Colorado Avalanche Gameday Open Thread: Avalanche vs. Blackhawks (7:30 p.m.)

We are here Avs faithful! The Colorado Avalanche are finally back to playing hockey for the first time since winning the Stanley Cup in games that count! They already have their eyes set on another Stanley Cup win as they enter the season as the odds-on favorites.

It all starts tonight with a banner-raising ceremony shortly and then playing against the Chicago Blackhawks in the season opener. The Blackhawks are used to hosting these ceremonies but are now on the other end. They’ll look to play spoiler tonight against this Avs side that looks a little different from June.

This includes the additions of Evan Rodrigues, Ben Meyers, Lukas Sedlak, and Anton Blidh. The latter three names won the battle to fill out the bottom of the roster due to injuries. These injuries include both Darren Helm and Gabriel Landeskog, who are both out to start the season.

There will be plenty of questions about how the new guys in new places will work out. This includes Alex Newhook who is in the second-line center position replacing Nazem Kadri. His actions along with the bottom six will be key to watch alongside the usual stars of this talented Avs side.

Projected Forwards

Artturi Lehkonen (62) - Nathan MacKinnon (29) - Mikko Rantanen (96)

Evan Rodrigues (9) - Alex Newhook (18) - Valeri Nichushkin (13)

Andrew Cogliano (11) - J.T. Compher (37) - Logan O’Connor (25)

Lukas Sedlak (22) - Ben Meyers (59) - Anton Blidh (36)

Projected Defenders

Devon Toews (7) - Cale Makar (8)

Bowen Byram (4) - Josh Manson (42)

Sam Girard (49) - Erik Johnson (6)

Projected Goaltenders

Alexandar Georgiev (40)

Pavel Francouz (39)

Follow along with our live Tweets here!