The Colorado Avalanche have reduced their roster to 29 players, bringing us closer to the opening night roster. Who will make the final cut?
Over the course of 24 hours, the Colorado Avalanche made 14 cuts (plus one release of a PTO) to their roster, reducing it to 29 players. They’ll need to trim an additional six players in the next week.
Yesterday, the team released the following players all the the AHL Colorado Eagles:
- Andrew Agozzino, left wing
- Josh Anderson, defenseman
- Travis Barron, left wing
- Mason Geertsen, defenseman
- A.J. Greer, left wing
- Scott Kosmachuk, right wing
- Spencer Martin, goalie
- Nicolas Meloche, defenseman
Agozzino, Geersten and Kosmachuk had to clear waivers, which I’m assuming they will if they haven’t already.
None of those names came as a particular surprise. It was always a long shot for any of those players to make the team, and none of them distinguished themselves enough to earn a spot out of preseason. Now it’s up to their AHL performances as to whether they get called up when needed.
Today’s cuts were a little, well, more cutting:
- Sergei Boikov, defenseman
- Pavel Francouz, goalie
- Ryan Graves, defenseman
- Martin Kaut, right wing
- Ty Lewis, left wing
- Igor Shvyrev, center
All of the above players are to report to the Eagles. Graves must clear waivers first. In addition, Cody Bass has been released from his PTO.
Those decisions must have been harder to make. So far, Francouz has been the best goalie in the preseason. I’m not suggesting he was going to challenge for the starting or backup job, but I think his Eagles performance could cement him as the first call-up.
The goalie battle is officially on between Semyon Varlamov and Philipp Grubauer.
Ty Lewis and Ryan Graves were having a pretty good preseason. I’d say they got the Colorado Avalanche’s attention. It’s up to them to keep it up in Loveland.
Poor Sergei Boikov. The injury bug got him again, and maybe he couldn’t show his best game at camp this year. Here’s to his having a strong season with the Eagles.
Ah, Martin Kaut. He’s a kid, but a babe, and the Colorado Avalanche don’t need to rush him. He’s still learning the NHL game, including how different North American hockey is from in Europe, where he’s always played before. We all know he needs development at the AHL level.
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So, as noted above, we know who our two goalies are going to be, just not which one will be the starter. (Varlamov didn’t sound like he looked great last night. The ball is in Grubauer’s court.)
The Avalanche currently have 16 forwards on the roster. Typically, coach Jared Bednar favors carrying 14 forwards and 7 defensemen. So, that means two of the remaining forwards will likely be cut.
The players fighting to stay in Denver are likely the following:
- Gabriel Bourque
- Sheldon Dries
- Vladislav Kamenev
- Logan O’Connor
- Dominic Toninato
To be honest, I think Bourque and Toninato might stay on the roster. Either they’ll make opening night, or they’ll be 13th and 14th forwards. So, the main battle is between Dries, Kamenev and O’Connor. One will stay and maybe even play opening night while the other two go down (or up since Loveland is north of Denver).
There are currently 11 defensemen on the roster, though one of them is Conor Timmons, who’s week to week with concussion symptoms. That leaves three d-men fighting to stay in Denver:
- Mark Alt
- Anton Lindholm
- David Warsofsky
Actually, I’m not sure where we are with injuries to the last two. Honestly, it may just be a case of Alt trying to prove — probably unsuccessfully — that he should stay with the team. More likely, he’s fighting for first call-up considerations.
The Colorado Avalanche have two more preseason games, Friday night (September 28) and Sunday afternoon (September 30). The team has said they’re pretty much going to be running close to their NHL rosters both days. So, we’ll see which players find success in fighting for an NHL roster spot.