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Grimaldi among roster cuts |
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Rick Sadowski
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Rocco Grimaldi was one of 13 players the Avalanche assigned to San Antonio of the AHL on Monday.
A mild surprise, I suppose, but with J.T. Compher, Tyson Jost, Colin Wilson, Nail Yakupov and perhaps Alex Kerfoot (he's been really good) among the forwards, where would Rocco fit in?
Grimaldi didn't help his cause Sunday by taking back-to-back tripping penalties near the end of the first period against Minnesota. Marcus Foligno scored while Grimaldi was in the penalty box, and Grimaldi took his second penalty four seconds later. He did score a second-period goal to give the Avalanche a 2-1 lead in their eventual 5-1 win.
Also sent to the Rampage: left wings Andrew Agozzino, Brendan Ranford, Brady Shaw and Shawn St-Amant; centers Alex Belzile and Felix Girard; goalies Joe Cannata and Spencer Martin; defensemen Nolan De Jong, Mason Geertsen and Jesse Graham; right wing Trent Vogelhuber.
Agozzino, Cannata, Girard, Graham, Grimaldi and Vogelhuber need to clear waivers.
*****
The Kerfoot-Matt Duchene-Yakupov line returns Monday night in Dallas. Jonathan Bernier gets his second start in goal.
Nathan MacKinnon had a big game against the Wild on Sunday with two power-play goals and a sweet assist on a Mikko Rantanen goal. He had three shots and won seven of nine faceoffs.
"It's just preseason and they didn't have their best team, so you can't get too excited, but it feels good to score some goals," said MacKinnon, who centered Sven Andrighetto and Rantanen. "We struggled with that last season.
"I guess I'm a little surprised with how deep we are getting Kerfoot and Wilson. Everyone coming back has a chip on their shoulder and we're better than people think. Hopefully we can prove that."
Compher also scored, and Semyon Varlamov made 28 saves.
Tyson Barrie (seven shots, one assist, 24:28 ice time), Jost (four shots, one assist, 16:15) and Wilson (one shot, one assist, 16:50) made their preseason debuts Sunday after missing the first three games with minor injuries.
Barrie was paired with Duncan Siemens, who is being given plenty of chances to earn a spot. Siemens played 15:36, was assessed a roughing penalty and helped kill five of six Wild power plays.
Jost, the Avalanche's first-round pick (No. 10) in 2016, centered the third line with Agozzino and Grimaldi. Wilson, who was acquired from Nashville for a 2019 fourth-round pick, played right wing on a line with Gabriel Landeskog and Compher.
"Still getting acclimated to the air here and getting adjusted to a new team and systems," Wilson said. "It's a learning process. We're trying to play fast, I like that. Teams that win in the NHL now play speedy games.
"Just getting back out there and playing and having guys going against you, it's good. It's a good thing to build off, getting used to having that pressure on you. I can definitely get better."
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