Colorado Avalanche: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare 2019-2020 Season Outlook
One of the Colorado Avalanche’s newest members, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, has already started settling into his projected role for the team.
The Colorado Avalanche have settled their center position, and it’s no surprise that the fourth-line center is Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. The team acquired him in free agency primarily to fill that position.
The preseason put me behind a little bit on these season outlooks, but the delay allows me to evaluate the new players a little better. I’ve now seen Bellemare play — and fight — with my very own eyes. I can also see how he’s going to work on the team.
The 34-year-old Frenchman is certainly a veteran a team of young players. However, he’s got some set roles, and we’ll look at how that will benefit the Avs.
Bellemare might be new to us this season, but we did learn a little bit about him here:
Related Story. 4 Super Facts About Bellemare. light
Now, let’s get a look at what we might be able to hope from him in the upcoming year. But first, a recap.
2018-19 Stats
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare played in 76 regular season and six playoff games for the Vegas Golden Knights last year, his second with the Knights.
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Bellemare saw fourth-line minutes with a little time on the penalty kill. He played an average of 12:26 last season in the regular season. In that amount of time, he recorded six goals and nine assists for 15 points. He had a 53.6% CorsiFor and -1.2 relative Corsi.
The center saw his ice time drop slightly in the postseason, down to 11:44 a game. He didn’t record any goals or assists. He recorded eight shots and 13 total shot attempts.
He played a solid game otherwise in the regular season. He recorded 51 blocks and 71 hits, which doesn’t surprise me. His takeaway to giveaway ration was impressive — 37:23.
Projected 2019-20 Role
Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare is the oldest player on the team. However, unlike some of the previous aging veterans Colorado has signed, his role is clear — mentor. He is on the team to provide a steady counter to some of the youth on the roster.
He’s also got special skill sets the team was looking for. First of all, he’s a two-way player, though in his case the emphasis is on the defensive aspect of his game. Since he’s the pivot of the fourth line, that skill set is imperative.
The other important skill is his faceoff ability. He won 54.7% of his faceoffs last season. That’s a big uptick in what the Colorado Avalanche did last year.
Going back to the mentor thing, this man is downright sage. He spoke with the press on media day, and this is one of the things he had to say:
“I got [to the NHL] so late that it’s like, ‘Ok, today could be the last day, so open your eyes and enjoy it.’ And it’s a good experience to one day tell my grandchildren. So I’m lucky enough to be able to just enjoy it.”
You can see the kind of stabilizing effect he’s going to have on the team.
I’m not going to do the projected stats on Bellemare because that’s not what he’s here for. If he makes 12-16 points, which is pretty typical of his play, we’re in good shape. If he produces a little more, even better.
But I have confidence he’ll be the role model the team expects him to be.
More Season Outlooks:
The Colorado Avalanche youngsters are playing tonight in Vegas. At the time of writing, it was expected Bellemare would be in the second group, of NHL-ready players, for the final preseason game, in Dallas.