Avalanche Roundtable: What should happen with Conor Timmins?

Let’s just straight into it today.

Conor Timmins is an exciting young prospect on defense with a bright future ahead of him. He’s weathered the storm of concussions that cost him an entire season of development and is coming off a strong debut season in pro hockey.

In a normal organization under normal circumstances, it would be a straight line to the NHL for him without much second thought. But the Avalanche find themselves in a unique position where they already have six NHL-caliber defensemen on the roster and the best prospect not already in pro hockey in Bowen Byram.

That leaves Timmins in kind of an odd position, especially with other young players such as Ryan Graves and Nikita Zadorov already in the NHL.

This is where we get to today’s topic: What happens next with Conor Timmins?

AJ: The more thought I’ve given this, the more I think the potential for bizarre scheduling could really benefit Timmins. If the AHL gets going sometime in the fall with the NHL roughly slated for a December-January start, Timmins would be in regular-season form when NHL training camp rolls around. With Bowen Byram probably leapfrogging him for an immediate NHL job, it might not be enough for Timmins to make the team a second straight year out of camp. That’s okay.

Where it could really benefit Timmins is if the AHL schedule finishes up and he can freely join the Avs during the second half of the season. Even if he’s not playing regularly, being part of another playoff run (assuming he’s part of the 28-skater roster that will compete for the 19-20 Stanley Cup) sets him up to transition to the NHL after that. It’s a longer development track than originally expected, but it might just be what was needed after his first pro season was derailed with the concussion.

Evan: I just have a hard time seeing Timmins outright winning a spot next year with a healthy blueline, even with Zadorov potentially out the door. Injuries can happen, but I don’t see it. I think the Avs will look at next year as being a huge developmental year for Timmins where he gets a little more ice time in the AHL, maybe a few call-ups for injuries, and steps in the year after when Cole’s deal expires. The Avs have been nothing but patient with Timmins, and I see that continuing.

Rudo: What happens immediately next? He sits around on the Avs 28 man roster and likely doesn’t play at all during the playoffs. After that is where the conversation begins.

With Zadorov already having one foot out the door in Colorado to make room for Byram, Timmins’s primary competition for the NHL roster next season is Ian Cole and Ryan Graves. In a perfect world, Timmins crushes training camp and earns an opening night roster spot as an aging Cole transitions into a 7th defenseman role. More realistic is Timmins splitting time with the Eagles giving the Avs another chance to take advantage of the close proximity of their AHL team on home stands. Timmins needs to get NHL games next year it’s just a question of how many can they give him and how many does he earn. Some form of a rotation with Cole and Graves is probably ideal with Timmins getting the lion’s share in the second half of the year if he plays well. That’s my hope but that may even be a bit optimistic; we may not see Timmins really transition into an NHL player until the 2021-22 season.