Colorado Avalanche: Could Colin Wilson Be Stepping Into A Leadership Role

As the Colorado Avalanche prepare for training camp could we see more leadership from Colin Wilson this season?

With the Colorado Avalanche training camp just around the corner there are going to be a lot of changes to the roster following a summer of trades and new signings. Last summer I made a post about how Colin Wilson was establishing himself in the role of Team Dad. While it was mostly tongue in cheek it’s clear that Wilson does possess natural leadership skills beyond ensuring that his teammates are wearing the correct safety equipment. When he was sidelined with an injury last season, Wilson collected Derick Brassard, who had been traded to the Avalanche during a practice. Brassard was informed of the trade while he was on the ice, then had to leave to walk down the corridor to join his new team.

Not only did Wilson collect Brassard and take him to the locker room, he also gave him a ride back to his hotel so he could collect his belongings and filled him in on what living in Denver is like.

"“I had nothing to do, so I was like, ‘Hey, do you need a ride?’” Wilson said with a smile. “Anytime anybody gets traded, you want to make it as comfortable as possible. You don’t want them taking Ubers or anything like that. You want to build a relationship, it was a pretty simple thing to do.”"

While it may be ‘a pretty simple thing to do’ it shows that Wilson cares about about his teammates and wants to do what he can to help them, whether that’s on the ice or off it.

The Colorado Avalanche has an established leadership core with captain Gabriel Landeskog, and alternate captains Nathan Mackinnon and Erik Johnson, but they also rely on the support of other veteran members of the team. The trade of Tyson Barrie has left a gap in this group that won’t be easy to fill, but it seems that Wilson may be naturally sliding into that role.

Although the team’s training camp doesn’t start for a couple of weeks, the members of the team who are already back in Denver took to the ice a few days ago for an informal practice. No coaches were present, and it was just a small group of players. The practice was open to the public and Erik Johnson, Colin Wilson, Philipp Grubauer, Conor Timmins, Joonas Donskoi, Pierre-Edourard Bellemare and Kevin Connauton were spotted.

What was interesting about this practice is, that in the absence of any coaches, Wilson was running it despite that fact that alternate captain Erik Johnson was on the ice with them.

It will be interesting to see whether Wilson steps up his leadership when the team takes to the ice in an official capacity in a few weeks. They will no doubt be feeling Barrie’s absence at first and will need established players like Wilson to help fill that gap.

Colorado Avalanches training camp begins on Sept 13 at 8:15am MT. Rookie training camp begins on Sept 6 at 9:30am MT.