Five Avs Miss Day 1 of Training Camp

The Colorado Avalanche was without several players on the first day of on-ice activities at its 2020-21 training camp.
Forwards Gabriel Landeskog and Brandon Saad, defenseman Erik Johnson and goaltender Philipp Grubauer didn't skate at practice on Monday morning at Family Sports Center in Centennial, Colorado, as all are "unfit to play," according to head coach Jared Bednar. Keaton Middleton, who is on an AHL contract, also didn't skate. Bednar said he's unsure when the five players will be able to return to the ice.

"I don't know what the protocols are or when they'll be back," Bednar said. "They're unfit to practice today. Tomorrow I'll get news if they're fit or not."
In his pre-camp media availability on Sunday, Bednar said he expected everyone to participate on the first practice day but also made note that he had yet to get results from medical and physical tests.
The Avalanche's plan for this year's training camp is to split the players into two practice squads for most of the days, with the majority skating in the first session and the others skating in the second. On Monday, the first group, which mostly includes team regulars, began at 10:15 a.m. while the second squad's skate started at 12:45 p.m.
Colorado is currently scheduled to hold three scrimmages during the seven total days of on-ice work at this year's camp, with the first game set for Wednesday.
The only player of the team's 40-man camp roster that isn't present is defenseman prospect Bowen Byram, who is co-captaining Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton, Alberta. Canada plays Russia on Monday night in the semifinals.
Below is the line combinations and defensive pairings from day 1 of training camp.
GROUP 1
Forwards
95 Andre Burakovsky - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
17 Tyson Jost - 91 Nazem Kadri - 61 Martin Kaut
11 Matt Calvert - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 44 Kiefer Sherwood
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 22 Conor Timmins
27 Ryan Graves - 28 Ian Cole
9 Dennis Gilbert
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
32 Hunter Miska
GROUP 2
Forwards
18 Mike Vecchione - 15 Sheldon Dries - 25 Logan O'Connor - 36 T.J. Tynan
12 Jayson Megna - 14 Shane Bowers - 70 Nick Henry - 10 Miikka Salomaki
Defensemen
34 Jacob MacDonald - 5 Dan Renouf
58 Peter Tischke - 88 Kyle Burroughs
Goaltender
30 Adam Werner
* Defenseman Bowen Byram will join the team at the conclusion of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship