Colorado Avalanche Roster - 2010-2011 Edition

After final cuts, our 2010-2011 Avalanche roster is set for opening night.*

The surprise player making the team is Mark Olver who I know absolutely nothing about other than being the smallest player on the roster at 5'10" and 170lbs. His college stats show he knows how to score which is great but that size doesn't appear conducive to playing on the fourth line. So where does he fit in?

Ryan Stoa continues to disappoint, getting sent down again even with a wing spot opened up with Peter Mueller's concussion. He's heading towards bust territory but still has time to turn that around.

Jonas Holos made the squad as most people were expecting as he apparently had a solid preseason. I'm really looking forward to seeing him in action come Thursday evening.

Other than that, there isn't much of note as to how the roster shaped up. Now we have an exciting four days to wait for opening night. This is our Dec 21st people. Savor the wait!

*As of this writing, they still have Ryan Stoa and Colby Cohen listed on the roster which is not accurate.

Related Links
Avalanche focus shifting to Chicago
Avs make three cuts

Colorado Avalanche Projected Opening Night Lines

EDIT: AD has the scoop on the actual lines!

Wolski-Stastny-Hejduk
McLeod-Duchene-Svatos
Tucker-Galiardi-Stewart
Koci-Hendricks/O’Reilly-Hensick

Quincey-Clark
Liles-Salei
Hannan-Foote

Anderson

So keep reading if you want to see how close this was or make me fun of me for where it missed ;)

Original Post

I'm not even going to research this one based on line pairings during pre-season. I'm just going to toss it out there.

Wolski-Stastny-Hejduk
Galiardi-Duchene-Svatos
Hensick-O'Reilly-Stewart
Mcleod-Hendricks-Tucker

Foote-Liles
Hannan-Quincey
Clark-Salei

Anderson

Forwards
I've heard that T.J. Galiardi was taking a lot of draws but I don't recall ever hearing him actually playing center. I know that sounds weird but it happens. I don't think it's crazy to expect him to play on the left side when there's a lot of centers on the team and few left wings.

Putting Hensick on left-wing probably won't happen and frankly I'd be inclined to leave him out of the lineup, move Cody Mcleod to the third line and put David Koci at left-wing on the fourth line. That would leave a fairly mediocre fourth line but I wouldn't expect them to see the ice much. I suppose you could even swap Mcleod and Hensick, leaving Hensick with Tucker. I seem to recall they played half-decent with each other last year.

Once Jones is back, things get a bit harder on right-wing, unless Sacco has the sack to sit Tucker.

Defense
It's pretty common to pair a puck mover with a stay-at-home defender. I think it's a safe bet that Sacco/Lefebvre will go that route.

Alternate
If Galiardi does indeed line up at center, I'd shift to this lineup:

Wolski-Stastny-Hejduk
Mcleod-Duchene-Svatos
Hensick-Galiardi-Stewart
Hendricks-O'Reilly-Tucker

It would seem to be a waste to put O'Reilly in that slot though in my opinion. I know Mcleod has been riding shotgun with Duchene so it would make sense to move him all the way up to the second line if Galiardi isn't there.

Final Thoughts
I think the first line is essentially set in stone, the center for the second line is set in stone and after that, it's a bit of a crapshoot to guess what Sacco and his assistants will do.

Thankfully we don't have much longer to wait!

Colorado Avalanche 2009/10 Roster

I'm a bit late on this but after the recent cuts and injuries, the Avalanche's roster will consist of the following on opening night:

Center
Matt Duchene
Paul Stastny
T.J. Hensick
Ryan O'Reilly
Matt Hendricks

Right Wing
Milan Hejduk
Chris Stewart
Marek Svatos
Darcy Tucker

Left Wing
Wojtek Wolski
T.J. Galiardi
Cody Mcleod
David Koci

Defense
Adam Foote
Scott Hannan
John-Michael Liles
Ruslan Salei
Kyle Quincey
Brett Clark

Goaltender
Craig Anderson
Peter Budaj

IR
David Jones
Tom Preissing

I'll be back shortly with projected lines. Just have to find a hat to draw names out of...

Finally, Per Ledin Has Come to Colorado

Per Ledin is on his way to the big club so we may finally get a chance to see what this guy can do.

The unfortunate part is that this may mean Marek Svatos is hurting after an awkward fall last night and won't be dressing up for Thursday.

About time someone on the team got injured, eh?

Official Colorado Avalanche Roster for 2008/2009

In a surprise move, Per Ledin didn't make the cut and has been sent down to Lake Erie along with TJ Hensick. So the Avalanche 2008/09 opening night roster is official.

As much as I'd like Hensick to stay, it would mean bumping Arnason out of the third line center spot and that didn't seem likely. I'm sure he'll get some time with the Avs during the season regardless.

As for Ledin, I think everyone expected he would make the cut so it's a bit of a surprise. He's an agitator who is able to score as well. He seemed like he would be a great fit on a line with Guite and Laperriere and, from what I've read, performed well in camp.

Ledin should be able to come up without clearing waivers - again, if I understand them correctly - so he could pop in from time to time.

As it stands, it looks like Parker will sit in the press box most nights along with one of the Cody's. And Daniel Tjarnqvist of course.

Will the Cody Mcleod lovefest continue or will Granato at least favor Cody McCormick who is much more in control of his temper and can play on the PK when necessary?

