Colorado Avalanche Training Camp Dates

the_fan

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Jul 25, 2006
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Feels all buy guaranteed Ritchie will get his 9 game look at least and then go from there. 9 games would get us awfully close to a Nuke return and also probably Lehky so I wouldn't be surprised if they send him down after the 9 games but if he's PPG and playing well maybe not.


Guessing opening night is gonna look like this:


Drouin - Mack - Mikko
Kovalenko - Mittelstadt - Ritchie
Wood - Colton - LOC
Kelly - PEB - Kiviranta/Ivan

Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
Kyllington - CDH
Brannstrom- Malinski


Honestly when Lehky and Nuke return that's really not horrible. A legitimately good Top 6 group, and we know what the 3rd line can do with LOC slotted into it. Then, you're probably looking at Kovalenko on the 4th line instead of Kivi/Ivan and I think if Kovalenko keeps playing like he has he makes the 4th line better as well.



And that's not even accounting for Landy. By January, the forward group could look really fantastic.
I’d have de Haan-Malinski on 3rd pair. Malinski has outplayed both Kylington and Brannstrom and Bednar has said it’s not about experience it’s about performance. Malinski has been really good in the preseason, Brannstrom has been bad and Kylingron has been meh
 

henchman21

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I’d have de Haan-Malinski on 3rd pair. Malinski has outplayed both Kylington and Brannstrom and Bednar has said it’s not about experience it’s about performance. Malinski has been really good in the preseason, Brannstrom has been bad and Kylingron has been meh
This defense is going to be softer than Charmin left out in the rain.
 
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willy702

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Jul 3, 2016
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I like Belly for the lockerroom aspect, but when a 4C type inevitably gets put on waivers as training camps come to an end, the Avs should be all over that. PEB just can't skate with Bedsy's system anymore
I think the Avs are looking at it as either Ivan is ready for 4C now or do they want to ease him in with one last year of AHL/NHL time. If so they keep PEB and his time eventually becomes just locker room guy who gets to eat nachos. I don't know if his skating is a big problem with the potential guys he'll play with but really the bottom of the lineup needs to be more youth at minimum salary talent.
 

henchman21

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IMO the pecking order for 4C looks like Kelly > PEB > Ivan > Tynan. Ivan has gotten time on the wing to probably see if he can be an extra. Odds are though that Ritchie, Tynan and Ivan are all sent down (Pavel too when healthy)
 

willy702

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Jul 3, 2016
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I’d have de Haan-Malinski on 3rd pair. Malinski has outplayed both Kylington and Brannstrom and Bednar has said it’s not about experience it’s about performance. Malinski has been really good in the preseason, Brannstrom has been bad and Kylingron has been meh
I think that's exactly how its going to start. Kylington seems like a JJ replacement. Insert in lineup if there are injuries or you want a bigger presence on occasion. Malinski makes more sense in the hopes he can improve his D game with a responsible partner like CDH.
 
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the_fan

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This defense is going to be softer than Charmin left out in the rain.
Not really. If they go with Toews Makar 1st pair we are never worried about physicality with that pair. Then we got Manson on the 2nd pair and de Haan on the 3rd pair who handles physicality just fine
 

henchman21

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Feb 24, 2012
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Holy shit imagine watching Tiny Tynan centering an NHL checking line.
Its cute you call it a checking line.

Not really. If they go with Toews Makar 1st pair we are never worried about physicality with that pair. Then we got Manson on the 2nd pair and de Haan on the 3rd pair who handles physicality just fine
Toews and Makar are not physical defenders. They can handle it fine, but they are not going to clear the net or win battles with their physicality. Manson is physical. G is underrated in this area, he plays the body a good amount and battles. He's not 'good' at it, but he tries. The Malinski/Brannstrom/Kylington group are all very soft. CDH plays way smaller than his frame would suggest. He's very soft... one of the reasons he never stuck as a top 4 guy anywhere post-Isles is teams hated his lack of physicality.

As we look at our defense... we are starting at G being our 2nd most physical defender. That's incredibly soft. I'd argue it is the softest in the league. They doesn't mean they are bad, but they have a very clear weakness teams will try to exploit.
 

Avs9296

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Jul 1, 2019
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Its cute you call it a checking line.


