Training Camp - Day Two

Day two of training camp was definitely a lot more physical than day one. The hits were harder and there were a couple of fights (kinda fights, mostly pushing and angry words starting with Winnik and Quincey). Cody McLeod was not taking it easy on anyone, he didn't care who was on the other team, he was throwing hits. Which was probably the highlight of the gray team's play as they lost both their scrimmages in a combined 11-2 score. The blue team beat them 6-1 with two goals from Brandon Yip. The black team then beat them in the second scrimmage 5-1 with two goals and an assist from Chris Stewart. Team blue was the winner of the day as they beat team black 3-0 in the final scrimmage of the day during which Yip scored his third goal of the day. Calvin Pickard and Trevor Cann combined for the blue team's shut out.



One of the young guys that stood out to me was Matt Ford. It seemed like he was constantly flying into the offensive zone and putting some great shots on net. Greg Mauldin continued to look good during the scrimmages and could be a serious contender for a roster spot or be high on the list of call-ups in case of injury. Ryan Stoa is another one of the guys that looks like he could win a position on the roster. He definitely looked good during camp. On defense, Colby Cohen looked great on the ice today. He's definitely an offensive defenseman, but he could possibly be the Avs 7th defenseman (or maybe temporarily the 6th while Cumiskey is being held out with a slight groin injury).

Cameron Gaunce was a name that was bounced around a lot as a guy who could be in a position to take up a roster spot this season, but I wasn't totally convinced that he was ready. He got into a bit of a pushing match with Cody McLeod and that was the only thing about him that really stuck out to me. Kevin Shattenkirk was another name in the same category and another player that doesn't quite look ready for the NHL (I noticed a lot of failures to keep the puck in the offensive zone on his part). Of course they could both step it up during the preseason and steal a spot from someone else, nothing is set in stone yet. The trouble with the shorter training camp format (2 days instead of the usual 4) is that a lot of guys have a lot to prove in a short amount of time.

It seems unlikely that we'll be seeing the Avs' first draft pick Joey Hishon play for the parent club at any point this year. He looks to be headed for the minors. Hishon's on the small side for an NHL player (under 6 feet tall and only 170 lbs.) and has a tendency to look lost when he's not playing the puck. He could just be starstruck attending his first NHL training camp at 18 (not everyone can mature as fast as Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly). He definitely shows some great potential, but I don't think he's ready for the big leagues just yet. During one of the scrimmages he was participating in, he was injured and was pulled off the ice for the remainder of the day (and according to http://avalanche.nhl.com it was mostly a precaution).

Chris Stewart was flying all over the ice today and seems like he is going to be a force to be reckoned with this year. He was really clicking well with line-mates T.J. Galiardi and Paul Stastny and I think they will definitely be a great offensive threat together. The lost weight and gained muscle mass over the summer definitely seems to be a boost to his game. Kevin Porter looked good at this year's camp as well. He definitely seems like the experience he gained with the Avs last year was beneficial and he has built on it.


After a short training camp, it is now up to the players who are trying to earn a job to have a strong showing in the Burgundy and White game and preseason. Of course, everyone who attended training camp will not even necessarily make it to the annual intra-squad scrimmage tomorrow night. It will be interesting in the next couple weeks to see who is cut and who makes it onto that opening night roster on October 7th. All in all it was an entertaining training camp and made me really look forward to the regular season!

Training Camp - Day One

Today was the first day on the ice for the Avs full training camp roster after rookie camp earlier this week and off-the-ice training yesterday. It was great to see the Avs all out on the ice again. The format for this year's camp was three 45 minutes scrimmages with the clock running (the roster was broken into three groups: blue, gray and black; and each team played each other once). The coaching staff, scouts and management watched from the bleachers with the rest of us fans (although they were roped off in their own section). The team that was not playing during the scrimmage did drills on the other sheet of ice.

The scrimmages were held on the opposite sheet of ice from where the Avs usually practice. The ice was apparently not in proper shape for scrimmages (too soft and according to David Jones there was a large hole in the ice).


It was apparent from the start which players were playing for a spot on the roster and which players were comfortable with their positions on the team. That's not to say that the veteran players were lazy, rather the guys just hoping to secure a spot on the team worked really hard and often out-skated the experienced NHL-ers. One of the players hoping to make the team that stood out was Greg Mauldin. He scored a goal and had an assist during the scrimmages and even hit a couple posts. He demonstrated his desire to play for the Avs with his quickness and refusal to take it easy on any of his shifts. None of the players really held back as there was hitting going on left and right from the start of the first scrimmage.

Matt Duchene looked great on the ice, like he was very comfortable being there and confident with himself. He was frequently on the ice with Peter Mueller and Milan Hejduk and the trio had great chemistry. Another frequent line combination which might be familiar to Avs fans was Paul Stastny, Chris Stewart and T.J. Galiardi. Galiardi looked to be playing with the same passion and grit that we saw from him during the playoffs, so look for an interesting season for him.


Adam Foote looked pretty good on the ice as well. He looked a bit faster than last year and definitely like he was ready for another NHL season. Peter Mueller looked comfortable on the ice and like he was more than prepared to return to action after his season-ending concussion. Hopefully he'll be ready to continue producing as he did during his brief healthy stint for the Avs last season. Also looking decent was David Jones who of course had his season cut short with the knee injury last year. It looks like he'll take a little while to be fully back in game shape, but he looked ready to go.

It was great fun seeing the boys back in action and it should be interesting to see who steps up on day two of training camp, which is also tomorrow morning starting at 9AM.

It's About Time!

