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The Most Wonderful Time of the Year


It's on.

And damn, it's hard to be an Avalanche fan living in New Hampshire right now. Avalanche single game tickets are now on sale and yes, there are still good seats available for Joe Sakic night. I've been tempted all day to cave in and buy tickets, but once I factor in expenses like flights and a hotel, its just too much money for me. 

As if that wasn't painful enough, training camp begins tomorrow. Veterans report today for medical evaluation, and I can't help but think of Steve Konowalchuk every year at this time. I would love to be able to check out a camp some year, but I think I'm going to have to wait until blogging becomes a high-paying gig (in other words, maybe around the time Matt Duchene's kids start getting drafted).

For those lucky enough to be in the area, camp will be at the Family Sports facility in Centennial from 9 to 11:30 AM. We've been getting great reports on rookie camp from folks like Dario, mfured20, avs21fan and hockeyheidi and all of us out-of-towners thank you kindly. Please keep up the excellent work!

As for camp, there will be 59 players in camp vying for 23 jobs but, realistically, there's only about 4 spots up for grabs, probably all at forward. Right now I have 10 forwards, 7 defensemen and 2 goalies - 19 players - locked in on the 23-man roster. Joe Sacco could keep 8 defensemen, but since the 7 he has right now all have solid NHL experience, I think he'll leave it at that and start with 14 forwards. 

The widgets below list the vitals for each player, including whether they are currently under contract with the Avalanche, whether they are eligible to play in the AHL (junior players need to be 20 by December 31st of this year or have played 4 years in junior already), whether they will need to clear waivers to go to the AHL (the waiver period starts next Saturday) and what level of hockey they spent the bulk of their time at last year. Also, the players who I think are mostly assured of a roster spot have a check mark at the far left; it doesn't mean someone like T.J. Hensick can't play himself off the roster, but that's how I see things shaping up right now. For now, I don't have Duchene as a lock, but I do believe he's going to make the club.

 

Forwards (30)

# Name Pos H Age Ht Wt Signed AHL? Waiver LY Country
38 Codey Burki  C L 21 6' 1" 190 AHL Canada
9 Matt Duchene  C L 18 5' 11" 200   OHL Canada
11 Philippe Dupuis  C R 24 6' 1" 196 w AHL Canada
45 Chris Durno  C L 28 6' 4" 205 w AHL Canada
51 Tom Fritsche  LW L 23 5' 11" 183 AHL USA
39 T.J. Galiardi  LW L 21 6' 2" 190 AHL Canada
12 Darren Haydar  RW R 29 5' 9" 170 w AHL Canada
23 Milan Hejduk  RW R 33 6' 1" 190 w NHL Czech
15 Matt Hendricks  C L 28 6' 1" 215 w AHL USA
7 T.J. Hensick  C R 23 5' 10" 185 w NHL USA
54 David Jones  RW R 25 6' 2" 210 w NHL Canada
28 David Koci  LW L 28 6' 6" 238 w NHL Czech
55 Cody McLeod  LW L 25 6' 2" 210 w NHL Canada
49 Cedric McNicoll  C L 21 5' 10" 178 QMJHL Canada
43 Justin Mercier  C L 22 5' 11" 190 CCHA USA
36 Marty Sertich  C L 26 5' 9" 165 w AHL USA
26 Paul Stastny  C L 23 6' 1" 205 w NHL Canada
25 Chris Stewart  RW R 21 6' 2" 228 NHL Canada
29 Ryan Stoa  C L 22 6' 3" 200 WCHA USA
40 Marek Svatos  RW R 27 5' 10" 185 w NHL Slovakia
16 Darcy Tucker  RW L 34 5' 10" 178 w NHL Canada
18 Brian Willsie  RW R 31 6' 1" 202 w NHL Canada
8 Wojtek Wolski  LW L 23 6' 3" 210 w NHL Poland
59 Brandon Yip  RW R 24 6' 1" 180 H-EAST Canada
53 Josh Aspenlind * RW R 23 5' 11" 178 ECHL Canada
17 Shawn Bates ^ C R 34 6' 1" 210 Finald USA
58 Patrick Bordeleau * LW L 23 6' 6" 225 ECHL Canada
61 David Marshall * RW R 24 5' 11" 185 ECACHL USA
37 Ryan O'Reilly  C L 18 6' 1" 200   OHL Canada
74 Kelsey Tessier  C R 19 5' 9" 168   QMJHL Canada


 

Defensemen (22)

# Name Pos H Age Ht Wt Signed AHL? Waivers LY Country
5 Brett Clark  D L 32 6' 1" 195 w NHL Canada
10 Kyle Cumiskey  D L 22 5' 10" 185 w AHL Canada
57 Brian Fahey  D R 28 6' 1" 216 w AHL USA
52 Adam Foote  D R 38 6' 2" 220 w NHL Canada
73 Cameron Gaunce  D L 19 6' 1" 203   OHL Canada
22 Scott Hannan  D L 30 6' 1" 225 w NHL Canada
4 John-Michael Liles  D L 28 5' 10" 185 w NHL USA
47 Ray Macias  D R 23 6' 2" 195 AHL USA
56 Kevin Montgomery  D L 21 6' 1" 185 OHL USA
2 Wes O'Neill  D L 23 6' 4" 215 AHL Canada
6 Derek Peltier  D L 24 5' 11" 190 AHL USA
20 Tom Preissing  D R 30 6' 1" 197 w NHL USA
27 Kyle Quincey  D L 24 6' 2" 207 w NHL Canada
24 Ruslan Salei  D L 34 6' 1" 212 w NHL Belarus
3 Brett Skinner  D L 26 6' 1" 183 w AHL Canada
44 Ryan Wilson  D L 22 6' 1" 207 AHL Canada
75 Tyson Barrie  D R 18 5' 10" 190   WHL Canada
72 Joel Chouinard  D L 19 6' 1" 186   QMJHL Canada
46 Matt Clarke # D L 21 6' 1" 192 OHL Canada
71 Patrick Cusak # D R 20 6' 1" 194 QMJHL Canada
48 Stefan Elliott  D R 18 6' 1" 180   WHL Canada
68 Samuel Finn # D L 18 5' 11" 190   QMJHL Canada


 

Goalies (7)

# Name Pos H Age Ht Wt Signed AHL? Waiver LY Country
41 Craig Anderson  G L 28 6' 2" 180 w NHL USA
31 Peter Budaj  G L 27 6' 1" 200 w NHL Slovakia
35 Trevor Cann  G L 20 5' 11" 199 OHL Canada
30 Tyler Weiman  G L 25 5' 11" 180 w AHL Canada
70 Peter Delmas  G L 19 6' 2" 169   QMJHL Canada
60 Brandon Maxwell  G L 18 6' 1" 195   USDP USA
64 Billy Sauer * G L 21 6' 2" 180 CCHA USA


  • * indicates players is signed to an AHL contract
  • ^ indicates a player on a professional tryout
  • # indicates a player on an amateur tryout

If I was guessing right now about the 4 who make the team, I'd say Duchene, Stoa, Hendricks and either Bates or Willsie. I do think there are a number of other players who will have opportunities, though, so don't use permanent ink when quoting me. Also, look for Cumiskey and Weiman to get demoted by the end of the week because of their waiver status; there'll be others, but those are the two that I think the club would prefer to avoid exposing. The waiver exemption and AHL eligibillity is calculated by yours truly - hopefully I've got that all correct.