This is “absolutely” the deepest team the Avalanche have had since Jared Bednar became coach, he said during a Zoom call with the media on Sunday as training camp opened with physicals and medical tests.

Bednar also said “it’s great” that plenty of folks believe the Avalanche are a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

“I think we’ve earned that as a team,” he said. “I don’t think it’s something we should shy away from. I think last year we had those expectations, but it wasn’t (with) the outside pressure, outside expectations from around the league until we really got going as the year went on.

“Now, I think it’s a good thing. We want the pressure, we want to be considered one of the favorites.”

The ones you’ve been looking for 👀#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/WvNcjZWhMq

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) January 3, 2021

The Avalanche advanced to the Western Conference semifinals for the second year in a row last summer, losing to the Dallas Stars in seven games after falling to the San Jose Sharks in seven the year before.

Bednar said, as of Sunday, everyone is healthy. The Avalanche played Game 7 against Dallas without seven injured players, including goalies Philipp Grubauer (groin) and Pavel Francouz (hip, knee), captain Gabriel Landeskog (cut leg), and defensemen Erik Johnson (ankle, knee) and Conor Timmins (head).

Bednar said only Francouz needed what he called “minor surgery” to repair his injuries.

The 40-man camp roster will be divided into two groups. The main group for Monday’s first on-ice session at the Family Sports Center (no spectators permitted due to COVID-19 restrictions):

Lines:
Andre Burakovsky -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nazem Kadri -- Brandon Saad
Valeri Nichushkin -- J.T. Compher -- Joonas Donskoi
Tyson Jost -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Matt Calvert
Kiefer Sherwood

Defense:
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ryan Graves -- Ian Cole
Conor Timmins -- Dennis Gilbert

Goalies:
Philipp Grubauer
Pavel Francouz

Bednar said defenseman Bowen Byram, who is playing for Team Canada in the World Junior Championship tournament, will be given every opportunity to show what he can do.

“I do believe that he’s grown a lot in the short time that we’ve had him as a draft pick,” Bednar said of the No. 4 pick in the 2019 NHL draft. “Watching him play in the World Juniors, I think he’s getting better and better as the tournament goes on and the games get more important. He’s impacting the games in a positive fashion and I believe that he can do that for us.

“I think we’re going to have to get him in the lineup in NHL games and just see what he is able to do for us and kind of monitor him and see where his game goes. It’s no different than a couple of years ago when we got Cale Makar. If he does a good job, he’ll stay in. We may move him in and out as a depth piece to start and see where it goes. This is a gifted and a real special player.”

Here’s Bednar on the 56-game schedule with two-game series against each team in the realigned West Division:

“It’s interesting with a new set of challenges playing the same team back to back and in our case sometimes four times in a row. You can approach some of those situations almost like a playoff series, and we all know that being .500 isn’t good enough; splitting a series isn’t good enough in most cases.”

The Avalanche open regular-season play (no preseason games) Jan. 13 against the St. Louis Blues at Ball Arena (8:30 p.m. MT, NBCSN).



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