Cut trio could be back with Avs shortly
By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published October 7, 2008 at 10:10 a.m.
"We have a lot of young guys who had really good camps and showed they can play. Unfortunately, some were sent down, but that's a good sign for our organization that we had a lot of guys for a lot of spots. That's good in a long season."
Adam Foote, Avalanche defenseman, on Tuesday's final roster cuts.
2 active NHL players have posted a hat trick in the opening game of the season. One of them is Avalanche center Paul Stastny, who scored three goals in a 4-3 win against Dallas in last year's opener. The other is former Avalanche forward Teemu Selanne, who scored three goals for Winnipeg on Oct. 6, 1993, against Washington.
Drew on the NHL
Scores and statistics
The Avalanche made its final roster cuts Tuesday.
But if last season's rash of injuries is repeated, those players' farewell will be less a goodbye than a "see you later."
Beating the league deadline to reduce the opening day roster to 23 players by a day, the Avalanche assigned forwards T.J. Hensick, Brian Willsie and Per Ledin to the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League.
The Avalanche starts the season Thursday against Boston at the Pepsi Center.
On Tuesday, coach Tony Granato maintained that no mater who wound up at Lake Erie, they likely would get a chance to contribute during the upcoming season, a lesson learned all too painfully during last season's injury epidemic.
"It's not the easiest thing. You lose sleep over it sometimes," Granato said. "There are guys that probably deserve to be on your hockey team that aren't going to be at the start of the year. But the other thing you look at is, you look at last year and how many players we used during the season that we needed to from an injury standpoint, from a depth standpoint.
"You realize that even though the guys that aren't here to start the season, or aren't on your opening-night roster, are still big parts of your team.
"That's the benefit and that's the thing we can hang our hats on as coaches. We know if we do run into the injury bug, or if we do need somebody from the minors to come up, we've got plenty of guys that are capable to jump right in and make an impact."
Hensick suffered a scratched cornea during the Avalanche's preseason game Friday against Chicago and did not make the trip to the preseason finale Sunday in Chicago.
Hensick practiced without restriction Tuesday and is cleared to play for Lake Erie.
Last season, Hensick posted six goals and six assists in 33 games with the Avalanche, including the playoffs, and posted 12 goals and 33 assists in 50 games with Lake Erie.
Willsie signed as a free agent in July and spent the past two seasons with Los Angeles. The forward recorded four goals and eight assists in 53 games last season.
Ledin was signed out of the Swedish Elite League in July and will be competing in his first pro season in North America.
Fresh start
Granato is set to begin his second stint as Avalanche coach, and he said fans might not discern too much difference in the team's style from last season.
But Granato has been encouraging improvement in the squad's energy and enthusiasm.
"The thing that we'll use is our speed and our skill," Granato said. "As far as the differences in systems, there are some adjustments we made.
"But we had a darn good system in place. We didn't have to make a whole lot of changes from that standpoint.
"But I think the . . . energy, I think the work ethic, we can be more consistent in those areas. I think the style of team we have now with the personnel will allow us to play that way."
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