Avalanche Preseason Thoughts: Surprises and Disappointments

1 month ago  /  Mile High Hockey  /  Read Time: 2 minutes 29 seconds

Photo by Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images


The Avalanche may have dropped their preseason opener, but there were more pros than cons. The Colorado Avalanche kicked off their preseason with a 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars. Even for the first game of exhibition, there were some takeaways. Let’s discuss the surprises and disappointments.
Surprises
Cal Ritchie
Ritchie didn’t get off to a great start, but he improved steadily as the game went on. His skating isn’t quite there to be on the pro level, but we also saw the shades of brilliance that gives the young man great promise to have a successful career. Ritchie had opportunities to drive the puck all alone to the net, but instead, he thought bigger picture and came up with some creative opportunities to give his teammates a shot at making a play. The goal Ritchie scored was more of a fluke, but he put himself in a position to capitalize on the chance.
Ritchie was also a force in the faceoff circle and was defensively sound. Again, he’s not quite ready for the NHL level, but Ritchie is on his way.
Erik Brannstrom
Brannstrom, who signed a one-year contract for the upcoming 2024-25 season, was solid in his Colorado debut. The 5-foot-10, 185-pound defenseman was fast, his movement was imposing, and he was aggressive along the boards. Although he wasn’t particularly effective on the power play, I’m not going to harp too much on that. It was his first game with a new club; I was impressed overall.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
After a strong performance at camp, Bellemare put on a show. He won faceoffs, was strong defensively, and he didn’t overthink. As a longtime player myself, it’s so easy to try and get fancy. Bellemare was smooth and kept his game simple. It was particularly impressive from a 39-year-old on a PTO. As long as he continues to perform at this rate, he will earn a contract and a spot as a fourth-line center. The Avalanche certainly need the depth.
Matthew Phillips/T.J. Tynan
Team chemistry is a vital part of the game, and these two forwards were dynamic, which ended with a beautiful goal for Phillips off a slick pass from his counterpart. Aside from being a little bit older, Phillips, 26, and Tynan, 32, lack the size to compete at the NHL level. But if there’s a silver lining, they gel well together and will succeed as a unit elsewhere.
Disappointments
Oliver Kylington
I didn’t mention this during our roundtable, but I made a mental note during the first day of training camp: Kylington was off. He seemed a little slow out of the gate and prone to making mistakes. Unfortunately, that continued into the opening preseason game. You don’t want to be overaggressive, but in Kylington’s case, he wasn’t aggressive enough. He gave the Stars too much respect at his blueline. There seemed to be a lack of eagerness to get involved in the play and his failure to get pucks deep gave more opportunities for Dallas to capitalize. Kylington did miss the entire 2022-23 season and the first half of the 2023-24 campaign due to mental health issues, so it’s not entirely a surprise he had a bad first outing, but you still aim to make a good first impression. This wasn’t it.
Jacob MacDonald/Calle Rosen
These two were consistent but for the wrong reasons, in the turnover department. The Avalanche defense struggled throughout last season with cough-ups in their own zone and these two did not put up a good showing.
Upcoming
The Avs will face the Stars once again - this time down in Dallas on Friday night. Puck drop is at 6:00 p.m. MT. It’s a long season. Let’s embrace the chaos!
...

Read Full Article.