Avs Open Training Camp with Opportunities for Depth Players

The Colorado Avalanche front office had a busy offseason and with the first official practices of the 2021-22 campaign set for Thursday, the team will come together for the first time at training camp.
The Avs were able to keep most of their core intact ahead of the new season, re-signing captain Gabriel Landeskog and young defenseman Cale Makar to long-term deals as well as adding some depth pieces through trades and free agency.
The team acquired goaltender Darcy Kuemper from the Arizona Coyotes, d-man Kurtis MacDermid from the Seattle Kraken and forward Mikhail Maltsev from the New Jersey Devils and signed veterans Darren Helm and Ryan Murray to further its depth chart.
With the salary cap staying the same as it was for the past two seasons, Colorado will also look to its up-and-coming players on entry-level deals such as 2019 first-round draft selections Bowen Byram and Alex Newhook to push for roster spots.

Though the Avalanche has a lot of NHL experience throughout its 56-player training camp roster, each athlete will have to earn their ice time through their play in the preseason.
"We do have some new additions we are real excited about, and it starts with guys like Newhook, (Sampo) Ranta, Maltsev, who came over in the (Ryan) Graves trade, and we've got (Artem) Anisimov here," head coach Jared Bednar said on Wednesday. "Then we have got some guys that I think can grow in their roles offensively that will be given some more opportunity. To me, guys that stick out in that are (Valeri) Nichushkin, (Tyson) Jost, (J.T.) Compher--looking for him to have a bounce back season. I think we can make up some of that scoring that we've missed, but there is definitely some competition as to the way our lines shake out.
"We will play with some different things through exhibition and try to put some combinations together and see what the chemistries like. We'll give some guys some different opportunities as far as center and wing goes. Move some things around a little bit in training camp and practices to get ready for some of those games. Ultimately, it will come down to the guy's performance and just what we see from them through the exhibition and in our practices and see which line combinations are working and which ones aren't."
The Avalanche finished the 2020-21 season with 82 points (39-13-4), tied with the Vegas Golden Knights atop the league standings. Colorado claimed the franchise's third Presidents' Trophy (1996-97, 2000-01) and 10th division title since moving to Denver (12th in franchise history) by way of the regulation-win tiebreaker (35-30).
However, despite the successful regular season, the Avs fell short of their goal after their year came to an end with a loss to the Knights in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"We're excited for this season; it's another opportunity for us to achieve our goal. Last year's playoff stings a little bit, and we'll use that as motivation," said Bednar. "I think there are things every year that we have identified as areas of improvement, we still have some room to grow in a number of different situations and also continue to play to our strengths like we have and like we did most of last season. I think it was a real step forward in the consistency in our game last year and developing the habits you need to win.
"Ultimately, we didn't have a great week during the series against Vegas. That cost us an opportunity to move on and we are aware of that and hopefully again our guys use that as a motivating factor and that we are hungrier this year than we were last year. It's going to be a difficult season, a lot of the teams around us got better. We feel like we are still right where we want to be and looking forward to some of the youth that is going to get injected into our lineup."
Included in the mix of players that may be factored into Colorado's nightly roster are Anisimov and defenseman Jack Johnson as both veterans are attending the training camp on professional tryout (PTO) contracts.
Anisimov has 771 NHL contests under his belt and the center has amassed 376 points (180 goals, 196 assists). Similarly, Johnson has skated in 950 outings in the league and the defenseman has registered 303 points (71 goals, 232 assists).
"When you are bringing in Artem Anisimov and Johnson, veteran guys, I expect them to push and push for positions on our hockey club," said Bednar. "We will watch them closely. We will put them in some different situations and just see how they perform compared to some of the guys we have and go from there."

