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Third Cuts: Avalanche Reassign 6 More Players, Down to 34

 

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.