3 players the Colorado Avalanche should invite to training camp on PTO
The Colorado Avalanche should bring in these three players on PTOs, including a goaltender.
With training camp around the corner, teams are homing in on their camp rosters and the battles therein among players. Each team has mostly filled out their opening night roster, let’s be honest, but there are less than a handful of spots available on each team. With the cap crunch situation the Colorado Avalanche are in, it’d behoove them to consider some professional tryout offers (PTO) to players they believe have an opportunity to add a skill or skills to their lineup. These offers come with minimal risk and potentially great reward.
There are plenty of players who would fit this mold from aging veterans hanging on in the league to younger players still trying to make a name for themselves. There are roles to be earned on the opening night roster, and if one of these players can impress Avalanche brass, the opportunity is there for the taking.
Without further ado, the Avalanche should offer these three players a professional tryout and an invite to training camp.
3.) Matt Martin
The Islanders are in a cap crunch like the Avalanche are. They don’t have enough money to go around, and the likeliness they sign their bottom six players are hit or miss. A potential Islander loss is an Avalanche gain.
For those that aren’t familiar with him, Matt Martin is a meat and potatoes, blue collar player. A mainstay on the Islander fourth line for what seems like an eternity, he’d be an asset to any team who was able to acquire his services.
He hits anything that moves, he protects his teammates, and he can score the occasional goal too. He’s not what he once was as he’s gotten up in age (35), but he can still be a very serviceable fourth-line player. Martin also kills penalties (when he’s not in the box himself).
For a minimal risk like a professional tryout offer, Martin’s a guy the Avalanche brass should be looking at.
2.) Tony DeAngelo
Admittedly, DeAngelo is his own worst enemy, which may just help the Colorado Avalanche. The New Jersey native was a first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that knows talent, in 2014. He never played for Tampa and has bounced around across eight years in the NHL, playing with four different teams.
His most notable stint was with the New York Rangers, where he played parts of four seasons with the team. He had his best statistical season in 2019-20 while on Broadway, scoring 53 points in only 68 games, as well as scoring 15 goals and quarterbacking the power play.
Colorado doesn’t need DeAngelo to quarterback the Power Play. They’ve already got somebody for that. In fact, they don’t even need him to play major minutes.
If DeAngelo can keep his head on straight (as the saying goes) and his emotions in check, he can really help the Avalanche. That is if he’s buried the hatchet with goalie Alexandar Georgiev, whom he had a scuffle with that ultimately earned him his walking papers from New York.
What team wouldn’t need a puck moving, offensive minded defenseman with the ability to get under the oppositions’ skin (his own team too)? To add to those qualities, DeAngelo is only 29 years old.
For his sake, he needs to realize he may be on his last nerve with the NHL. His attitude and tendency to not play well with others has gotten him to that point. He’s a polarizing figure and most people either love him or hate him, likely just the way he likes it. DeAngelo would likely jump at the chance to play with a loaded roster in Colorado, and it’s a low risk move for the Avs.
1.) Kevin Lankinen
Kevin Lankinen is not a familiar name for most. The Finnish netminder plied his trade in relative obscurity in Nashville the last two seasons and tended the goal for a poor Blackhawks team the two seasons before that.
He’d be a nice acquisition for the Avalanche. Here’s why. First off, Lankinen has been a serviceable goaltender for a few years now, both as a starter and as a backup. He posted seasons of .916 and then .908 save percentage while backing up Saros in Nashville the last two seasons, and saw extended action in Chicago, playing 69 games and accumulating a .901 save percentage there.
The Avalanche have not exactly had trustworthy goaltending the past two seasons and adding an experienced veteran like Lankinen can push current incumbent Alexandar Georgiev to improve. If he does not, and the brass believes Justus Annunen is the answer, then Lankinen can take on a mentor type role as a backup. The other option is that Lankinen outperforms them both and earns the starting job out of training camp.
Lankinen is Finnish like Annunen and they share similar physical characteristics, with Annunen being a bit taller. Lankinen may be better able to connect with Annunen and guide him than a non-Finnish goalie can.
Lankinen is also familiar with the central division. He’s played his entire career in the division and it’s likely the Avalanche are familiar with him and his abilities. Avalanche brass won’t hesitate to address the goaltending position, as well they should. Bringing in a player of Lankinen’s caliber is a wise, low-risk decision that could reap huge benefits.
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