Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic is expected to begin interviewing candidates soon for the head coaching position vacated Aug. 12 by Patrick Roy.

The Denver Post reported that potential replacements include New York Rangers associate coach Scott Arniel, Cleveland Monsters coach Jared Bednar, Utica Comets coach Travis Green, and Washington Capitals assistant Lane Lambert.

Arniel, 53, has been the Rangers associate coach the past three seasons. He went 45-60-18 in parts of two seasons as coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who fired him 46 games into the 2011-12 season. He was Manitoba Moose coach in the AHL for four seasons and spent one season with the Chicago Wolves.

Arniel, a left wing, played 11 seasons in the NHL with Winnipeg, Buffalo and Boston, most recently in 1991-92. He had 149 goals and 189 assists in 730 games. Arniel's final eight professional seasons were spent in the minors.

Bednar, 44, was a defenseman during a nine-year, minor-league career. He played for the Anaheim Bulldogs in Roller Hockey International in 1995. He coached Lake Erie -- now Cleveland, the Blue Jackets' AHL affiliate -- to the league championship last season. The Monsters went 43-22-11 in regular-season play. The Avalanche earlier this summer hired Monsters assistant Nolan Pratt, another defenseman.

Bednar retired as a player in 2001-02 with the South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL. He was a Stingrays assistant for five years, head coach for two, and guided them to the league championship in 2008-09. He was Peoria Rivermen coach in the AHL for two years, and an assistant for two years with Springfield before being named Falcons head coach in 2014-15.

It isn't a coincidence that Arniel and Bednar have Blue Jackets ties. Avalanche assistant GM Chris MacFarland spent seven seasons with Columbus.

Green, 45, has been Utica's coach the past three seasons; the Comets are Vancouver's AHL affiliate. He was head coach of the Portland Winterhawks' WHL championship team in 2012-13 when they went 37-8-2. A center in his playing days, Green played 14 NHL seasons with the New York Islanders, Anaheim, Phoenix, Toronto and Boston. He had 193 goals and 262 assists in 970 games.

Lambert, 51, has been an assistant with Washington the past two seasons, which followed three seasons as an assistant with Nashville. He was the Milwaukee Admirals head coach for four years in the AHL. A center in his playing days, Lambert had 58 goals and 65 assists in 283 games in five NHL seasons with Detroit, the Rangers and Quebec (where he was a Sakic teammate). He played parts of eight seasons in the minors, most recently with the Houston Aeros in the IHL in 2000-01.

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The Avalanche will play host to a three-day rookie tournament with Anaheim and San Jose on Sept. 17-19 at the Ice Centre at the Promenade in Westminster, Colo. Each team will play two full games during the round-robin event, facing each opponent once.

The Avalanche will play the Sharks on Saturday, Sept. 17, and the Ducks on Sunday, Sept. 18. The Ducks and Sharks will play Monday, Sept. 19.

The rosters will be announced closer to the event. Admission is free and open to the public.

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The Avalanche earlier signed forward Ben Smith to a one-year, two-way contract that would pay $675,000 in the NHL. Smith, 28, is 5-feet-11 and 199 pounds. He had 2-4-6 in 16 games with Toronto last season, no points in six games with San Jose.

Chicago's sixth-round pick (No. 169) in the 2008 NHL draft, Smith has 27-23-50 in 197 games covering parts of six seasons. He has 7-2-9 in 27 playoff games and won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2012-13.



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