Colorado Avalanche 2010 Preseason: Opening Night Roster Set

The Colorado Avalanche have sent down three more players to Lake Erie, trimming their roster to 24 players in preparation for the Season Opener against Chicago on Thursday, October 7.

D Colby Cohen, LW Patrick Brandebois, and C Ryan Stoa were all demoted to Lake Erie on Sunday, creating openings for three rookies to make the team; D Jonas Holos and forwards Mark Olver and Philippe Dupuis.

With F Peter Mueller and David Koci injured, no more cuts will be necessary.

Visit Mile High Hockey for reaction to the official Opening Night roster.

Dallas, TX (Sports Network) – Brenden Morrow’s goal with one minute left in the game lifted Dallas to a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Colorado in preseason play at the American Airlines Center.

After two scoreless periods, Kevin Porter’s goal just under nine minutes into the final stanza gave the Avalanche the lead.

Mike Riberio’s power-play tally tied the game with 6 1/2 minutes to go for the Stars, who were on the losing end of a 2-1 decision to the Avs on Wednesday.

Kari Lehtonen earned the win by turning away 22 of 23 shots while Craig Anderson took the loss after allowing two goals on 23 shots.

Adrian Dater reports that Colorado has trimmed a few more players off of their preseason roster, sending down Mike Carman and Kevin Shattenkirk to Lake Erie.

Shattenkirk comes as a surprise, as many expected the top defensive prospect to make the regular season roster. He will receive more playing time in Lake Erie and will be a likely call-up in case of injury.

The Colorado Avalanche won their second preseason game in five tries with a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars Tuesday night at Pepsi Center.

Paul Stastny converted goals on two separate Brandon Yip passes and Peter Budaj outplayed Dallas counterpart and former Avalanche goalie Andrew Raycroft.

Colorado outshot their opponent for the first time all preseason and controlled the tempo of the game from the start, with the power play unit looking particularly sharp.

It was the last preseason home game for Colorado, as they travel to Dallas on September 30th, and then to Las Vegas to take on the Los Angeles Kings in the Frozen Fury game.

The season opener against Chicago is eight days away.

The Avalanche have signed 2010 fifth round draft pick Luke Walker to an entry-level contract. Here is what Mile High Hockey had to say about Luke after he was drafted:

LUKE WALKER

(selected 139th overall)
Born: February 19, 1990
Position: Right Wing
Shoots: Right
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 184
09-10 Team: Portland (WHL)
Hometown: Castlegar, BC

Luke Walker was not in the final rankings for NHL Central Scouting. While Walker is a dual-citizen, he competed in the World U20 tournament for the United States this past January. Due to his age, Walker is eligible to play in the American Hockey League next season.

SB Nation Avalanche site Mile High Hockey recently put together their 5 burning questions for the 2010 season over on SBNation.com.

Trying to figure out who will breakout this season for the Avs? Not an easy task:

5. Who will be the Avs' breakout player this year?

MHH: I'm picking former Golden Gopher Ryan Stoa. Stoa was the 34th player taken in the 2005 draft, one spot after Dallas' James Neal and 10 spots head of Paul Stastny. He looked tentative in his first call-up last December, but looked much more confident in a late-season call-up, scoring two goals in the final two games of the season. The injury to Peter Mueller opens up a big hole at the already-thin left wing position for the Avs, which should give Stoa an *ahem* golden opportunity. If the Ryan Stoa we saw in April is for real, he could end up having a solid season with the Avalanche.

WIth the injury to Peter Mueller last week, the Avalanche find themselves in position to make a major move. They are a forward short and still under the salary floor with only 10 days remaining until the regular season begins. These two factors have forced GM Greg Sherman’s hand. In order to field a competitive team, he needs to make a trade.

As Adrian Dater suggests, the New Jersey Devils may be the likely trade target. Their offseason signing of top free agent Ilya Kovalchuk has left them several million over the cap they need to remove before the start of the season.

The Devils and GM Lou Lamoriello are a notoriously difficult team to make trades with, however, and no doubt Lou wants as much value as he can get for a solid veteran like Langenbrunner. The Devils obviously can only take a draft pick or prospect in any deal right now, so the question becomes which of the Avs’ prospects does he want?

With the rumors heating up, expect a deal to happen shortly. If not Langenbrunner, then another veteran forward will be added to the roster before October 7th.

Visit Mile High Hockey for fan reaction to these rumors.

The Colorado Avalanche fell to 1-3 in the preseason after a Sunday night loss to the St. Louis Blues at the Pepsi Center.

St. Louis forward T.J. Oshie converted a beautiful pass from Erik Johnson past goalie Craig Anderson for a power play goal seven minutes into the game, and that tally would be enough to defeat the Avalanche. The Blues added an empty net goal in the final minute to put the game out of reach.

Anderson stopped the remaining 36 shots he faced, but it was not enough as St. Louis goaltender Ben Bishop used his 6’7" frame to hold the Avalanche scoreless.

Colorado will now host Dallas on Tuesday night for their final home preseason game. The regular season begins October 7th against the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.

The Colorado Avalanche travel to Dallas and will take on the Stars for their third preseason game this evening. Colorado is 1-1 in the preseason and are looking to bounce back from a home loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday evening.

They will have to learn how to play without forward Peter Mueller, who suffered a concussion late in that game and will be out for an indefinite period of time. There are trade options on the table, as Adrian Dater considers, but for now the Avalanche seem to be viewing Mueller's injury as an opportunity for another young player, such as Ryan Stoa, to make the roster directly out of camp.

The Denver Post's Adrian Dater reports that Avalanche forward Peter Mueller suffered a concussion late in last night's preseason game against the Los Angeles Kings and will be out "indefinitely".

