The Avalanche have reassigned 6 more players, dropping the roster down to 34 players. With Brandon Yip and Jan Hejda injured (and potentially on the IR to start the season), the Avalanche have 9 more players to cut.
Duncan Siemens was sent back to Saskatoon, making him the 2nd to last junior player to leave (only Gabriel Landeskog remains). As for the AHL, Lake Erie gets bolstered by the reassigments of defensemen Joel Chouinard and David Liffiton as well as forwards Greg Mauldin, David van der Gulik and Luke Walker. All five of those players figure to be prominent and productive members of the Monsters this year.
As for the remaining battles.
No question so far on the goalies. Trevor Cann remains in camp for the time being, but he will be starting the season in Lake Erie
# | Age | Ht | Wt | NHL Exp | AHL Exp | 2011? | Waivers? | 1-way? | ||
1 | Semyon Varlamov | 23 | 6'2 | 209 | 59 | 33 | NHL / AHL | Yes | ||
35 | J.S. Giguere | 34 | 6'1 | 202 | 525 | 134 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes | |
31 | Trevor Cann | 22 | 5'11 | 199 | 0 | 20 | NHL / AHL | |||
Cuts | ||||||||||
60 | Sami Aittokallio | 19 | 6'1 | 174 | 0 | 0 | Finland | |||
64 | Calvin Pickard | 19 | 6'1 | 195 | 0 | 0 | WHL | |||
30 | Cedrick Desjardins | 26 | 6'0 | 192 | 2 | 116 | Lake Erie | Yes |
On defense, the injury to Jan Hejda could open up a roster spot for either Stefan Elliott or Tyson Barrie. Right now, we think Quincey, O'Brien, Wilson, Hunwick, Johnson and O'Byrme have a solid grip on a spot, leaving Cumiskey, Gaunce, Elliott, Barrie and Holos fighting for the remaining one or two spots.
# | LD | Age | Ht | Wt | NHL Exp | AHL Exp | 2011? | Waivers? | 1-way? | |
8 | Jan Hejda | 33 | 6'4 | 237 | L | 341 | 5 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
27 | Kyle Quincey | 26 | 6'2 | 207 | L | 185 | 201 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
5 | Shane O'Brien | 28 | 6'3 | 230 | L | 379 | 214 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
44 | Ryan Wilson | 24 | 6'1 | 207 | L | 128 | 71 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
22 | Matt Hunwick | 26 | 5'11 | 190 | L | 215 | 58 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
10 | Kyle Cumiskey | 26 | 5'10 | 185 | L | 132 | 96 | NHL / AHL | Yes | |
24 | Cameron Gaunce | 21 | 6'1 | 203 | L | 11 | 61 | NHL / AHL | ||
Cuts | ||||||||||
63 | Stephen Silas | 19 | 6'1 | 183 | L | 0 | 0 | OHL | ||
61 | Gabriel Beaupre | 18 | 6'2 | 195 | L | 0 | 0 | QMJHL | ||
59 | Dillon Donnelly | 18 | 6'2 | 193 | L | 0 | 0 | QMJHL | ||
2 | Joel Chouinard | 21 | 6'1 | 186 | L | 0 | 35 | Lake Erie | ||
4 | David Liffiton | 27 | 6'2 | 210 | L | 7 | 266 | Lake Erie | Yes | |
25 | Duncan Siemens | 18 | 6'3 | 200 | L | 0 | 0 | WHL | ||
# | RD | Age | Ht | Wt | NHL Exp | AHL Exp | 2011? | Waivers? | 1-way? | |
6 | Erik Johnson | 23 | 6'4 | 232 | R | 225 | 1 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
3 | Ryan O'Byrne | 27 | 6'5 | 234 | R | 192 | 118 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
46 | Stefan Elliott | 20 | 6'1 | 190 | R | 0 | 0 | NHL / AHL | ||
41 | Tyson Barrie | 20 | 5'10 | 190 | R | 0 | 0 | NHL / AHL | ||
36 | Jonas Holos | 24 | 5'11 | 196 | R | 39 | 17 | NHL / AHL |
Up front, there are 19 forwards left. Assuming Yip starts the season on the IR, there are 18 players for 13 or 14 roster spots. That means, barring injury, 4 or 5 of the players below are going to be cut, which means there will definitely be some tough choices to make. If you were to make those cuts today, it would probably be Bordeleau, Olver, Stoa and Malone (despite a very solid camp).
