Colorado Avalanche Training Camp: Changes in Players and Other Impressions

After Day 1 of the Colorado Avalanche Training Camp, the players seem to have made strides in their development, especially the sophomores.

Colorado Avalanche Rookie Camp is fun, but Training Camp is better. The 2018 Training Camp was even better because certain players made changes in their summer routines, and this was their first chance to showcase the improvements.

The first change was to Tyson Jost. He’s a talented player, but a small area of weakness for him has been his skating. He says the coaching staff wanted him to get leaner and faster over the summer. Indeed, in his Media Day presser, he talked about speed being one of the biggest focuses over the summer.

To that end, he started working with Nathan MacKinnon’s trainer, Andy O’Brien. He remarked that he “leaned out” and worked on track work and hill work to improve on explosive movements.

Well, he was one of the players I wanted to watch especially for that reason, and I’m happy to report he appears to have achieved his goal. (Coach Bednar agrees with me — well, he remarked in his post-practice presser that Jost had accomplished his task.)

I saw a skater who at times, displayed some of the bursts of speed of a Matt Duchene (He’s not that fast, yet) but who’s fluid. I’m comfortable declaring he took a big stride forward in his skating skills.

Here’s the new lean, mean Josty:

More on him in an upcoming post.

On to his linemate and buddy, Alexander Kerfoot. For right now at least, Bednar has the two tapped to be on a line together. Kerfoot was already lean, so it’s a fair guess he didn’t get that as a summer goal. Indeed, it appears to be the opposite. He didn’t bulk up quite as much as someone I’m going to mention in a moment, but he definitely put on some muscle mass.

You can get a hint of it here, picture #6:

The difference isn’t as drastic as with an upcoming player, but you can see a little more muscle, especially in the upper body. Kerfoot didn’t have a lot of physical altercations with players not named Devan “Swiss Cheese” Dubnyk, but last season’s slight frame would have made it difficult for him to withstand them.

Last year, Kerfoot relied on his agility and speed to get around defenders. Well, he skated on a line with the improved Jost and Martin Kaut. I don’t want to say he skated circles around them, but he was a little like a minnow darting around them.

Before I get to Mr. Beefcake, Martin Kaut is 18, and he was skating on a line with two players who already have chemistry. Day 1 of training camp, and he looked a little stiff. It’s almost certainly going to be best for his development to spend some time in the AHL.

To that end, Bednar said the team is considering sending him to the AHL “if he doesn’t make the team” rather than to a major juniors stint. I think some time with the Colorado Eagles will help him develop his North American game and some confidence in his professional career.

Now, on to Mr. Beefcake:

That’s not Samuel Girard in a muscle suit — that’s Sammy G with some brand spanking new muscles (and a new tattoo). Those were not the biceps and shoulders he was sporting last season. (I can neither confirm nor deny those are jorts — but they appear to be.)

Anyway, Girard was tapped to put on some weight over the summer but to not go over 180 pounds. Naturally, the weight needed to be the muscle variety. Well, Girard did just that, topping out at exactly 180.

I must admit, when I saw the above picture, I got worried. Nathan MacKinnon did the exact same thing between his rookie and sophomore seasons. And the extra weight slowed him down. I was worried about that with Sammy.

Judging by his Training Camp performance, I needn’t have worried. He didn’t spin-o-rama, but he was plenty agile and speedy. He spent a lot of time paired with top defenseman Erik Johnson — who’s six inches taller, mostly in the legs I think — and Sammy kept up.

Speaking of our Condor…. same old, same old, and that’s a beautiful thing. I get the feeling he’s working on some new skating techniques. However, his skating was as smooth and predatory as ever. What’s more, at one point he dropped down to block a shot. In a drill. In training camp. The man has compete stitched into the fiber of his being.

EJ picture from Camp because, why not:

Since we’re on the topic of defensemen, the Colorado Avalanche are already down three. Yeah, you can say it — that sucks. Two of them shouldn’t be too surprising. Both Nikita Zadorov and Patrik Nemeth underwent shoulder surgery in the offseason. What’s promising, though, is that both of them were at practice, just wearing red, no-contact jerseys:

What’s a little worrisome is that Tyson Barrie was nowhere to be seen. According to Bednar, he pulled a muscle during yesterday’s medical testing. Bednar said there’s no timetable, but it didn’t sound too serious.

Dear Hockey Gods, I’m sorry I said I was surprised a Jean-Gabriel Pageau-style injury hadn’t happened before the Why Us? 48-Point Season. Please don’t make it come true now.

Anyway, that’s two roster defensemen and one roster challenger out. We’ll know more as training camp progresses, but, boy, thank goodness for that Ian Cole signing. And Mark Barberio (knock wood) looked good and healthy on the ice. Anton Lindholm… was also there. (Conor Timmins was not — nothing new to report on that front.)

One final impression — Matt Calvert continues to impress me, as he did at the unofficial practice. He was skating on a line with JT Compher and Logan O’Connor today, though he’s unofficially tapped to take Blake Comeau’s spot on the third line. Gabriel Bourque had that position today.

The Colorado Avalanche Training Camp will run for three more days — same time, same place. Just the groups will flip flop. The practices are held at South Suburban Parks and Recreation in Centennial. The times are basically 8:45 to 12:15 with a half-hour break between groups.