Finally the Avs have signed Peter Mueller to a 2 year contract today. Last week they signed Chris Stewart to a 2 year contract as well. Those were the last two major unsigned players that were expected to stick around. Stewart lead the team in goals last year with 28 and was second in total points. Peter Mueller only played in 15 games for the Avalanche before Rob Blake gave him a concussion and ended his season. In those 15 games, Mueller had 20 points (9 goals and 11 assists) though so barring any lingering post-concussion symptoms, the Avs are hoping to see more production from Mueller for the next two seasons.

Even more on the good news front is that one week from tomorrow is the start of training camp (or at least the start that us fans can attend). Just one week until we can watch our boys in burgundy take the ice for the first time as a team since last April (that was forever ago!). Much of the young core of the team is going to be back together with veterans like Milan Hejduk and Adam Foote. With Craig Anderson and Peter Budaj back in nets this year, things are looking good for the Avalanche. The biggest worry they should have is all those rookie players from last season hitting the dreaded sophomore slump.

As If We Needed Another Reason

As if we needed another reason to attend the home opener, the Avalanche have announced that they will be having a reunion for the 1995-96 Stanley Cup winning team. A lot of details are still to be released, but they did say that they will be honoring the team prior to the team's home opener on October 7th vs. the Chicago Blackhawks (whose head coach conveniently is Joel Quenneville, one of the Avs' assistant coaches back in '96).

It's only been since April that we've been able to attend an Avs game, so it's not like any of us were itching to go to the home opener anyway. Last year, it was Joe Sakic's jersey retirement ceremony and this year it's going to be honoring Denver's first professional sports championship team. The Avs may be establishing a new tradition of holding a big celebration every year when the season begins. Even if they don't plan to continue this trend, it should be a fun night for fans to see the original Avalanche team that came to Denver and won our hearts.

View the article on the Avs official site here.

Is Summer Over Yet?

August is probably the longest month of the summer for hockey fans. Even if your team is eliminated early or don't even make the playoffs, you can watch the rest of the playoffs through early June. Usually, Avs fans would have had the opportunity to attend or at least read about a prospect development camp in July. At least there was free agency (although that wasn't terribly exciting this year), and the announcement of the Burgundy and White game and the opportunity to buy tickets.

The only excitement we really have in August is that it is the last month where we have no hockey. September brings with it training camp, the Burgundy and White game, and the pre-season. Of course, the time we are all really looking forward to is the start of the regular season in early October. The season opens with the Avs hosting the 2010 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on October 7th.

Over the summer, we have said good bye to a few players, none really unexpected: Brett Clark and Chris Durno who went to Tampa Bay, Ruslan Salei who went to Detroit, and goaltending prospect Tyler Weiman went to Vancouver. Darcy Tucker was unsurprisingly not offered a new contract and remains as a free agent. Matt Hendricks is also still a free agent. According to Adrian Dater earlier this summer, Hendricks was made an offer by the Avs, but it was not what he was hoping for and he wanted to test the market. It's looking unlikely that he will return.

Then there were the players who returned to the Avs. Prior to free agency, the Avs announced the signings of Captain Adam Foote, goaltender Peter Budaj and left wing David Koci. Brandon Yip and Kyle Quincey both signed 2 year contracts to remain with the Avs after July 1st. Shortly before the start of free agency, the Avs traded a 2012 4th round draft pick to Phoenix for left wing Daniel Winnik. They also signed him to a 2 year contract this summer. Chris Stewart and Peter Mueller have still not signed contracts with the Avs, but are both restricted free agents. The Avs should re-sign them both, but whether or not they will still remains to be seen.

The Avs will definitely have to make some signings because they are still below the league's cap floor. That's right, not only is there a salary cap, but a salary floor, a minimum amount that the team has to spend. The Avs have not even met that salary minimum yet. With training camp starting up in about a month on September 17th (the date veterans report for physicals), it seems likely that the Avs will sign a couple more players prior to then.

The summer has been long and rather boring, with no big free agents being signed by the Avs because they didn't feel that they needed any. The argument could also be made that they don't want to spend a lot of money on big name free agents because they have so many young players who will be earning bigger contracts in the next couple of years. If you follow the NHL in general, the most interesting story was probably the ridiculous contract between Ilya Kovalchuk and the Devils which was ultimately rejected. If you are only interested in the Avalanche though, it was not a terribly exciting summer. The good news is that we are only a month away from training camp and less than 2 months away from the start of the regular season.

More Returning Players

With the July 1st free agency date just over a month away, the Avs have announced the signing of two more players to new contracts. Backup goaltender Peter Budaj and left winger David Koci each signed a one year deal for the upcoming 2010-2011 season.

Budaj has been with the Avs for five seasons as both a starting goaltender and a backup. This last season, Budaj served as the backup for Craig Anderson and appeared in 15 games. When he was not playing, Budaj was still busy on the bench watching the other team's shooters and telling Anderson about their shooting tendencies. He would also consult with the Avs shooters during a shootout and let them know the opposing goaltender's weak spots.

Last season was Koci's first year as an Av and a career high for him. He appeared in 43 games, more than any previous season in his NHL career. He was not shy about dropping the gloves while on the ice.

2009-2010 Season Tribute

Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of interest going on with the Avs right now. Starting this blog near the end of the season means it will probably be slow and uninteresting for a while. In the meantime, I will try to come up with some interesting posts.

Shortly after the Avs were knocked out of the playoffs, I went through my pictures/videos from going to games this season and put together a video. It starts on Joe Sakic night and continues throughout the regular season.



If you feel the need for music, the song I put in the clip was "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters. I cut the song out so that I wouldn't infringe on any copyrights. All of the photos/videos were shot by yours truly. I hope you enjoyed!