Avalanche finalize opening night roster, set lineup

The Colorado Avalanche announced their final roster moves in sending forward Dennis Everberg to San Antonio, signing forward Jack Skille to a one year contract, and placing forward Jesse Winchester on Injured Reserve in order to reach the 23-man opening night roster. Forward Borna Rendulic also is staying with the Avalanche and will likely play on Thursday against the Minnesota Wild as the Avalanche open their 20th season in Denver.

The lines used today in practice will likely be the ones seen on opening night. They were constructed as such:

Blake Comeau – Matt Duchene – Jarome Iginla
Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Alex Tanguay
Mikko Rantanen – Carl Soderberg – Borna Rendulic
Cody McLeod – John Mitchell/Mikhail Grigorenko – Jack Skille

Francois Beauchemin – Erik Johnson
Nate Guenin – Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov – Nick Holden
Brad Stuart – Brandon Gormley

Semyon Varlamov
Reto Berra

Based on quotes after practice, Roy has indicated Grigorenko will be the extra forward on opening night and he has not decided who the defensemen will be. He indicated Beauchemin, Johnson, Guenin, Barrie, and Zadorov were expected to play but the sixth defenseman has yet to be determined.

It’s an interesting lineup and one that features five forwards and three defensemen new to the organization. There are a few interesting things to note about the lineup. The Guenin-Barrie pairing is the only returning pairing from last season and comes with plenty of questions. The Avalanche spent significant resources in the off-season to bolster the left side of the defense only to run out the retread Guenin, who is naturally a right-handed defensemen who played the right side before being paired with Barrie, is a curious decision.

Rantanen making the roster makes him the fifth Avalanche player to make the team at 18 years of age, joining teammates MacKinnon, Landeskog, Duchene, and former Av Ryan O’Reilly. His switch to left wing is always interesting because he was drafted as a right wing, Colorado’s weakest position organizationally, and they chose to play Tanguay, a natural left wing (though he’s played everywhere in his career), Rendulic, and Skille on the right side instead of Rantanen. Rantanen effectively takes the wing spot from Grigorenko, who was moved off center after the second preseason game.

The last big difference to my eye is the remade bottom six forward grouping that sees Rantanen, Soderberg, Grigorenko, and Skille. The depth of the forwards was an enormous issue last season and the Avalanche went to great lengths to address it. Mitchell was the left wing alongside Matt Duchene at the end of last season and he opens as the center of the fourth line. That alone speaks to the work done to improve the quality of the depth brought in.

While the issues on defense are likely going to make or break the Avalanche, there’s still plenty to get excited about with this roster as the season is set to get underway.