Patrick Roy said a year ago at this time that he didn't have any expectations for his first season as Avalanche coach but hoped the team could somehow "shock the hockey world." The Avalanche certainly did that, finishing first in the Central Division with 112 points while making the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in four years.
And now?
"Last year we approached it that we wanted to surprise the world of hockey and I think if we can go even deeper in the playoffs that would surprise the world of hockey again," Roy said Thursday during a news conference at the Pepsi Center while sitting alongside executive vice president of hockey operations
Joe Sakic.
Avalanche veterans reported Thursday for medicals and physical testing. Though many of them have been skating at informal practices in the Denver area for a couple of weeks, official on-ice sessions start Friday at the Family Sports Center in suburban Centennial. The team will play the annual Burgundy and White Game on Sunday at the University of Denver and kick off the preseason schedule Monday night with split-squad games against Anaheim at the Pepsi Center and Honda Center.
The regular-season opener is Oct. 9 at Minnesota against the Wild, who defeated the Avalanche in seven games in the opening round of the playoffs. The teams will meet two nights later in Denver.
Here's the
Avalanche training camp roster.
"I'm very excited about this year," Roy said. "I think Joe did a really good job putting this team together. I look forward to this camp. I think we have a good mix of veteran players and younger guys. I think our veterans will help a lot of our younger guys. I think that will serve us very well."
While the Avalanche have plenty of returnees --
Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Calder Trophy winner
Nathan MacKinnon and Lady Byng Trophy winner
Ryan O'Reilly among the forwards, with
Tyson Barrie and
Erik Johnson on defense and Vezina Trophy finalist
Semyon Varlamov in goal -- the team lost
Paul Stastny, Brad Malone and
Andre Benoit to free agency,
PA Parenteau in a trade and
Jean-Sebastien Giguere to retirement.
But Roy and Sakic believe this year's roster has more depth, something it lacked during the playoff series loss to the Wild while hobbled by injuries to Barrie, Duchene and
John Mitchell.
The Avalanche signed free agent
Jarome Iginla, who scored 30 goals for Boston last season, along with forward
Jesse Winchester and defenseman
Zach Redmond. Colorado acquired forward
Daniel Briere and defenseman
Brad Stuart in trades.
"I'm excited about this year, for sure," Sakic said. "I think what we came out of the Minnesota series -- we had a couple injuries and we don't use those as excuses, but we needed to work on our depth and team toughness and I think we did a pretty good job filling those needs. We feel we're as deep as we've ever been, and that was one of the main goals. We know injuries happen, but we feel if we have them we'll be OK.
"We lacked some depth when we had injuries in the playoffs. By adding these leaders, veterans, they can help everybody out. Leadership and depth purposes, we really like our lineup right now. The players have been here for a couple weeks now and they're all itching to go. Our guys believe in themselves and they're expecting a lot of themselves."
Roy said he plans to use Iginla on a line with O'Reilly and Duchene. MacKinnon, who has bulked up to 195 pounds without sacrificing any of his blazing speed, will replace Stastny by moving from right wing to his natural center position and skate with Landeskog and
Alex Tanguay.
"Joe and I believe the day we're going to be winning the Stanley Cup, Nate MacKinnon will be our center," Roy said. "We might as well do it right now and see how it goes. We want to be patient with him. A lot of people are talking about the sophomore jinx and I think Nate's going to do a very good job this year despite the way people think about a second-year player."
No decision has been made on who will center the third line, but Mitchell, Briere and
Max Talbot all can play the position. While Briere is healthy, Roy said Mitchell has been experiencing migraines (he missed the Wild series because of a concussion) and Talbot is nursing an undisclosed injury.
Jamie McGinn will play on the third line but has a back injury and might not skate Friday.
"We might miss a guy here and there for the start of camp, but they should (play) in camp (at some point) and be ready for the start of the season," Roy said.
Fourth-line forward
Patrick Bordeleau is recovering from back surgery and will miss about three months. O'Reilly (undisclosed) and defenseman
Jan Hejda (hand surgery) also underwent offseason operations but are expected to skate Friday.
The Avalanche didn't do a whole lot to improve the defense, but Roy said he's "pretty excited" with the group. Stuart will be paired with Johnson, and Hejda likely will be paired with Barrie, who is completely recovered from the knee injury he sustained in Game 3 of the Wild series on a hit by
Matt Cooke.
Nick Holden will be among the top six defensemen and possibly skate with
Ryan Wilson, who spent much of last season in Roy's doghouse.
"The addition of Brad Stuart, I expect to see him playing with EJ a lot of nights against top lines," Roy said. "He's going to bring some great experience. Jan probably will play with Tyson. We'll see how Ryan Wilson is going to show in camp and if he's ready to play with Nick Holden. We were very impressed with Holden and Barrie down the stretch. These guys didn't have a big role at the start of the season. They were very patient and Tyson went down to the minors and when he came back his game totally changed and he played up to what we expect from him. We expect him to start the way he finished regardless if he got hurt in the playoffs. He looks ready and was sharp in the practices."
One major question: Can
Reto Berra handle the backup goaltending position with any effectiveness? He was awful in two games with the Avalanche following his acquisition from Calgary in exchange for a second-round draft pick and is entering the first year of a three-year, $4.35 million contract.
"I have to agree he didn't play up to ...," Roy said, pausing. "But it was a tough situation for him. When he came in Jiggy was playing really well down the stretch. Coming to a team that had high expectations going to the end of the season and the playoffs it was not an easy situation for him. But I think he worked really hard this summer. He went to Switzerland, worked with (goalie coach)
Francois Allaire at his hockey school there, came down to Montreal and worked hard. (Allaire) worked really hard with Varly last year and I hope it's going to have the same effect on him."
Roy has no doubt Varlamov will continue to play as well as he did last year while winning a franchise record and NHL best 41 games.
"He showed the world last year that he was a No. 1 goalie and I'm sure Varly's going to continue to do that," Roy said. "This year it's totally different. Last year he was a question mark and this year he's going in with I'm sure one thing in his mind, to help this team to achieve his goal. From what Francois has said to me, he thinks Varly will get to another level this year. He looked sharp in the practices the guys had together and I have great faith in him. I'm not going to say (he'll be) even better because last year was such a strong year, but I'm confident he's going to play what we expect of him."
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