. What is a little surprising to me is a couple of the players who got sent down and a couple of the players still on the roster.

Defensive Roster Set

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One of the biggest surprises to me was that defenseman Chris Bigras got sent down to the AHL. I had just gotten finished writing about how he’d been one of the Colorado Avalanche’s best players in the preseason.

I think the move was a contractual one. Bigras is on a two-way contract, so sending him down to the San Antonio Rampage is relatively painless. However, so is Nikita Zadorov, and he hasn’t been shining quite as brightly as Bigras.

That said, Zadorov got paired with Erik Johnson for a lot of last game, and that’s something I’ve been wanting to see since the Avalanche picked him up in the Ryan O’Reilly trade. Such a big guy, such a great skater — you can say that about both players. What a force on the ice!

Since Colorado also sent Anton Lindholm to the AHL, the team now has eight defensemen:

• Tyson Barrie
• Francois Beauchemin
• Eric Gelinas
• Erik Johnson
• Fedor Tyutin
• Patrick Wiercioch
• Nikita Zadorov
• Duncan Siemens

That last name being on the list over Bigras is also a little surprising. However, it’s widely believed this is Duncan Siemens’ last chance to make it in the NHL.

Patrick Roy used to like keeping eight defensemen on the roster. I don’t know if that’s Jared Bednar’s way. However, at least seven of the above players should still be on the roster come opening night.

According to Mike Chambers of the Denver Post, Siemens and Zadorov will be playing in the Frozen Fury game in Las Vegas:

Forward Spots Still Up for Grabs

As the above tweet suggests, a couple of forwards are still getting a chance to make the roster. Trent Vogelhuber and Mike Sislo, both 28 years old, are career AHLers for the most part. The Colorado Avalanche picked them up to fill out their San Antonio Rampage roster over the summer.

To make room for them, the coaches sent down the very promising prospect, JT Compher. Compher had played all five of the preseason games and was very impressive in the Rookie Showcase. However, it looks like he’ll start the season in San Antonio. Compher was also part of the O’Reilly trade.

It also appears that Bourque X 2 — Rene and Gabriel — are getting their best chance to make a case for transforming their PTO contracts into the standard variety. Of the two, I think Rene has looked better. Bednar seems to favor Gabriel, though.

Forward lines are fluid even in the regular season. (See my colleague’s post below about how he’d like to see them play out.) However, I’m hoping to see Mikko Rantanen get a solid chance this season. He may have to see a little time in San Antonio for reconditioning after injuring his ankle in the Rookie Showcase.

Next: Possible Avs Line Combos

While the NHL opens its season on October 12, Colorado Avalanche fans must wait until October 15 for our own season opener. The Avs are hosting the Dallas Stars at the Pepsi Center.