Toews and Makar are not physical defenders. They can handle it fine, but they are not going to clear the net or win battles with their physicality. Manson is physical. G is underrated in this area, he plays the body a good amount and battles. He's not 'good' at it, but he tries. The Malinski/Brannstrom/Kylington group are all very soft. CDH plays way smaller than his frame would suggest. He's very soft... one of the reasons he never stuck as a top 4 guy anywhere post-Isles is teams hated his lack of physicality.

As we look at our defense... we are starting at G being our 2nd most physical defender. That's incredibly soft. I'd argue it is the softest in the league. They doesn't mean they are bad, but they have a very clear weakness teams will try to exploit.
It's true. This is something that will need to be addressed by the trade deadline, if not even sooner.

If Manson goes down it becomes comically soft.
 
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Pierce Hawthorne

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Yeah the defense is definitely very soft. But they're also exceptional puck movers which is clearly where the Avs are hedging their bets.

I think it will be very good in the regular season. But I do think they will want at least one physical Dman at the deadline. Someone for the bottom pairing and PK responsibilities essentially.

The good news is if the forwards play as well as I think they can, and if Landy comes back... They don't really need to add anything up front except for maybe a 4C which won't be expensive. So they can focus the deadline on getting the best Dman available for what we can afford(Presumably that NYR 2nd is already penciled into this from CMac if I had to guess).

A guy like Tanev only cost a 2 + 3 last year IIRC. That NYR 2nd + a prospect like Behrens or Foudy should get them a pretty solid #4/5 type. David Savard is the guy I bet a lot of money we target.
 

henchman21

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Yeah the defense is definitely very soft. But they're also exceptional puck movers which is clearly where the Avs are hedging their bets.

I think it will be very good in the regular season. But I do think they will want at least one physical Dman at the deadline. Someone for the bottom pairing and PK responsibilities essentially.

The good news is if the forwards play as well as I think they can, and if Landy comes back... They don't really need to add anything up front except for maybe a 4C which won't be expensive. So they can focus the deadline on getting the best Dman available for what we can afford(Presumably that NYR 2nd is already penciled into this from CMac if I had to guess).

A guy like Tanev only cost a 2 + 3 last year IIRC. That NYR 2nd + a prospect like Behrens or Foudy should get them a pretty solid #4/5 type. David Savard is the guy I bet a lot of money we target.

I don't know about very good, but I don't think being soft will hurt all that much in the regular season. May hurt against some specific teams, but unlikely to derail anything. It probably will cause a heavier reliance on the top 4 since Toews-Makar will be perfectly fine and G-Manson will handle it better. That's probably the bigger risk... taking away their legs from a heavier workload and Manson being more exposed to injury.

I also think Savard will be an Avs by the end of the season.
 

Richard88

John 3:16
Jun 29, 2019
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Yeah the defense is definitely very soft. But they're also exceptional puck movers which is clearly where the Avs are hedging their bets.

I think it will be very good in the regular season. But I do think they will want at least one physical Dman at the deadline. Someone for the bottom pairing and PK responsibilities essentially.

The good news is if the forwards play as well as I think they can, and if Landy comes back... They don't really need to add anything up front except for maybe a 4C which won't be expensive. So they can focus the deadline on getting the best Dman available for what we can afford(Presumably that NYR 2nd is already penciled into this from CMac if I had to guess).

A guy like Tanev only cost a 2 + 3 last year IIRC. That NYR 2nd + a prospect like Behrens or Foudy should get them a pretty solid #4/5 type. David Savard is the guy I bet a lot of money we target.
You think Foudy actually still has trade value at this point?

I don't know about very good, but I don't think being soft will hurt all that much in the regular season. May hurt against some specific teams, but unlikely to derail anything. It probably will cause a heavier reliance on the top 4 since Toews-Makar will be perfectly fine and G-Manson will handle it better. That's probably the bigger risk... taking away their legs from a heavier workload and Manson being more exposed to injury.

I also think Savard will be an Avs by the end of the season.
You said the same about Manson being an Av by the end of the cup year, and iirc also Walker last year. Savard makes perfect sense again.
 
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Tommy Shelby

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Feb 26, 2012
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"I wish there was more"

So do we Jared, so do we. The Pro scouts have their work cut out for them to shore up the depth. Waiver wire diving needs to hit some gems
 

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