Three Avalanche players were named Friday to World Cup of Hockey rosters for the Sept. 17-Oct. 1 tournament at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Matt Duchene (Canada), Erik Johnson (USA) and Carl Soderberg (Sweden) made the cut.

Avalanche players previously named: Mikkel Boedker (Europe), Gabriel Landeskog (Sweden), Nathan MacKinnon (North America) and Semyon Varlamov (Russia).

It's been quite a year for Duchene, who had five goals and five assists in 10 games to help Canada win gold at the recently-completed IIHF World Championships. Duchene had an assist and an empty-net goal in Canada's 2-0 win against Finland in the championship game.

Duchene scored a career-high 30 goals during the 2015-16 season, becoming the first Avalanche player to reach that total since 2006-07 when Joe Sakic (36) and Milan Hejduk (35) accomplished the feat.

Goalie Calvin Pickard went 2-0 for Canada as the backup for Cam Talbot. Pickard had a 0.50 goals-against average and .971 save percentage.

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The Avalanche continue to try and rebuild the minor-league system. They signed defensemen Sergei Boikov and Anton Lindholm this week to three-year, entry-level contracts.

The 6-2, 195-pound Boikov, a sixth-round pick (No. 161) in the 2015 NHL draft, had six goals, 20 assists and 73 penalty minutes in 52 games this season for the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Thirteen of his points (three goals, 10 assists) came on the power play.

Boikov, who is from Khabarovsk, Russia, had six penalty minutes in four playoff games. The Voltigeurs were swept in the first round by the eventual league champion Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. He had no points or penalty minutes with the AHL San Antonio Rampage in four games while on an amateur tryout.

The 5-11, 185-pound Lindholm, who was born in Skelleftea, Sweden, was the Avalanche's fifth-round selection (No. 144) in 2014. Injuries limited him to 30 games this season with Skelleftea AIK, for whom he had four assists, 18 penalty minutes and a team-high 85 hits. He had one assist, six penalty minutes and a team-best 43 hits in 16 playoff games.

Lindholm played in three games for Sweden in the IIHF World Championships without recording a point.



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