# | Left Wing | Age | Ht | Wt | NHL Exp | AHL Exp | 2011? | Waivers? | 1-way? | |
88 | Peter Mueller | 23 | 6'2 | 204 | R | 222 | 0 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
39 | T.J. Galiardi | 23 | 6'2 | 190 | L | 116 | 67 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
92 | Gabriel Landeskog | 18 | 6'1 | 204 | L | 0 | 0 | NHL / OHL | ||
28 | Joakim Lindstrom | 28 | 6'0 | 187 | L | 81 | 200 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
55 | Cody McLeod | 27 | 6'2 | 210 | L | 273 | 133 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
29 | Ryan Stoa | 24 | 6'3 | 200 | L | 37 | 102 | NHL / AHL | ||
42 | Brad Malone | 22 | 6'2 | 207 | L | 0 | 0 | NHL / AHL | ||
40 | Mark Olver | 23 | 5'10 | 170 | L | 18 | 64 | NHL / AHL | ||
58 | Patrick Bordeleau | 25 | 6'6 | 225 | L | 0 | 147 | NHL / AHL | Yes | |
Cuts | ||||||||||
15 | Zach Cohen | 24 | 6'3 | 208 | L | 0 | 73 | Lake Erie | ||
43 | Justin Mercier | 24 | 5'11 | 190 | L | 9 | 144 | Lake Erie | ||
11 | Patrick Rissmiller | 33 | 6'4 | 225 | L | 192 | 474 | Lake Erie | Yes | |
# | Center | Age | Ht | Wt | NHL Exp | AHL Exp | 2011? | Waivers? | 1-way? | |
26 | Paul Stastny | 25 | 6'0 | 205 | 348 | 0 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes | |
9 | Matt Duchene | 20 | 5'11 | 200 | L | 161 | 0 | NHL / AHL | Yes | |
37 | Ryan O'Reilly | 20 | 6'0 | 200 | L | 155 | 0 | NHL / AHL | Yes | |
16 | Jay McClement | 28 | 6'1 | 205 | L | 473 | 159 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
Cuts | ||||||||||
38 | Joey Hishon | 20 | 5'10 | 170 | L | 0 | 0 | Lake Erie | ||
14 | Mike Carman | 23 | 6'0 | 180 | L | 0 | 79 | Lake Erie | ||
67 | Garrett Muers | 18 | 5'11 | 169 | R | 0 | 0 | OHL | ||
47 | Evan Brophey | 25 | 6'2 | 199 | L | 1 | 299 | Lake Erie | Yes | |
# | Right Wing | Age | Ht | Wt | NHL Exp | AHL Exp | 2011? | Waivers? | 1-way? | |
23 | Milan Hejduk | 35 | 6'0 | 190 | R | 910 | 0 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
54 | David Jones | 27 | 6'2 | 210 | R | 167 | 45 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
34 | Dan Winnik | 26 | 6'2 | 210 | L | 282 | 78 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
17 | Chuck Kobasew | 29 | 6'0 | 190 | R | 473 | 127 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
12 | Kevin Porter | 25 | 6'0 | 190 | L | 128 | 98 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
18 | Brandon Yip | 26 | 6'1 | 195 | R | 109 | 6 | NHL / AHL | Yes | Yes |
Up until now, the cuts have been fairly straightforward (so much so that they've been right on target with my predictions, which never, ever happens). It gets interesting now, though. The next set of cuts (probably Monday) is going to involve a fairly big name.