First, the bad news: defenseman
Sergei Boikov sustained a dislocated shoulder and will be out indefinitely. He was injured on a hit by
Remi Elie shortly after he scored a first-period goal Thursday in the Avalanche's 5-1 win against Dallas.
Some positive news: Coach
Jared Bednar said after practice Friday that
Tyson Barrie, Tyson Jost and
Colin Wilson will make their preseason debuts this weekend. All have been nursing relatively minor injuries. He hadn't yet set the lineup.
The Avalanche play at Minnesota on Saturday, are home against the Wild on Sunday, and play at Dallas on Monday.
Jonathan Bernier will start both road games,
Semyon Varlamov starts Sunday.
*****
David Warsofsky is making a bid to win a roster spot on defense.
"He's in the mix, he's fighting for that job," Bednar said.
Warsofsky, 27, signed as an unrestricted free agent July 1. He played 23:17 Thursday and had a goal and an assist.
Warsofsky isn't the biggest guy at 5-feet-9 and 170 pounds, but he can shoot, handle the puck and move it. He had 47 points (16 goals, 31 assists) in 58 games last season with Wilkes-Barre of the AHL. He played seven games for Pittsburgh and has been in 39 NHL games in parts of seven pro seasons.
"Looking over my options I thought this was the best opportunity to make the team," he said. "They seemed really interested."
Warsofsky is from Marshfield, Mass., and played three years at Boston University. He was a fourth-round pick (No. 95) of St. Louis in the 2008 NHL draft, but his rights were traded two years later to the Bruins for
Vladimir Sobotka.
He's bounced around since. He played 10 games with the Bruins in four years in the organization, wound up in Pittsburgh in 2015-16 and played 12 games with the Penguins. New Jersey claimed him off waivers and he played 10 games with the Devils that season before going back to Pittsburgh. He spent most of last year in the AHL.
"I thought I had a good year down there," Warsofsky said. "Sometimes it's good to be down there; you can get your confidence back. When I was up a little bit, I was just kind of sitting in the stands. I was able to play a lot in the American League, had good numbers.
"I don't know if I made the most of my opportunity when I did get called up, so I kind of put it on myself too. I can't say all of it was Pittsburgh's fault."
Warsofsky is looking at his time with Colorado as a fresh start, and the Avalanche have holes to fill on the blue line.
"I've spent seven years over in the Eastern Conference, so it's good to get out of my comfort zone a little," he said. "Hoping for a new opportunity."
Bednar knows Warsofsky from his time coaching in the AHL.
"He's a top tier guy for what he does in the American League -- puck movement, a power-play guy -- and he's made himself really good up to this point as a depth player," Bednar said. "He hasn't found a way to crack an NHL lineup and stayed.
"We targeted him -- (general manager)
Joe (Sakic) and his staff -- because we need guys on the back end and he looks like a guy who is ready to make the jump and find a home. He's in the mix, fighting for that job."
*****
So is former first-round pick
Duncan Siemens, 24, one of the few Avalanche players to play in the first two preseason games.
The 6-3, 210-pound Siemens played 18:58 Thursday, was plus-2 and helped kill off five of six Stars power plays. He also fought Elie, who had sent Boikov into the boards with a hard check.
"He adds a little snarl to our lineup," Bednar said. "Every once in a while you may see him beat the puck up a little bit, but he's been physical, he's defended hard, he's moved the puck efficiently.
"I like his character, I like his attitude. He's here to win a job and he's fighting for that job right now. I liked what he did, jumping in for Boikov. We don't have a lot of that in our lineup, so he brings that. Without having a lot of that in our lineup it's something that we have to consider. He's making our job difficult to make these decisions."
*****
The Avalanche made three roster cuts Friday: centers
J.C. Beaudin and
Julien Nantel were assigned to San Antonio (AHL), and left wing
Travis Barron was returned to Ottawa (OHL).
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
Join the Discussion:
»