And yes, David Jones makes the roster but that wasn't really a question. The only question now is whether he'll outscore Ovechkin or Kovalchuk.

Opening night is only two more sleeps away. And I still haven't ordered Center Ice. I better get on that!

Related Links

Colorado Avalanche Roster (PDF)

Foote Jets to Calgary to Make Game

The Denver Post mentioned in their wrap-up that Adam Foote was on his way to Calgary but the rosters are in on NHL.com and Foote is listed as a scratch. So Q will be juggling 5 D tonight which should be interesting.

UPDATE: No sooner do I write this than the roster sheet gets updated and Foote is in the lineup with David Jones and Jaroslav Hlinka being the non-injured scratches. Yes, that means Parker is in the lineup tonight. Oh please let Parker crank Phaneuf at some point in the game.

Foote caught a private jet to Calgary and then had a police escort to the arena. That's right, when you're in Canada and you play hockey, we protect the shit out of you. If a car gets broken into while an RCMP office is protecting a hockey player, well that's just a risk we're willing to take. Apparently.

Related Links
Denver Post Trade Day Recap
NHL.com Roster Sheet for Colorado vs Calgary

Richardson Reassigned...Again

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, the Avalanche announced that Brad Richardson has been sent back down to Lake Erie.

And unfortunately it's not for a conditioning assignment or it would have been mentioned in the news release. So I guess he was sent down for underperforming.

It makes perfect sense too. The team is currently short on forwards so they send down a center and call up a defenseman.

I suppose since Arnason is about to come back it makes a forward expendable but what about T.J. Hensick? Or am I the only one unimpressed with Hensick's time with the big boys?

Wyatt Smith Put on Waivers

TSN is reporting that Wyatt Smith has been placed on waivers today. The reason for Richardson being demoted and recalled within couple days is now clear. They meant to put Smith on waivers but someone clicked on the wrong player name. It happens. By the time FG noticed the error, Richo was already on a plane to Cleveland so he figured he'd give him some time there to work on his game while resubmitting the waiver form for Wyatt Smith.

But seriously, this is likely what should have happened in the first place. Not that Wyatt Smith was a terrible fourth-liner by any means but Laperriere is coming back soon and I'd rather see McCormick and Guite stay in as the grinders than Wyatt Smith.

Smith's PK time dwindled over the last couple games as Guite/Richardson/Stastny/Hejduk carried the load and his overall ice-time started going downhill as well. He had a game low 6:34 against the Sharks last night which made me go "Hmm..." but I didn't want to jump the gun and claim shenanigans.

If no team claims him, he'll be off to Lake Erie which is where I expected him to start the year. Who knew Richardson would get injured and then toyed with like a yo-yo before making the roster full time?

And on a side note, the term "Wyatt Smith" is the most common player name popping up in the keyword stats for this site. Bizarre.

Avalanche Add Muscle, Recall McCormick

Cody McCormick has been called back up to the big club. In a move that can only be designed to add some muscle and toughness to the lineup, McCormick will rejoin the team with spark plug Ian Laperriere out for at least another week due to a knee injury.

At 6'3", 215lbs, he adds some size that the Avs desperately need. Aside from Parker, he's the biggest forward the Avalanche have on the roster at the moment.

Karlis Skrastins has also been activated from the IR after some shoulder troubles. To make room, Jeff Jillson was sent down after watching a couple games from the press box. It would have been nice to see Jillson in for at least one game but what can you do.

It's doubtful that McCormick will be in the lineup tonight but Skrastins will likely make his return. Draft Dodger thinks Cumiskey will sit and I doubt he's wrong. Clark and Sauer are the top pair, Finger is the guy who generates some physicality, Hannan is the shutdown/defensive roleplayer and Liles is the powerplay man.

Cumiskey is a Liles clone but with less experience so he could be finding his way back to Lake Erie soon. The Avalanche tend to enjoy having 7 d-men on the active roster with one watching from above though so he could stick around a couple more games.

UPDATE: Rather than sitting the Liles clone, Liles himself is the odd man out. Source: Rocky Mountain News

Avalanche Reassign Weiman

The Avalanche announced that they have reassigned Tyler Weiman to Lake Erie where he will take over as the starting goaltender.

Weiman saw only 10 minutes during his time with the big club where he stopped 10 shots in relief of Peter Budaj and looked solid.

His time will come but for now he'll head up the Lake Erie Monsters roster as they quest forth in their inaugural season.

Official Avalanche Roster for 2007/2008

The Avalanche roster is all but set in stone heading into opening night against Dallas on Wednesday. After sending T.J. Hensick and Mark Rycroft down to Lake Erie, they put Cody McCormick on waivers so they could send him down as well.

With those moves, the Avalanche have a roster of 24 players which includes the injured Jose Theodore and Brad Richardson. They won't need to be placed on the injured reserve, they will just not be activated before the season starts, which leaves the Avalanche with 22 active players.

Once those two are healthy, Tyler Weiman will find himself tending goal for the Monsters and Brad Richardson will battle it out with Wyatt Smith and Ben Guite for playing time. Or with Marek Svatos if he continues to crash and burn.

It looks like Sauer and Finger are going to compete for the 6th spot on defense. I'm still pulling for Finger to win that role but Sauer has been getting more ice-time. If Sauer gets the bulk of playing time in the end, I won't mind. As long as he is continually reminded that he is 6'4" and 220 lbs of bone-crunching size.

View the current 2007/2008 Avalanche roster