Avalanche Utilizing Late-Summer Development Camp

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--The 2021-22 season officially began for many of the Colorado Avalanche's prospects on Sunday morning with the first day of on-ice work at the team's annual development camp.
The Avs' 28-player roster consists of prospects, rookies, amateur tryouts and players on American Hockey League contracts like it does every summer, but this year's camp is much closer to the fall, coming less than two weeks before main training camp as opposed to the beginning of July.
Colorado's development camp is traditionally held in the weeks following the NHL Draft, allowing the new members of the organization to become familiar with the club and get to see the Denver area. Hosting the camp closer to the rookie tournament and the start of the season this year allows the development staff more time to work with the prospects before they are practicing with the veterans at the team's main training camp.

"The significance is huge having this little development camp before our rookie camp," said director of player development Brian Willsie. "Generally, the rookie camp is very short, and we go right into the rookie tournament, so we don't get a lot of time to go over content. So these three days we are really just going over habits, characteristics, things we do here in Colorado and how the Avalanche play.
"A lot of them haven't been exposed to any of this, even some of our draft picks from years ago--someone like Jean-Luc Foudy--hasn't even been here. It's great that we get this time with them, get them exposed and they are receiving it well, so we are excited to be able to have this."

The Avs couldn't hold a development camp in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so this year's installment is the club's first since July 2019. Of the 28 players participating, 12 were drafted by Colorado in recent years. Oskar Olausson is the only member of the 2021 draft class while two players selected in 2020 are also partaking (Justin Barron, No. 25 overall; Jean-Luc Foudy, No. 75).
There are also five players that the Avalanche selected in 2019 (Bowen Byram, No. 4;
Alex Newhook
, No. 16; Alex Beaucage, No. 78; Sasha Mutala, No. 140; Trent Miner, No. 202), two from 2018 (Justus Annunen, No. 64;
Sampo Ranta
, No. 78) and one each from the 2016 (Nate Clurman, No. 161) and 2017 classes (Nick Henry, No. 94).
All of the prospects were split into small groups based on position with the forwards and defensemen also being divided into two units. Goaltender Annunen ran drills with the first set of skaters on the ice while netminders Peyton Jones and Miner practiced with the second session.
"We were impressed as a group. They had a great day yesterday off the ice, the fitness testing was really well done by everybody, and then on the ice today," said Willsie. "I don't think there were any individuals that stood out, I think we were just happy with the group as a whole. They had a good skate, about an hour and a half on the ice and everybody is in top shape. Usually, we get them in July and they are in their mid-summer form and this time of year they are at the top of their game so it's exciting for us to see."

LOOKING AHEAD

The prospects will practice in the small groups again on Monday morning before getting on the ice for a full-squad session on Monday afternoon. Tuesday will be highlighted by a 3-on-3 scrimmage at 6 p.m. MT at Family Sports Center.
The young players will have an off-day on Wednesday before a full-squad practice on Thursday. The team is then set to head to Arizona for the 2021 Rookie Faceoff, hosted by the Coyotes. The Avalanche rookies will play three exhibition games over the course of four days, Sept. 17-20, at Ice Den Scottsdale. The squad opens the Arizona Rookie Faceoff versus the Kings on Friday, Sept. 17 at 4 p.m. MT and then plays the Ducks on Sunday, Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. MT. The Avs close the exhibition on Monday, Sept. 20 with a 10 a.m. MT game against the Sharks. All games will be streamed on ColoradoAvalanche.com.
Camp practices at Family Sports Center will be open to media, and fans can also attend on a first-come, first-served basis.

QUOTABLES

Defenseman Bowen Byram on his health:"I am feeling good. I feel great, better than I've felt in a long time. It was good to have some time off in the summer to make sure all my injuries got taken care of properly and I was 100 percent going into the season. It was definitely some time that I needed just to kind of reboot my system, but I feel great now and I am ready to go."

Forward Oskar Olausson on his first practice with the organization: "It was tough, I have to adapt to the altitude. It's tough now in the beginning and I haven't been on the ice for one and a half weeks, but it's nice to compete and do it again."

Director of Player Development Brian Willsie on Oskar Olausson participating in camp:"We are super excited to have him here at camp. Having the development camp this late we obviously lose out on our NCAA prospects and our European prospects, but to be able to sign him and get him in this and to expose him to what we are all about, our habits, our characteristics, the way we play the game. Just to get him in here and not having a development camp after the draft it, is a huge advantage for him and just for us to get eyes on him. Where he lands after training camp remains to be seen."