Erik Brannstrom among Day 1 standouts of Avalanche training camp

The first day of Colorado Avalanche training camp opened today with two groups spanning four hours of ice time. The groups were split up as such:

The only addendums here are that Oliver Kylington did not participate as his gear was stuck in France and Ondrej Pavel was not listed at all after he was hurt during the Rookie Faceoff and will not participate.

There were a lot of new and familiar faces battling for jobs to watch, but one player who stood out to me with his skating was Erik Brannstrom, who played for the Ottawa Senators last year.

Brannstrom said he was surprised the Sens had decided to move on after expressing interest in extending him a qualifying offer that would have kept him there. Those plans changed the day before the free agent market opened, when Ottawa declined to bring the restricted free agent back and allowing him to sign wherever he wanted.

“I knew the day before free agency they weren’t going to re-sign me in Ottawa,” Brannstrom said. “It was pretty fast after that. Then Colorado called me early and really wanted me here, saw a good fit for me here. We saw a good fit, too, and thinking how Colorado played, saw a great fit for me in my game to take the next step in my career.”

“Fit” is the key component with Brannstrom coming to Denver as he seeks to rebuild his career after failing to make the kind of impact Ottawa envisioned when it made him the centerpiece of the Mark Stone trade back in 2019.

The interest in utilizing Brannstrom’s obvious skills was shared by his new head coach, Jared Bednar.

“His skillset and the way he wants to play, if he’s playing to the strengths of his game, that’s another guy for us that can get up and get in the play,” Bednar said. “He’s a good breakout guy, great skater, has the ability to produce off the rush or in the offensive zone.”

The primary area of concern in Brannstrom’s game is his in-zone defending. Standing at a generously-listed 5’10”, he’s a smaller defender who struggles with the physicality of the NHL game. Bednar confirmed this was the area he needs to see growth from Brannstrom in the coming weeks.

“Undersized guy, can he defend hard enough, play well enough on the defensive side of things? We’ve had a lot of undersized guys here before that seem to have been able to adapt and get the job done on the defensive side. I don’t why he couldn’t. We’ll go to work with him on his game and try to free him up to play our style and the way he wants to play and get up and down the ice, have some fun creating some offense. I think he’s a fit for our team.”

Colorado has been a haven for reclamation projects in recent years and Brannstrom is seeking to be the next in line. From what I saw today, his lateral agility will make the Avalanche, already one of the league’s elite transition teams, even better in that area.

On a lighter note, Brannstrom might be the first athlete I’ve ever heard say that his first couple of days adjusting to the altitude was “pretty bad, but now it’s pretty cool.”

Let’s get into some notes from Day 1.

Avalanche observations

• Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, in camp on a professional try-out, was his normal amusing self during the media session (see below), but on the ice he looked like a player who belonged. I wanted to see how the 39-year-old would handle the vaunted Avalanche pace and he did just fine, even excelling at times in a head-to-head matchup against Casey Mittelstadt.
• Alongside Bellemare was one of the players I thought was a true standout today in Jason Polin. Slotted at right wing, Polin continued his momentum from a strong Rookie Faceoff performance right into today. He was physical, battled hard, and showed a combination of tenacity and skill (he can wire a puck) that would seem to be an excellent fit in a fourth-line role. He is exactly the type of player who should be taking advantage of the openings in the forward corps to make an impression. Great start.
• Playing on Mittelstadt’s right wing was Nikolai Kovalenko, who had a strong day. He showed off strong skating and playmaking chops and had an instant chemistry with Mittelstadt that is worth noting. We were already keeping close tabs on Kovalenko coming into camp, but he had the kind of day that warrants further looks from the Avalanche coaching staff.
• On the opposite side of that fence is young Cal Ritchie, who hit the NHL wall a bit today. The Avs coaching staff threw a lot of stuff at him at once so it’s no surprise he struggled to handle all of it today.
• I obviously don’t spend much time watching the star players during training camp, but I couldn’t help but notice that Devon Toews was a downright menace throughout the second session. I loved that, but of course I did.
• I didn’t watch a lot of him, but what I did see of Ross Colton was noteworthy. He looked explosive.
• Sean Behrens is just too far down in a crowded defense to stand much of a chance to crack the NHL lineup right now, but I liked his day today. He looked confident and poised. His skating held up and his competitiveness always jumps off the ice. I absolutely love Colorado’s defensive depth right now.

Hear from the Avalanche themselves

We’ll be back on Day 2 for more videos, interviews, and podcasts so stay tuned!