Colorado Avalanche: Evaluating the 2018 Training Camp Roster

The Colorado Avalanche roster of 54 players includes a few surprises. The next couple weeks we’ll get a better idea of who’s making the team.

The Colorado Avalanche have released their training camp roster. The roster includes 54 players broken down this way: 31 forwards, 18 defensemen and five goalies.

Here’s the roster:

Forwards

26 Andrew Agozzino LW
10 Sven Andrighetto RW
73 Travis Barron LW
45 Cody Bass C/RW
46 J.C. Beaudin C
86 Matthew Boucher LW
57 Gabriel Bourque LW
11 Matt Calvert LW
37 J.T. Compher LW
40 Josh Dickinson C
56 Grayson Downing C
15 Sheldon Dries C
24 A.J. Greer LW
70 Nick Henry RW
17 Tyson Jost C
91 Vladislav Kamenev C
61 Martin Kaut RW
13 Alexander Kerfoot C
32 Scott Kosmachuk RW
92 Gabriel Landeskog LW
65 Ty Lewis LW
29 Nathan MacKinnon C
38 Julien Nantel C
83 Matt Nieto LW
25 Logan O’Connor RW
96 Mikko Rantanen RW
80 Brandon Saigeon C
43 Igor Shvyrev C
34 Carl Soderberg C
47 Dominic Toninato C
22 Colin Wilson C/LW

Defensemen
76 Josh Anderson D
7 Mark Alt D
44 Mark Barberio D
4 Tyson Barrie D
42 Sergei Boikov D
28 Ian Cole D
82 Kevin Davis D
2 Mason Geertsen D
49 Samuel Girard D
27 Ryan Graves D
6 Erik Johnson D
54 Anton Lindholm D
41 Nicolas Meloche D
12 Patrik Nemeth D
79 Turner Ottenbreit D
18 Conor Timmins D
5 David Warsofsky D
16 Nikita Zadorov D

Goaltenders
35 Joe Cannata G
39 Pavel Francouz G
31 Philipp Grubauer G
30 Spencer Martin G
1 Semyon Varlamov G

Counter to my prediction, the team did not offer a paid tryout to any goalies. They’re going with tenders already in the system.

While we’re talking about goalies, let’s start the evaluation there. Beyond the fact that there aren’t any PTO players, I also notice a lack of Rooke Faceoff goalies. Both the prospects, Jusus Annunen and Petr Kvaca, are noticeably absent from that list. I guess they didn’t earn further consideration for this year.

To be honest, both goalies were up and down the whole time. There’s no news on where they’re going. I’d expect Annunen to return to his native Finland to play for the Liifa, or the Mestis. As for Kvaca, I’d like to see him get another try with the Colorado Eagles, but he may be headed back to the Czech 2 league.

Other than that, we know who our top two goalies are — Semyon Varlamov and Philipp Grubauer. The other three are probably vying for first call-up/Eagles starter.

Moving on to the defensemen, four are missing from the Rookie Faceoff:

Matthew Puhfahl
Nolan De Jong
Sean Strange
Alex Breton

Breton and Strange appear to be heading off into the horizon, Alex to Concordia University and Sean to the WHL Kamloops Blazers. Puhfahl has a contract with the Colorado Eagles, while De Jong is with the Utah Grizzlies.

Other than that, there aren’t too many other surprises. Ryan Graves is the defenseman the Avalanche got for Chris Bigras. He wasn’t at the Rookie Faceoff, but he does have a contract with the Eagles. Kevin Davis also has an Eagles contract — he was at the Faceoff. I expect both will be released to Loveland soon.

Side note: Conor Timmins is on the roster. However, he’s been unable to participate in any on-ice activities since he got a concussion in May. I imagine he’ll only do off-ice training.

Now the forwards. Six Rookie Faceoff participants are missing:

Cole Ully
Tim McGauley
RT Rice
Michael Joly
Cole Reinhardt
Robbie Holmes

Of those players, Robbie Holmes and Cole Reinhardt don’t have contracts. Holmes looks like he’s heading back to the Regina Pats of the WHL, while Reinhardt is heading to the Brandon Wheat Kings, also of the WHL.

More from Mile High Sticking

Cole Ully, Tim McGauley and Michael Joly all have contracts with the Colorado Eagles, while RT Rice is contracted with the Grizzlies. I imagine they’re headed to their respective training camps.

Other than that, the majority of the names should be at least semi-familiar to you. Grayson Downing is a name I hadn’t noticed before. He’s a 26-year-old forward the Eagles signed in late July. After graduating from the University of New Hampshire — and playing four years of NCAA hockey — he’s kicked it in the AHL for the last three seasons, mostly for the Iowa Wild. Yeah, that AHL-affiliate.

Remember, Sheldon Dries, Scott Kosmachuk and Logan O’Connor are all players the Colorado Avalanche signed in free agency this summer.

The Colorado Avalanche do have one PTO player this year — forward Cody Bass. Don’t expect much — he has five points in 75 NHL games.

Of the remaining players, I’d say Brandon Saigeon is the one we want to watch the closest. He doesn’t have a contract yet, but he was very impressive in the Rookie Faceoff.

Here is the schedule for training camp:

Friday, Sept. 14
Training Camp at Family Sports Center
Group 1 on ice: 8:45-10:15 a.m. MT
Group 2 on ice: 10:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. MT

Saturday, Sept. 15
Training Camp at Family Sports Center
Group 2 on ice: 8:45-10:15 a.m. MT
Group 1 on ice: 10:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. MT

Sunday, Sept. 16
Training Camp at Family Sports Center
Group 1 on ice: 8:45-10:15 a.m. MT
Group 2 on ice: 10:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. MT

Monday, Sept. 17
Training Camp at Family Sports Center
Group 2 on ice: 8:45-10:15 a.m. MT
Group 1 on ice: 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. MT

Today players are reporting for their physicals. There will also be player availability to the media after the sessions.

Excitement of Potential Rookies. dark. Next

Over the next couple weeks, as we progress through camp and the preseason, the Colorado Avalanche will start cutting prospects and sending them either to their minor league teams or major juniors. We’ll have a 23-player roster by opening night on October 4.

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