So now things get interesting. The first cuts are in prior to the first preseason game. The following players have been sent back to Lake Erie or their respective CHL franchises.
Forwards:
- Burki, Codey
- Combs, Jack
- Corbin, JD
- Durno, Chris
- Fritsche, Tom
- Galiardi, TJ
- Marshall, Bryan
- McCutcheon, Mark
- Mueller, Chris
- Sertich, Marty
- Tessier, Kelsey
<!--more-->
Defensemen:
- Chouinard, Joel
- Cote, Jean Philippe (Outright cut. No Amature contract)
- Gaunce, Cameron
- Macias, Ray
- O'Neill, Wess
- Peltier, Derek
- Williams, Nigel
Goaltenders:
- Cann, Trevor
- Delmas, Peter
- Keserich, Ian
- Weiman, Tyler
So, what does it all mean? Well, Galiardi, McCutcheon, Macias and I believe Williams were suffering from nagging injuries either sustained in camp or prior conditions coming in to camp. Galiardi and Williams still have bright futures with the Avs and we could see them if the injury bug hit again. Anyway, the story of this cut is goaltending. Only Bacashihua was kept in the mix along with Budaj and Raycroft. I thought that the backup position would be a little more widely contested.
Excluding the veterans, here is the current roster of players fighting for a job:
Forwards:
- Dupuis, Philippe*
- Hendricks, Matt
- Hensick, TJ*
- Jones, David*
- Ledin, Per
- McLeod, Cody
- McCormick, Cody
- Parker, Scott
- Smith, Nathan
- Stewart, Chris*
- Willsie, Brian
Defensemen:
- Campbell, Darcy*
- Cumiskey, Kyle
- MacKenzie, Aaron
- Montgomery, Kevin*
- Tjarnqvist, Daniel
- Vernace, Michael*
Goaltenders:
- Bacashihua, Jason
(* Denotes player that attended Avalanche rookie camp)
It's crowded at forward but there are some spots to fill. It's even worse for the defense as only a #7 position is open and two guys are already NHL ready with Cumiskey and Tjarnqvist. Dupuis and Stewart are the only two rookie forwards to make the cut (Jones and Hensick aren't technically rookies even though they attended rookie camp). Dupuis was very impressive with this skating in camp, and according to Francois Giguere on 104.3 The Fan this morning, Stewart was really impressive as well. Among the defensemen Verance has NHL skating ability and Montgomery is one of the best passers outside of Liles in all of camp at the blue line. Can Bacashihua displace Raycroft? The preseason games will tell us quite a bit. One thing we do know is that goaltending is going to get plenty of work and little rest with only three to rotate.