Colorado Avalanche: 3 Things I’d Love to See at the Rookie Faceoff
The Colorado Avalanche young hopefuls are participating in the Rookie Faceoff in Anaheim. Here are 3 things I’d like to see.
The Colorado Avalanche prospects and rookies concluded a successful day of rookie camp yesterday. They’ll have one more day of training, on Monday, before eventually joining the veterans for training camp proper.
Today is the first day of the Rookie Faceoff. This event is a tournament taking place between the Avs youngsters and those from other teams. These are the teams participating with Colorado:
- Anaheim Ducks
- Arizona Coyotes
- Los Angeles Kings
- Vegas Golden Knights
- San Jose Sharks
However, the Avs rookies are only playing against the Knights, Kings, and Coyotes. The games are taking place at Great Park Ice in Anaheim. This is the fourth year the Avs are participating in the tournament, with the first taking place here in Denver at the Ice Centre at the Promenade in Westminster.
The rosters will be composed of amateur tryouts, unsigned draftees, and signed prospects. Here’s how that works out with the Avalanche roster:
Amateur tryouts/AHL contract:
- Logan Barlage, forward, amateur tryout
- Bryce Kindopp, forward, amateur tryout
- Felix Lauzon, forward, amateur tryout
- Navrin Mutter, forward, amateur tryout
- Brandon Saigeon, forward, AHL contract
- Joe Wegwerth, forward, amateur tryout
- Kevin Davis, defenseman, AHL contract
- Nolan Kneen, defenseman, amateur tryout
- Sasha Larocque, defenseman, AHL contract
- Wyatt McLeod, defenseman, amateur tryout
- Samuel Regis, defenseman, amateur tryout
- Peter Tischke, defenseman, AHL contract
Unsigned draftees:
- Alex Beaucage, forward, drafted 2019
- Luka Burzan, forward, drafted 2019
- Sasha Mutala, forward, drafted 2019
- Trent Miner, goalie, drafted 2019
Signed prospects:
- Travis Barron, forward, Avs drafted
- Shane Bowers, forward, acquired in trade
- Josh Dickinson, forward, signed free agent
- Nick Henry, forward, Avs drafted
- Martin Kaut, forward, Avs drafted
- Ty Lewis, forward, signed free agent
- Logan O’Connor, forward, signed free agent
- Igor Shvyrev, forward, Avs drafted
- Josh Anderson, defenseman, Avs drafted
- Bowen Byram, defenseman, Avs drafted
- Conor Timmins, defenseman, Avs drafted
- Adam Werner, goalie, Avs drafted
So, let’s look at three things I personally would like to see happen at the Rookie Faceoff this year. (Full disclosure — this post was inspired by my sister site, Stars and Sticks.
Bowen Byram and Connor Timmins Pairing
We’re all watching for how these two defensemen even show in the Rookie Faceoff, but for different reasons. Byram is our fourth-overall draft pick from this season, and he’s gunning to make the NHL team. Timmins missed a full year of hockey due to concussion symptoms, so we want to see him bounce back.
Well, both prospects looked really good at rookie camp, especially Timmins. It sure would be fun to see them paired together in the games.
This pairing has merit and could be a glimpse into the future. Timmins shoots right, Byram left. More importantly, they both play a puck-moving game, with Byram having the edge in skating. But both Timmins and Byram can score.
We’ll see if the coaching staff pairs them for the games.
A Goalie Have Standout Performances
More from Mile High Sticking
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- Colorado Avalanche rookie face-off tournament roster
I’m going to keep fretting about this until it changes — the Colorado Avalanche only have three goalies between the two teams. All three are some version of a rookie — actual rookie NHLer Pavel Francouz, rookie starter Philipp Grubauer, and rookie AHLer Adam Werner.
Of those three, only Werner is on the trip to Anaheim. He’s joined by Trent Miner, whom the Avs drafted this season. He’s unsigned, and I don’t know if this tournament is a tryout for him.
Going back to Werner, he’s the ostensible call-up if something happens to Grubauer or Francouz. The 22-year-old has been playing in his native Sweden. He has four games of AHL experience from a brief tryout in 2017-18. He has no NHL experience.
A third goalie was added to the rookie camp roster late, so he didn’t even have his proper pads and helmet:
Hey @miska_35 👋
— Colorado Eagles (@ColoradoEagles) September 6, 2019
Hunter was added to the Rookie Camp roster late, so his new helmet and pads are on the way!#EaglesCountry pic.twitter.com/YrbIgt7oJc
Said goalie is Hunter Miska, whom the Eagles recently signed. So, I guess they technically have their two goalies now. I’m not sure if he went on the tournament. If so, I’d like to see his mettle, too.