Avalanche training camp revisits classic battle between youth and experience

Training camps open up across the NHL tomorrow morning and with that, the Avs released their full roster of participants.

The 34-player roster has some interesting names included that will lead to an interesting two weeks of battling for spots in the pecking order when injuries inevitably hit during the postseason.

The Avs are slated to leave for the “bubble” in Edmonton on July 26, giving them just under two full weeks to figure out the three players they will cut from the roster above.

Injuries will always play a role in this but if the goalies, especially, are healthy, look for Colorado to go with a 28-skater roster with three goaltenders as Grubauer, Francouz, and Hutchinson have the clear inside tracks to be the guys to head to Edmonton.

The roster currently has a split of 18 forwards, 12 defensemen, and four goaltenders, leaving three players to get cut. I’ve been projecting the last two months the Avs would take 18 forwards so I’m not looking to cut any of them right now.

The major omissions from the forward group are Colin Wilson, who left practice one day and that appears to be the end of his Avalanche career as he is an unrestricted free agent this fall (that’s weird to say), and Martin Kaut, who saw success in a nine-game stint but because of his contract status was not invited to this camp as the Avs were not going to play him in his tenth game and start his ELC.

Without them involved, the top 11 forwards are pretty much set already and should look something like:

Landeskog – MacKinnon – Rantanen
Donskoi – Kadri – Burakovsky
Nichushkin – Compher – Namestnikov
Calvert – Bellemare

From there, things get interesting as both Matt Nieto and Tyson Jost will vie for the final forward spot. Nieto has been an ace penalty killer throughout his Avalanche career but Jost began taking up the role in the second half of the season and saw meaningful success.

Regardless of which one of those players who gets into the lineup, that’s 13 no-brainer forwards for them to take.

Vladislav Kamenev was their first man off the bench anytime there were injuries and disappoint a lackluster performance, he should still be ahead of the next group of players as the 14th guy.

After that, AHL studs who saw legitimate time with the Avs were Logan O’Connor and T.J. Tynan so it’s fair to assume they are roster locks and we’re up to 16 forwards.

Sheldon Dries, who saw more time last year than this, and Shane Bowers round of the forwards. Bowers is coming off an impressive rookie season in the AHL where he got better as the year went on and is being rewarded with this opportunity. If you were betting, though, Bowers would appear to be the forward most likely on the bubble should they decide to cut one of them.

That’s simply because of the experience Dries got with the Avalanche two years ago, though, and given the mediocre year Dries had most recently, I think there should be more of a conversation about Dries being the forward they leave behind if they cut a forward.

On defense, they have 12 players and should they happen to land on the 18F/10D alignment that I’ve suggested, that leaves two defenders on the chopping block.

It would seem safe to assume there are eight defensemen who are pretty much locks to head to Edmonton:

Girard – Johnson
Graves – Makar
Cole – Zadorov
Barberio – Connauton

From there, there’s a nice mixture of youth and AHL veterans to pick from. Top prospect Bowen Byram is here after he laid another whupping on the WHL.

Conor Timmins just finished a strong rookie year in the AHL, his first pro season after missing an entire year due to concussion issues.

The other two in the running are Jacob MacDonald, a guy who played a bunch of forward for the Eagles and signed an extension already, and Anton Lindholm, the only redeemable draft pick from the horror show that was Colorado’s 2014 draft class.

Just off the top, if you’re making the argument for bringing the most talented roster, Byram and Timmins are the runaway favorites among those final four. Both guys have very bright NHL futures and could end up as top-four defenders for the Avalanche shortly.

But this is where the argument for experience always comes into play. MacDonald had a great year and certainly deserves the look here but I’m struggling to see a justifiable reason to bring him over the likes of Byram or Timmins.

One factor with bringing Byram is that he has nine games to play until his ELC begins so if someone sustains a serious injury and they want to play Byram for multiple rounds, it will come at a cost. It could very well take up to three injuries to even get to Byram on the depth chart, let alone him getting into 10 games, but that’s a consideration here. Given the care they’ve shown with Kaut’s contract, I would be very surprised if this became an actual situation for the Avs.

The upside of bringing Lindholm is almost entirely about style. While Barberio, Byram, Timmins and MacDonald all present higher upside as puck-moving types, Lindholm is more of a traditional stay-at-home defender with a physical snarl to his game. If the Avs lose one or two of their more defensive-oriented players, bringing Lindholm along makes sense because he fills a niche the others do not.

That said, the Stanley Cup is the prize for winning this tournament. Even if there are crazy injuries (very possible given the 0-100 nature of this postseason format), would you rather go down swinging with a talented-but-green combination like Byram and Timmins? Or would you rather hope the magical elixir of experience is enough to overcome a talent deficiency and you get the most out of spot-duty from guys like Lindholm, MacDonald, or Connauton (who struggled a ton in the four NHL games he played)?

Experience isn’t irrelevant. It does matter. But if push comes to shove and a team is down multiple players at a position, when does talent win out? Should Byram, Timmins, and even Shane Bowers be punished simply for not being as old and experienced as some of the guys around them despite them having a higher upside and very likely a future in an Avs uniform in the near future?

Colorado has a chance to have its cake and eat it, too, if it wants. Even if none of these guys actually get into games, having Byram, Timmins and Bowers (O’Connor, too, to a lesser extent) around to experience the day-to-day intensity of the NHL postseason is only a good thing for their future.

Allowing them to just practice with the NHL club and live the atmosphere of what it takes to win the Stanley Cup can help prepare a cadre of youngsters who are expected to be impact players for the Avs sooner than later. If they get into games, that’s just fine, too.

This is the time to look to capitalize on the unique opportunity presented to them. Plan for tomorrow while you go chase the Stanley Cup today. How they manage this could play a role in determining what that tomorrow ultimately ends up looking like.