The Colorado avalanche announced today that they have demoted defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and center Mike Carmen to Lake Erie of the American Hockey League.

Both players played well in their stint and showed a the coaches some different looks but ultimately were not able to make the roster.

For Shattenkirk, he showed good offensive instincts but also some panic in the defensive zone. While he won't get much bigger, he will have to get stronger and make faster decisions. He should be one of the first call-ups if an injury should come to one of the defensemen.

With the return of Cumiskey, it was too much to think Shattenkirk would be given a real look since they both play the same game, though Shattenkirk not as speedy.

As for Carmen, he was fitting nicely into an NHL fourth line gritty role. It will be interesting to see how he develops as a player.

Now, with these cuts, the defensive battle is between Colby Cohen, Shattenkirk's former teammate at Boston University, and Jonas Holos, a standout for the Norway Olympic team.

Unless they keep both of them and demote a player like Ryan Wilson, Holos is probably the favorite for the job. He can play a solid positional game and is good at keeping the puck out of high-scoring areas. Right now, though, the real heat is on Ryan Wilson and Kyle Cumiskey. If either of them falter, they know there is a player in the wings just waiting for his chance.

As for the forward battles, the Avs still have Ryan Stoa, Kevin Porter, Mark Olver, Patrick Bordeleau and Philippe Dupuis battling for the remaining two roster spots. Because he can fight (and really well) Bordeleau could stick around, maybe even pushing David Koci off this team. Otherwise, his two-way play probably has Olver ahead of the other two. Olver just thinks a very intelligent game, one that Sacco knows and loves.

Stoa still doesn't play consistent enough to play at the NHL level, Porter turns the puck over too much and Dupuis doesn't move his feet enough, preferring to use his stick more, though his physical, grinding game probably will give him bonus points.

Two games left for the Avs to figure it all out and then, a week from tomorrow, the season starts for real.

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