Colorado Avalanche: 3 Things I'd Love to See at the Rookie Faceoff

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DENVER, CO – SEPTEMBER 24: Conor Timmins #68 of the Colorado Avalanche brings the puck out from behind the net against the Minnesota Wild at the Pepsi Center on September 24, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

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.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – JUNE 21: Bowen Byram reacts after being selected fourth overall by the Colorado Avalanche during the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena on June 21, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

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.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – JUNE 22: Trent Miner poses after being selected 202nd overall by the Colorado Avalanche during the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena on June 22, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images) /

A Goalie Have Standout Performances

More from Mile High Sticking

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 👋
Hunter was added to the Rookie Camp roster late, so his new helmet and pads are on the way!#EaglesCountry pic.twitter.com/YrbIgt7oJc
— Colorado Eagles (@ColoradoEagles) September 6, 2019

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.

Shane Bowers Showing He Took the Next Step

The Colorado Avalanche acquired forward Shane Bowers as part of the blockbuster Matt Duchene trade. We got a lot of pieces in that trade, including Bo Byram, but I’d greedily like to see even more of the pieces work out in our favor.

Bowers completed two years playing hockey for Boston University. He thought about playing a third year of college hockey, but some roster changes at BU and his own thought process led him to turning pro last year when the BU season was over.

Bowers had a very good summer. In fact, he was one of the players who practiced with Nathan MacKinnon, being a fellow Maritimer from Nova Scotia.

Bowers has been skating a lot with Nick Henry and Martin Kaut, the latter of which I personally am also watching. Chemistry aside, I’d really like to see Bowers have a strong tournament and come into training camp with confidence.

Next. 3 Questions for Rookie Camp. dark

Here is the schedule for the three Colorado Avalanche games:

Sept. 7: Avalanche vs. Knights, 2:00 pm MT
Sept. 8: Avalanche vs Kings, 2:00 pm MT
Sept. 10: Avalanche vs Coyotes, 12:00 pm MT

The team will be streaming all three games on their website.

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