The Avalanche made their final cut of the preseason today, sending defenseman Stefan Elliott to Lake Erie. As expected, the Avalanche also placed Kyle Cumiskey, Brandon Yip and Mark Olver on IR to bring them down to 23 players. Newcomers to make the team this year: Semyon Varlamov, JS Giguere, Shane O'Brien, Jan Hejda, Chuck Kobasew, Joakim Lindstrom and 18-year old Gabriel Landeskog. We knew Landeskog would make the team, but now we have official confirmations.
Overall, there were no surprises and the opening night roster is pretty much as we've been projecting for a few weeks now. Of course, the Avalanche kick off their 2011-2012 season on Saturday against Detroit. The Avs will be retiring Peter Forsbergs jersey that night as well as honoring Wade Belak, Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins.
Although rookies like Elliott, Tyson Barrie and Brad Malone we're not able to crack the roster, expect to see them in a Colorado unipron sooner rather than later.