Mueller, obtained in a deadline trade last season with the Phoenix Coyotes for Wojtek Wolski, absolutely caught fire during the 15 games he played as a member of the Avalanche, scoring 20 points. He suffered a concussion late in the season and was unavailable for the first round of the playoff series against the San Jose Sharks.

The Colorado front office deemed Mueller valuable enough to re-sign Mueller to a two-year deal just before the start of training camp. Unfortunately, Mueller will likely miss the start of the regular season with what is becoming a serious threat to his young career.

Adrian Dater of the Denver Post has reported that the Colorado Avalanche have cut seven more players from their roster. They are as follows:

G Trevor Cann, F Tom Fritsche, D David Liffiton, F Greg Mauldin, F Julian Talbot, F David Van Der Gulik and F Ben Walter

With these seven players gone, the roster has now been trimmed down to 34 players.

Visit Mile High Hockey for their community reaction and opinions of what players are most likely to make the Opening Night roster.

The Colorado Avalanche took an early lead over the Los Angeles Kings on the strength of a Kyle Quincey goal and assist, and Craig Anderson stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced.

For the second straight game, and continuing a trend from last season, the Avalanche were outshot by a significant margin. The Kings fired 42 shots on net to Colorado’s 23.

Read Adrian Dater's thoughts here.

Make sure to check out Mile High Hockey's recap as well.

Adrian Dater previews the Avalanche’s second preseason game, this time against the Los Angeles Kings.

Of particular note is the shot differential from last night’s game against the Blues.

I know it’s only preseason, but I did find the shots stats (34-18 against) alarming. One of the main goals of this year’s team is to have possession of the puck more and cut down on the shots against.

The Avalanche need to maintain better puck possession in front of their goalies if they wish to have success. Being outshot two to one creates a large mountain to climb.

Visit Mile High Hockey for full rosters and a game preview.

The Colorado Avalanche are depending on their young talent to carry them this season. In the first preseason game, they were not disappointed.

Top defensive prospect Kevin Shattenkirk, who is fighting for a spot on the roster, scored a power play goal 18:32 into the first period, and David Jones and Luke Walker added tallies of their own during the second period to drive the Avalanche’s preseason onto the right foot.

Peter Budaj got the start in net, allowing a shorthanded Patrik Berglund goal in the second period, before being relieved by Trevor Cann in net.

Unfortunately, the Avalanche were outshot 34-18 by the young Blues team, continuing a trend from last season. Tonight, at least, it didn’t hurt them.

The Avalanche will play the Los Angeles Kings at Pepsi Center tomorrow evening for their preseason home opener.

The Colorado Avalanche begin their preseason slate of seven games tonight, with the first being played against the St. Louis Blues.

Here is the full schedule of games (Home games in CAPS):

Tue, Sept. 21 at St. Louis 6:00 p.m.
Wed, Sept. 22 LOS ANGELES 7:00 p.m.
Fri, Sept. 24 at Dallas 6:30 p.m.
Sun, Sept. 26 ST. LOUIS 7:00 p.m.
Tue, Sept. 28 DALLAS 7:00 p.m.
Thu, Sept. 30 at Dallas 6:30 p.m.
Sat, Oct. 2 Los Angeles (in Las Vegas) 7:00 p.m.

Unfortunately, none of these preseason games will be televised. They will be broadcast on the Altitude Radio Network, 950 AM in Denver.

You can also stream the games online here.

The Colorado Avalanche have made their first round of cuts, trimming their roster down to 41 players just in time for the first preseason game against the St. Louis Blues.

There are no real surprises on the list, and many of the players being sent to Lake Erie for the season.

For the entire list, visit Mile High Hockey.

Adrian Dater recaps his observations from last night’s Burgundy/White game, which Burgundy won. His favorite moment of the night was a scuffle:

*The highlight of the night, for me, was seeing a nasty skirmish between Duchene and Foote in the third period. They got tangled behind the net, Footer ripped Dutchy’s helmet off and Dutchy responded with a good hard cross check to the chest. No friends on the ice in hockey. Might be a tough night around the late-night dinner table at Footers, as Duchene will again live in his basement this season.

Dater also has video highlights in a different blog entry.

Make sure to read Mile High Hockey's recap of the game.

According to Rick Sadowski of NHL.com, the Avalanche’s Joey Hishon left practice yesterday with a hand injury. Coach Joe Sacco appears to have little concern over it:

“Our guys wanted to get him off,” Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said. “He’ll be re-evaluated again later this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I’ll know more tomorrow morning, but I think it was more precautionary than anything.”

As long as these injuries don’t start piling up like they did for the Broncos in training cam, there’s nothing to be concerned with for now.

Mile High Report concludes its coverage of rookie camp with more photos and a breakdown of how the players looked on the ice.

Veterans report today and everyone take the ice tomorrow.

Mile High Hockey recaps the second day of rookie camp with plenty of pictures and videos.

The Colorado Avalanche released their full roster of training camp participants. Fifty-six players will be in attendance. All veterans report tomorrow before they take the ice on Saturday and Sunday.

Adrian Dater of the Denver Post recaps the Avalanche rookie camp, but directs everyone to SB Nation’s Mile High Hockey for a full rundown on how the players looked during camp.

Dater has a good relationship with the blog scene, something that can’t be said of many journalists around the nation. The Post’s Troy Renck is great at interacting with everyone on Twitter.

Before the Avalanche kickoff their regular training camp, Avalanche rookies will participate in a mini-camp this coming week from Sept. 14-16. But if anyone plans to see them on the ice, it’s time to take a guess on when the players will be seen:

But the Avs are saying that the rookies will skate for roughly half an hour, sometime in that 9-12 window. I don’t know the exact time. It could vary.

Time to drop the puck!