Colorado Avalanche: 2015-16 Pre-Free Agency Roster Outlook

The Colorado Avalanche acquired some new players in the big Ryan O’Reilly trade during the draft a few days ago and there could be more coming as free agency begins today. In light of those new acquisitions and possible pick-ups to be made today, let’s take a look at what the roster may look like next season.

Although a lot is yet to happen on the way to finding the best possible roster for the Avalanche for the 2015-16 season opener against the Wild on October 8th, we will take an early look at what it may look like. Without further adieu, let’s start with the forwards.

Colorado Avalanche Forwards

I think it is pretty clear what the top-six will look like and here is what I have projected:

Line 1: Tanguay-Duchene-Iginla

Line 2: Landeskog-Soderberg-MacKinnon

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Obviously, Soderberg is a poor man’s O’Reilly and that is exactly why management signed him. If there was any doubt what management thinks he is capable of, Sakic put that to rest, saying he sees him on the second line with MacKinnon and Landeskog.

So, the top two lines are all but set at this point, and I think they will do quite well. Of course, it is quite likely that these will be jostled during the year in order to find the ultimate chemistry. Nevertheless, the top-six forwards have plenty of skill and will hopefully mesh well with one another.

The bottom-six forwards on the other hand are certainly a little bit more up in the air, and there are many different options for what could occur. First off, here are six players who I think are most likely to be on the roster next year fulfilling a bottom-line role. Barring any injuries in training camp, these would be my first choice:

Cody McLeod
Jesse Winchester
John Mitchell
Mikko Rantanen
Mikhail Grigorenko
Right wing free agent signing

Chris Stewart would fill a nice third-line checking role for the Avalanche.

As our Mile High Sticking editors have noted, the Colorado Avalanche are slim at right wing — and I agree. Thus, I think they should try and target a right wing during free agency. For some of the options, check out Janik Beichler’s article on free agent targets and Nadia Archuleta’s article for possible right wing targets during free agency. Also, Nadia has some good options for RFA right wings. However, acquiring an RFA is, of course, less likely.

Excluding the RFA options, my personal favorite is Chris Stewart. First of all, he is a former Avalanche player and he holds a lot of offensive upside. Furthermore, I think he would fill a nice third-line checking role for the Avalanche.

Since this is all hypothetical, here are my optimal bottom-six lines, including the acquisition of Chris Stewart.

Line 3: Rantanen-Mitchell-Stewart

Line 4: McLeod-Winchester-Grigorenko

Rantanen may come as a surprise, but I think having him play on the third line would give him a good chance to develop into a valuable NHL forward. Nevertheless, he could of course get slotted down to the fourth line if his development needs a little more time. Regardless, I think he is NHL-ready and he should surely make the jump next year.