Patrik Nemeth will make his preseason debut Monday night when the Avalanche visit Las Vegas to play the Golden Knights.

The 26-year-old defenseman, who underwent offseason shoulder surgery, is one of seven players in the lineup that I'd call “locks” to be on the roster for the Oct. 4 regular-season opener against Minnesota.

Nemeth will be paired with second-year man Samuel Girard, 20. Czech goalie Pavel Francouz, 28, who played the last three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League, will make his North American debut after signing a one-year contract in May. He's ticketed for the AHL Colorado Eagles.

“Shoulder wise, it’s good. There’s no issues with it,” Nemeth said after taking part in a morning skate at Family Sports in Centennial. The players who didn’t take the late afternoon flight to Las Vegas practiced in a second group.

“For me, I think my shoulder’s 100 percent," Nemeth said. "I haven’t felt anything from it, so it shouldn’t be any problem at all. I want to play hard, like it’s a regular-season game. I think that’s important.”

Defenseman Nikita Zadorov, who also had offseason shoulder surgery, is expected to play Wednesday against Dallas at the Pepsi Center.

“He should be fine too,” Nemeth said. Both players have been wearing regular jerseys in practice after putting on red non-contact jerseys the first week.

Nemeth, a 6-feet-3, 219-pound native of Stockholm, is participating in his first Avalanche training camp. He was claimed on waivers from Dallas last Oct. 3 and played in the season opener two days later against the New York Rangers.

“That was a bit of a weird scenario,” Nemeth said. “Here, there’s a lot of competition so you have to play well. That’s everyone’s goal tonight, to go out there and have a good game.”

Nemeth set all sorts of career highs last year: games (68), goals (the first three of his career), assists (12) and points (15). His plus-27 plus/minus figure was easily the Avalanche’s best and fourth among NHL defensemen. He had one assist in six playoff games.

Nemeth made his share of mistakes despite those numbers, but he signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract on Aug. 2 -- quite a raise from $900,000 – and has gotten praise from coach Jared Bednar.

“It’s his job to lose,” Bednar said earlier in camp, adding that Nemeth is especially valuable killing penalties.

Nemeth isn’t taking anything for granted. The Avalanche are deeper on defense than they’ve been in several seasons with Girard’s acquisition last year and the July 1 signing of free agent Ian Cole.

“The coaches evaluate you all the time, no matter if you have a secure spot,” he said. “You might have some more leeway, but you have to play well. It’s a lot of competition. For me, it’s competition every practice, every game.

“The memory is so short, so you always have to push it. Even if you were good or not last season, it’s kind of a clean slate now. But it’s definitely good to be healthy and good to go.”

Here’s the Avalanche lineup:

FORWARDS
Nieto-Soderberg-Bourque
Kerfoot-Compher-Kaut
Dries-Kamenev-O'Connor
Greer-Toninato-Kosmachuk

DEFENSE
Nemeth-Girard
Graves-Alt
Boikov-Lindholm

GOALIES
Francouz
Martin



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