OFFSEASON INJURY REPORT:The Avalanche begins training camp almost completely healthy, the only exception being defenseman Devon Toews. The 27-year-old will miss the start of the year after having shoulder surgery at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season after posting a career-high 31 points (nine goals, 22 assists) in 53 outings.
"Toews, he is going to miss some games at the start of regular season," Bednar noted. "I do not have an exact timetable for him, that is to be determined here, but he has been skating, feeling great. It's just he won't get cleared for full contact until sometime here in the near future."
Defenseman Erik Johnson, who was limited to five contests last year, and goaltender Pavel Francouz, who missed the entire season with injury, are both healthy to begin the new campaign.
GOALIE TANDEM:Colorado acquired Darcy Kuemper on July 28 in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for defenseman Conor Timmins, Colorado's 2022 first-round pick and a conditional third-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Kuemper has been one of the top netminders in the league over the last three years, ranking tied for third in the league in goals-against average (2.35) and save percentage (.922) while posting nine shutouts (tied for 11th best) in that time. He will serve in tandem with Pavel Francouz in Colorado's net after Philipp Grubauer signed with the Seattle Kraken as a free agent.
Francouz has not played since the 2020 playoffs since he missed all of the 2020-21 campaign with a lower-body injury, but he is ready to share the net with Kuemper.
"He has had a great offseason, Francouz, and he is healthy and has been back on the ice for quite some time now and we are looking forward to getting him back," Bednar noted. "He was a big part of our team a couple years ago and unfortunately missed all of last season. I see it a lot like we had planned last year with Grubauer and Francouz we will go week-to-week on that. Obviously, we want to play the rested goalie and also ride the hot goalie when guys are really feeling it.
"Kuemper is our starter, and he will get the bulk of playing time and we will find the right starts for Frankie, and if catches a hot streak then we will use him a little more and that's the way we will roll for now. It's been a little bit since Frankie played some games so it is important to get him in the lineup here early and get him some starts in exhibition, and we will just watch how the situation progresses."
VACCINATION UPDATE: After an unusual 2020-21 season where teams played a baseball-style schedule and only against divisional foes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021-22 campaign will once again include intra-divisional play with travel to all other 31 NHL cities.
"We will be 100 percent vaccinated here in the near future," said Bednar. "Guys have gotten their second shots and there is a time frame after that before you are considered fully vaccinated, so we will be at 100 percent."

MORE ONE-TIMERS FROM COACH

On the team's defensive depth: "Just like our forward groups, I see some competition in the D department as well. Again, it always comes down to performance. We have to continue to move forward and watch the guys play and just see where we see them helping us best and where they slot in. There is some competition from veteran guys now that we brought in with Murray, Jack Johnson, Erik Johnson, Bo Byram is a young guy. Just where are these guys able to have success. We have to find pairings that we like the chemistry of and now we have some right shots and some left shots which is a big plus for me."
On Erik Johnson's health: "I know this, we certainly missed Erik last year. We missed his size, skating ability, his ability to move the puck, veteran presence. Just all the things that you kind of need come playoff time. He was a big subtraction from our lineup, and he missed a whole year. He has been skating and training hard, he has done all the work so now it's just time to get back to playing and ultimately we are going to need all of these guys that we have here with us because we know that this season is going to be hectic, games are crammed in especially with the Olympic break and we are going to need everyone that is here and certainly for us to have some of that veteran presence and guys that have really been good two way players in the league and with us in the past, getting those guys back in the lineup for us is going to be important."
On the organization's depth in net: "This year probably more than ever we have got the most goalie depth since I have been here with (Jonas) Johannson and now (Justus) Annunen and (Trent) Miner and we still have (Hunter) Miska and (Peyton) Jones. There is a lot of guys there that we feel that can help us and obviously that starts with Kuemper and Francouz."
On what he saw from Colorado's 2020 first-round selection Justin Barron at the rookie tournament: "One guy on the back end that really stood out to me was Barron. It was my first chance to watch him live and kind of see what he is all about. He reminds me a little bit of Toews, a real steady guy, doesn't wow you in any one area but just real solid and strong for his age. Just seemed like he had a lot of poise out there, great first pass guy, was involved in the play both up ice and on the defending side of it, made very few mistakes, so he was a guy certainly that was impressive for me."