Avalanche Roster Starts To Clear Up

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--The Colorado Avalanche is finally down to one locker room and one practice as the team nears the end of the preseason and prepares for opening night in just one week's time.
Colorado had been running two practices and using multiple locker rooms since training camp began on Sept. 14 due to the amount of bodies on its roster, but the club is now down to a more manageable number with 29 players still in Denver. On Thursday morning, the Avs reassigned six to the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League and released Cody Bass from his professional tryout.

For the majority of the 16 forwards, 11 defensemen and two goaltenders that remain with the Avs, the focus is now on creating a rhythm with teammates and focusing on the season opener against the Minnesota Wild at Pepsi Center on Oct. 4.
"It's good to be down to a smaller group now," said forward Matt Calvert. "You get a feel for where you fit in and your new linemates.
"You start to see lines form, you get PK partners, you get better practices. Guys get through training camp, but I know everybody is ready to get to the regular season. We have two more exhibitions, hopefully we get a feel for each other and get ready for the real thing."
The Avalanche wraps up its preseason with a home contest on Friday versus the Wild before traveling to play the Dallas Stars on Sunday. Colorado will ice a veteran lineup in both outings in the club's final tune-ups for the season. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer will start against Minnesota while Semyon Varlamov will play at Dallas.
"They're excited to play tomorrow. I think a lot of them that I talked to last night at the game wished they were even playing last night," head coach Jared Bednar said of the club's vets. "I think we're going to get a good energetic group here, and guys kind of focusing in on the home opener and doing whatever it takes for us to get to where we need to be that day."
The Avs don't have many spots available on their 23-man active roster for the start of the season, but there are still a handful of players that will be battling for the few positions that are open in the last two exhibition contests.
"I think those guys are left because they're still in the mix," Bednar said of the remaining group. "If we get a chance the next couple games to reevaluate those guys, we will."
Among those players is forward Sheldon Dries, who is in his first year with the organization after signing as a free agent on July 1. Weeks before inking his deal with Colorado, Dries helped the AHL Texas Stars win the Western Conference and reach the Calder Cup Final, and he is now fighting for an NHL roster spot.
After surviving the most recent round of cuts, Dries' mindset entering the last two outings is to just keep doing what he's been doing.
"There is obviously a ton of talent here," Dries said to ColoradoAvalanche.com. "If you play your game and show the coaching staff what you got, you'll give yourself the best chance to succeed."
The Avs will need to decide the fate of six more players before the league's roster mandate begins next week. There is a little wiggle room for each club to carry more players depending on active injuries, and the Avs presently have a few.

INJURY UPDATES

Anton Lindholm hasn't skated since getting hurt in the first period of the Avs' preseason win on Monday at the Vegas Golden Knights, but the defenseman appears to have avoided serious injury and is doing better.
"He tweaked his shoulder in the game in Vegas and left," Bednar said. "He's feeling a lot better already. It's been a couple days, and he's already working out, doing some rehab on it. It will not be a long-term thing."
Vladislav Kamenev didn't practice on Thursday, but his absence was more preventive than anything else.
"He has a lower-body tweak, and we just gave him a maintenance day," Bednar said. "He played, I think, three games in a row, and it's gradually hampering him a little bit. After the game last night he was sore so we decided to keep him off the ice."
Defensemen Conor Timmins (concussion) and David Warsofsky (undisclosed) are also both out.

SPECIAL TEAMS DAY

Colorado's practice was exclusively on special teams, as the team ran power play and penalty kill drills during the session.
The smaller roster allowed the coaching staff to start finalizing line combinations and groups after experimenting with players in different situations earlier in training camp.
"You're starting to see the first unit all together. They'll have one or two games together here--they're moving the puck," said Calvert. "It's nice to get as many reps as we did today. A full special teams practice and you start getting a feel for the new system. I know for me, it's a little different than what I've killed in the last few years… It's getting a little adjustments here and there."

QUOTABLES

Head Coach Jared Bednar on reassigning players to the AHL to get quality playing time: "If we have the ability to send guys down and keep them playing, that is what we want to do. It's better for them, and it's better for us on when we need someone, they've been playing instead of just practicing."

Left Wing Matt Calvert on the Avalanche now having a smaller roster:"It's nice to get down to that. We were having practice at 8 in the morning, and now we're starting at 11 o'clock."

Center Sheldon Dries on the opportunity for him over the next two games:"That's huge. It's taking it day-by-day, shift-by-shift, practice-by-practice. Each rep you're going to get practice. You can't look ahead. You got to take what is coming at you with a grain of salt and keep moving forward."