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Big line, Varly to play vs Vegas; Timmins finally gets on the ice |
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Rick Sadowski
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News and quotes from Avalanche camp Monday:
* Nathan MacKinnon and linemates Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen will be in the lineup Tuesday night when the Avalanche open preseason play against Vegas at the Pepsi Center.
Coach Jared Bednar also said that goalie Semyon Varlamov is scheduled to play the first two periods, to be followed by Spencer Martin.
Rookie Logan O’Connor, who signed from the University of Denver, will play on a line with J.T. Compher and free-agent signee Matt Calvert.
Defensemen Tyson Barrie, free-agent signee Ian Cole and Erik Johnson also will play.
A minimum of eight “veterans” – this gets pretty liberal – are required to play in preseason since fans are paying for these games. Bednar said prospects would fill out the remainder of the lineup.
“I like the way practices have gone so far and I’m looking forward to tomorrow night, seeing some of our young guys mix in with some of our veteran guys,” Bednar said. “I think our guys are excited to get going.
* Conor Timmins skated and shot pucks with fellow rookie defenseman Sergei Boikov following the Avalanche’s second group practice. Timmins is recovering from post-concussion symptoms, Boikov from a shoulder injury.
“Making progress, slowly but surely,” Bednar said.
* Forward Colin Wilson is looking forward to a comeback season of sorts after missing 26 games with various injuries his first season with the Avalanche. Acquired from Nashville for a 2019 fourth-round draft pick, he had 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in 56 games.
Wilson, 28, has one year left on his contract ($4 million salary, $3.9375 million cap hit, according to capfriendly.com) and will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.
“Last year was just an unlucky year,” said Wilson, who is one of Colorado’s biggest forwards at 6-feet-1, 221 pounds. “A lot of things didn’t go my way. At the same time I could have played a little bit better. I’m a power forward, need more reading the game well, a little more offensive creativity than I did.
“I have the chance to get the confidence up after being in and out of the lineup all the time. I’m definitely a veteran in here and I’m trying to keep a little more of that mentality, leading whenever anyone has any questions.”
Wilson played his first eight NHL seasons with Nashville, which made him a first-round pick (No. 7) out of Boston University in 2008. He had his best regular season in 2014-15 with 42 points (20 goals, 22 assists) in 77 games, his best postseason in 2016 with 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 14 games.
Wilson’s longest stretch last season without getting injured: 19 games, between Dec. 5 and Jan. 18.
“The problem with Wilson’s season last year was he was injured, he’d come back and start to play and his game would ramp up to a spot where I really liked it and where he was a real good player for us,” Bednar said. “Second line support, a big body guy, he plays through people, he’s hard on pucks and we need some of that. In a way we’re a smaller, quicker team and we need some of that size and strength.
“He’d get to the top of his game and then he’d have an injury again and then he’d be out rehabbing. He’d come back, build his game up and it was just kind of repeating. I know he did a lot of work this summer to try and stay healthy this season. I love the way he plays. He’s a big, strong guy, and that’s evident when you watch him practice against some of our younger guys that aren’t quite there yet from a size and strength standpoint.”
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