The final two players have been sent to Lake Erie to get the Avalanche down to the 23-man limit. One I was expecting, the other, like Willsie, caught me by surprise. TJ Hensick and Per Ledin have been demoted to Lake Erie. I figured Hensick would have a tough time making the team, not because of his play this preseason, but because there just isn't a place for him to play at the moment. Ledin reportedly looked good in camp, and his 1-way contract means he will be paid his full $600,000 salary in the AHL. I figured he would make the team over one of the Codys (then again, I thought Willsie would make the team too).
Surviving the final cut are Cody McCormick, Cody McLeod and Scott Parker. It's certainly not the way I would have done it, but it's probably not going to mean all that much in the long run. We'll probably see Hensick or Ledin before too long anyway.
As of right now, the projected lineup for Thursday night is mostly set:
- Stastny, Hejduk, Smyth
- Sakic, Tucker, ?
- Arnason, Svatos, ?
- Guite, Lappy, ?
- Foote, Clark
- Liles, Hannan
- Salei, Leopold
- Budaj
There's 3 question marks up front. I think we mostly know the who, it's more a question of where. Wojtek Wolski and David Jones will likely be on the 2nd and 3rd lines (Jones at RW on the 2nd and Dub Dub on the 3rd at LW?), with a Cody Mac on the 4th line. Of course, this is all dependant on everyone being healthy on Thursday, and that's never a sure thing.
EDIT: According to the team roster, Adam Foote will replace Andrew Brunette as an assistant alternate captain (along with Ian Laperriere). This isn't exactly a big shocker. Also, I don't know if it's a typo or not, but on that same page, they are indicating that Parker is on the IR. That's new - he definitely didn't have those astericks earlier in the day.