Colorado Avalanche Training Camp 2018: Day 4 Reflections

Day 4 of the Colorado Avalanche training camp was mostly about which prospects can keep up with the NHLers. Most aren’t ready… yet.

The Colorado Avalanche concluded their training camp today with a moderate practice. The team got a lazy start. The goalies took the ice just before 9 AM, and the skaters followed about 10-15 minutes later. This format continued with the second group.

Before going to training camp, I set myself with an assignment — secondary scoring. I wanted to watch the following players:

• J.T. Compher
• Matt Calvert
• Gabriel Bourque
• Sven Andrighetto
• Colin Wilson

I also wanted to check out a couple prospects — Brandon Saigeon and Travis Barron — as well as defenseman Mark Barberio and newbie Ian Cole. Spoiler alert: I spaced out watching Cole. But that also means he didn’t really distinguish himself.

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You know who did distinguish themselves? Erik Johnson and Nathan MacKinnon. EJ was in the first group — it’s just such a pleasure to watch Johnson’s mastery. Plus, he was skating with Samuel Girard, and I wanted to watch how that worked out.

Since I’m on that topic, I’ll start there. I know it’s early days, but I like how they look together. I don’t like pairing EJ with a purely offensive defenseman because then that doesn’t give his own offense a chance to shine. I think of Girard as more of a puck-moving two-way defenseman.

One challenge with Johnson is he’s so fast — he’s all legs. He soars down the ice, and the rink seems to shrink as it takes him three strides to get from one end to the other. Well, Sam Girard is all shoulders now, but that’s not stopping his agility. He darts in and around like a sparrow to a condor.

I really hope this pairing gets a chance at some games together. I think they could work over time.

I did make a point of watching Bourque, Andrighetto and Wilson. None of them stood out on their own, but they also stood out against the prospects.

Indeed, my main takeaway from camp is how far of a gap there is between the true NHLers and the prospects. There’s a handful of tweens — these are the guys who have hopes of making the team, at least at some point. But I also might boldly predict that opening night will feature no rookies.

One young man who is challenging for a spot is Martin Kaut. This year’s draftee is not afraid to put in the work.

He started out Day 1 so stiff. By Day 4, he was less stiff. He’s not comfortable yet, but he’s making strides. Early days, but I really don’t expect him to make the opening night roster unless he suddenly leaps ahead in his development.

Travis Barron… also ran. He’s another player who will need to use the preseason games to show his mettle. Mark Barberio was fine. Not good, not bad — just fine.

In the second group we had Nathan MacKinnon and he was showing off crazy skill. At one point he was skating in a drill, and he just decided to pivot on a dime, fly to the other goalie, and score. I don’t think that’s what he was supposed to do, but it was beautiful to watch. Crazy skill on that young man.

I was trying to tweet when he pulled that above move off:

For the second group, I wanted to watch Compher and Calvert. Matt didn’t do as much for me this time around as he had in previous practices. That said, he certainly was stick handling just fine, and he’s a skilled skater. He also worked after practice with Compher on some faceoff techniques:

Speaking of Compher… yowzers. Get thee to the second line with Tyson Jost and Alexander Kerfoot. The three besties didn’t necessarily have the best line last year, but his skating and stick handling is right where theirs is. I think they could create a wicked secondary scoring line together. I was very impressed by Compher at camp. In fact, between him and MacKinnon, I think that’s why I spaced out on watching Cole.

I did make a point of watching Saigeon, though. I think there’s a case to be made for signing him to his entry-level contract, or at least to the Colorado Eagles. He’s not NHL-ready yet, but he stood out in the second group about as well as Kaut did in the first.

I spared some time also to watch Logan O’Connor, who had been skating on a line with Compher and Calvert. He didn’t stand out as well with NHLers as he did with prospects, but he didn’t look too bad. However, his most notable interaction was with Tyson Barrie, who karate-chopped Logan’s stick out of his hand then yelled at the coaching staff, “He didn’t need his stick anyway!”

Oh, T-Brat. Slashing sticks. Letting pucks fly past the blue line. Shot-bombs from the point. You love or you hate Tyson Barrie. And it usually changes minute by minute.

Moving on.

One special note: CONOR TIMMINS WAS SKATING!

Actually, despite my all-caps there, don’t get too excited. While it’s true that today’s skate, which happened while other players had left the ice, is the first time Timmins has taken the ice since being concussed in the playoffs last May, he’s still listed as week-to-week by the team. Indeed, it’s said that today’s skate was just a test of where he is in recovering from his concussion.

Anyway, that concluded the final day of the Colorado Avalanche training camp. Tomorrow they officially start their preseason as they host the Vegas Golden Knights.