Nathan MacKinnon is back at center with the Avalanche and he couldn't be happier.
"It's exciting, and I'm definitely having fun at center right now," he said after practice Wednesday.
MacKinnon's natural position is center, but he spent most of his first two NHL seasons as a right wing after the Avalanche made him the first pick in the 2013 NHL draft following his two-year stay with Halifax in the Quebec Major Junior League.
MacKinnon said coach Patrick Roy told him last week that he'd be playing center this season, and he skated with Blake Comeau and 2015 first-round pick Mikko Rantanen on Tuesday in the Avalanche's 2-0 loss in Calgary.
"Good line, yeah," MacKinnon said. "We'll play in Anaheim (Thursday) and we'll see. It's good, we'll have three good (scoring) lines and we're all going to be playing a lot.
"Last game went good. My faceoffs were pretty solid, my defensive game was solid, we had a lot of chances. We didn't score, but our line played pretty good. I was more comfortable than I thought I'd be."
Roy said Wednesday that Matt Duchene, Carl Soderberg, MacKinnon and John Mitchell will be his centers this season, one reason that 2010 first-round pick Joey Hishon was among six players assigned to San Antonio in the AHL. Hishon will have to clear waivers.
"Like I said to him, no BS, he's behind all these guys and we want to give a chance ... to him to play and showcase himself and if one day he's having a chance with us or maybe with someone else," Roy said of Hishon.
The Avalanche later announced that center Marc-Andre Cliche, left wing Patrick Bordeleau and defenseman Zach Redmond have been assigned to San Antonio. Defenseman Andrej Meszaros, who was on a pro tryout, has been released. Assuming Roy keeps eight defensemen, the blue line is set: Tyson Barrie, Francois Beauchemin, Brandon Gormley, Nate Guenin, Nick Holden, Erik Johnson, Brad Stuart and Nikita Zadorov.
Sixteen forwards remain, and three need to go to get down to the 23-man limit: Comeau, Duchene, Dennis Everberg, Curtis Glencross, Mikhail Grigorenko, Jarome Iginla, Gabriel Landeskog, MacKinnon, Cody McLeod, Mitchell, Rantanen, Borna Rendulic, Jack Skille, Soderberg, Alex Tanguay and Jesse Winchester.
Glencross and Skille are on pro tryouts and Winchester is sidelined indefinitely because of concussion symptoms.
Goalie Calvin Pickard also was sent to the Rampage, meaning Reto Berra will be Semyon Varlamov's backup. More on that later.
As expected, center Conner Bleackley, a first-round pick in 2014, was returned to Red Deer in the Western Hockey League.
MacKinnon said he's ready to take on the responsibility that comes with playing center.
"You have to take big draws, (be the) first guy back in the (defensive) zone and stuff like that," he said. "It's going to take some getting used to, but (Tuesday) night I felt pretty comfortable. It's probably more of a 200-foot game. I'll have to get back a little quicker, but nowadays whoever is back first seems to play well. I played center all my life, not at this level, but hockey's hockey and I'm sure it'll be OK."
MacKinnon turned 20 on Sept. 1. He said he grew a quarter-inch in height and is close to 6-feet-1. He gained 15 pounds, up to 210.
"Just worked out and got this way," he said. "I feel faster and more powerful, something I need to bring to the games, but I feel good."
MacKinnon won the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie in 2013-14 when he had 24 goals and 39 assists in 82 games. He slumped to 14 goals and 24 assists in 64 games last season; he missed the final 18 games because of a broken foot that is completely healed.
"I've been pretty fortunate to have good centers," he said. "Last year we had (Ryan O'Reilly), the year before we had Paulie (Stastny). My first year we clicked pretty well and we didn't really have positions. We all kind of reacted out there and I think that's really important. Everybody just fills lanes and plays all over the ice.
"Nowadays all three forwards have to play good 'D.' We'll just have to be very alert and very sharp. I definitely feel like I need to step up my defensive game and be a little more intense. It should be good.
"This is my third year and I think I've learned a lot in my first two, my all-around game and I'm more comfortable in different systems and stuff like that."
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Aside from cutting Hishon, Pickard and Bleackley, the Avalanche earlier assigned left wings Andrew Agozzino and Andreas Martinsen to San Antonio, along with defensemen Chris Bigras and Maxim Noreau.
Berra stopped 24 of 25 shots Sept. 24 in a 1-0 home loss to Calgary. Pickard turned aside 30 of 32 shots Tuesday in the 2-0 loss at Calgary.
"They were both really good (in training camp)," Roy said. "It was not an easy decision, but Reto was here last year. He played really well at the end of the season. We said the job was open and I thought they both deserved to stay, but at the end sometimes you have to make a decision.
"Last year when (Pickard) left (following camp) I thought he had no chance to play at the NHL level. And for what he did last year for us when we called him up, he opened the eyes of everybody. We are very fortunate to have three solid goalies.
"I believe that Calvin will play at the NHL level one day. Sometimes you just need to remain a bit patient, but we have a lot of confidence in him. We know that if something happens to our goalies we're in good shape. It would be great as well for him to play a lot, and that's what's going to happen.
"I said to him, 'I don't want you to go out there and be the No. 1 goalie for San Antonio, I want you to be the No. 1 goalie in the league.' I know he's capable."
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Glencross is on his second pro tryout contract, having signed one with the Avalanche after his release from Toronto.
"I know that he played with Jarome in Calgary and we're curious to see how he's going to do in the next two games and we'll make a decision from there," Roy said. "I want him to play hard out there and he's going to have a chance to showcase himself."
Glencross, 32, had 13 goals and 22 assists in 71 games last season with Calgary and Washington. He has 134 goals and 141 assists in 507 NHL games over nine seasons.
Avalanche executive vice president and general manager Joe Sakic didn't waste time contacting Glencross, who signed the PTO and played Tuesday. He got to practice Wednesday for the first time.
"I think I can bring some grit and get into the hard areas and hopefully be a PK guy for them," said Glencross, who is expected to play Thursday in Anaheim. "I'm here to do whatever my task is, whatever they want me to do. I'm going to take every day and do the best I can and go from there."
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Skille, who was nursing a hip injury, practiced Wednesday. Roy said he thinks Skille is ready to play in Anaheim but needed to confirm it with the training staff. Iginla and Everberg (both hip injuries) also practiced.
Is Roy concerned that the Avalanche have one goal in the past three games combined after opening the preseason with a 5-4 overtime win against Anaheim?
"Yes and no," he said. "No because we've been trying a lot of players, but yes because we want to score a lot of goals. When we scored five the first game we felt good about it. At the same time, we're going to play pretty much 90 percent of the team the last two games, then we'll see where we are."
The Avalanche play their final preseason game Saturday in Las Vegas against Los Angeles and open regular-season play Oct. 8 against Minnesota at the Pepsi Center.