Six players will make their Avalanche debuts Thursday night in the season opener against Calgary at the Pepsi Center.

Nazem Kadri, who was acquired from Toronto on July 1 in the Tyson Barrie trade, heads the list. The others: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Andre Burakovsky, Joonas Donskoi, Valeri Nichushkin and Conor Timmins.

“It’s an exciting time,” coach Jared Bednar said after the morning skate. “With a new season comes new expectations, new hope for what’s to come. Players have been off for a long time, so they should be full of energy. Camp’s a little bit long, a little bit of a grind, and now we start playing games against real opposition.”

The Avalanche upset the Flames, who had the best record in the Western Conference, in five games in the first round of last year’s playoffs after losing all three regular-season meetings.

But it’s a whole new season, one Kadri is looking forward to in his role as second-line center.

“I think I respond best when under a little bit of pressure,” Kadri said. “It’s a lot different (than Toronto) in terms of being a little more laid back and fewer distractions. I think you can just focus on what you need to do on the ice, and that’s the way I like it. It’s a nice change of pace, the guys are great and I’m looking forward to the season.”

If there is one lineup surprise, it’s that Valeri Nichushkin has been given the nod over Colin Wilson. Bednar said he liked how the 6-4, 210-pound Nichushkin, who was a bust in Dallas, played in practices and preseason games.

Wilson was limited in camp after undergoing shoulder surgery in the offseason and also was bothered by a lower-body issue.

“Wilson, I just didn’t see enough,” Bednar said. “I have a lot of trust in Wilson built up over the last couple of seasons, he’s been an impact player the past couple of years. But just sneaking into one or two 5-on-5 practices and then playing one exhibition game wasn’t enough to get him in the lineup over Nichushkin tonight.”

Goalie Philipp Grubauer will make the first opening night start of his NHL career, Timmins will make his NHL debut and defenseman Cale Makar will play in his first NHL regular-season game.

The Avalanche are 15-5-3 in home openers since moving from Quebec in 1995, with a 13-4-2 record at the Pepsi Center.

The Flames have gone 0-8-1 in season openers since a 5-3 home win against Vancouver on Oct. 1, 2009.

The projected lineup:

FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost -- Nazem Kadri -- Andre Burakovsky
Matt Nieto -- J.T. Compher -- Joonas Donskoi
Matt Calvert -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Valeri Nichushkin

DEFENSE
Samuel Girard -- Cale Makar
Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson
Ryan Graves -- Conor Timmins

GOALIES
Philipp Grubauer
Pavel Francouz



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