Colorado Opens Camp With Championship Mindset

When the 2020-21 Colorado Avalanche convened for the first time on Sunday for medical and physical testing, there weren't many introductions needed. Of the 39 players present at this year's training camp, only eight are new to the organization.
So when head coach Jared Bednar held his initial video session with his players on Monday morning, he didn't need to go too in-depth on how the squad plays or further define its identity. He jumped right into video of the club from last season and what it can do to improve as it prepares for the 56-game sprint of this year's regular season.
The goal is to put themselves in the best position to claim the Stanley Cup and after falling in Game 7 of the second round of the postseason in consecutive years, the Avs are motivated to get over the hump and raise the trophy.
That drive was clear to the Colorado bench boss after the first day of training camp at Family Sports Center.

"I liked our ice sessions a lot today. As you would expect, guys came out with good energy, lots of talk and chatter," Bednar said. "Little bit of a lengthy video session before we started, going over some of the system review and talked about a few things that we want to improve for next year and we wanted to make sure our habits were good from day one. I thought the guys went out and had real good purpose to their practice."
While the Avalanche didn't make a lot of roster moves during the offseason, the ones the club did make were strategic in adding necessary depth to help it reach its ultimate goal. The primary additions of defenseman Devon Toews and forward Brandon Saad came via trades, and the two players bring more offensive ability and two-way play to a team that already had plenty.
Nathan MacKinnon described the collection of players that Colorado has now put together for this upcoming season as "amazing."
"Our expectation is to win the cup, not just claw and scrape our way into the playoffs. That is what we are here to do," MacKinnon said. "It started today, and I thought we had a great practice today and got off on the right foot. Every day we are going to need to get a little bit better and come together as a group, play for one another, hold each other accountable. You know, we feel good. I think everyone's ready; everyone is in great shape. Pressure is obviously a nice thing to have."

Toews said the team's chemistry was what stood out for him after the first day, but he also sees a lot of similarities between the Avalanche and the 2020 Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. As a member of the New York Islanders last year, Toews went toe-to-toe with the eventual titleholders in the 2020 Eastern Conference Final before the Lightning eventually prevailed in six games.
"One-hundred percent this team has what it takes. I think it comes down to commitment through and through," Toews said of his new squad. "We've already gone through video of different things that happened over the last year, and I obviously wasn't here, but it's clear to me to see and translate that. I obviously saw different things that we (New York) did wrong against Tampa and things they did so well, and I feel like this team can do a lot of the same things Tampa can do."

There won't be any preseason games before the Avalanche opens the 2020-21 campaign on Jan. 13 against the St. Louis Blues, so the team only has seven practices over nine days to shake off four months of rust and get everyone back up to speed before jumping right into meaningful contests.
It's a similar situation to July when Colorado reconvened for the return to play training camp prior to the postseason after a similar four-month break due to the league's pause from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Avs focused on special teams and competitiveness through scrimmages in that camp, and Bednar will deploy a similar format for these preparations.
"We basically have a full team returning from last year. It's the same guys," Bednar said. "Not a lot is changing, we're going to tweak things here and there as we see fit, but for now I think it is very similar. Our camp is mostly setup the same way, get through our systems with video and reps in practice, get highly competitive and then we'll get some scrimmages in here. We're planning at least three scrimmages, plus three or four special-teams sessions all in the time before we break going into game one."

FIVE AVS DON'T PRACTICE

Forwards Gabriel Landeskog and Brandon Saad, defenseman Erik Johnson, goaltender Philipp Grubauer and AHL contract defenseman Keaton Middleton didn't participate on Monday. Jared Bednar says those players were "unfit to play."
"That's the new rule through the league. That's how I report it, they're 'unfit to play,'" Bednar said on Monday.
"I don't know what the protocols are or when they'll be back. They're unfit to practice today. Tomorrow I'll get news if they're fit or not."
The only player on Colorado's 40-man camp roster that didn't report is defenseman prospect Bowen Byram, who is currently co-captaining Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton, Alberta. He is expected to travel to Denver at the conclusion of the tournament on Tuesday.

DISPLAY ON DEFENSE

Bednar paired Cale Makar with Toews at Monday's practice and the defensive combination of the newcomer and the reigning Calder Trophy winner impressed their teammates.
"Right now it's Cale and Toews together, and it's already a lot of fun to play with them," said MacKinnon. "We just did 5-on-5 and end-zone things, and man, those two can move the puck in the O-zone. It was a lot of fun to play with. I think I noticed Toews with little quick wrist shots through traffic and that's going to be fun."
Toews said it's too early to see if the duo will play together long term, but they do complement each other nicely.
"We skate so well and we see the ice quite similarly," Toews said. "We can both jump up and create offense as well, but I think we defend, we're aggressive in the D-zone. We try to stop plays and stop pucks so we can go play offense, and I think that will kind of cater toward just working together and using our IQ to stop an opponent and get the puck into a playmaker's hands."

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Goaltender Pavel Francouz might have summed up the offseason acquisitions of Devon Toews and Brandon Saad perfectly: "They're both really good players and they'll be, I would say, the 'special spice' for this team."

ONE TIMERS

Nathan MacKinnon on the team's deep roster:
"It's great. It's nice to spread it out. We had injuries last season, and we still scored a ton of goals. We're definitely a very deep team. Guys are obviously great hockey players on this team and can play all throughout the lineup. You know we're very versatile, I think everybody can do different roles, and it's great to have that luxury. We haven't always had that here, and it's amazing what players we have this season."
MacKinnon on the team being focused on a championship:
"For myself and the whole team, we're motivated. You don't have many chances to win. Now I thought last year was a chance for us to win and here's another one. Two out of eight seasons for me that I really feel like there's a huge opportunity, and we need to do everything in our power not waste this and take advantage of the special group that we have."

Head coach Jared Bednar on mask wearing by the coaches and players this season:
"There is a sacrifice you have to make in order to do the greatest job in the world in my opinion, that's coaches of this team and playing for this team. All of our guys are willing to make some of those sacrifices in order to be able to continue to play and stay healthy, and hopefully get this season going and finish without any hiccups. It's just something that you have to do."
Bednar on mixing up line combinations to find the right fit in the right situation:
"Different matchups on different nights, we can move some things around, but it's all things we want to continue to explore like we did last year. It worked for us. During the regular season guys get injuries and guys have to be able to move around. You can't just get locked into one line because things are subject to change, especially in the short season."
Goaltender Pavel Francouz on his injury in last year's playoffs:
"It started before [the series with Dallas], and it was kind of building up and it just got to the point where I wasn't able to go to the net. For sure it was tough, especially during such a special time, but that's part of the game. I had enough time to recover well."
Devon Toews on improving throughout the season:
"The chemistry is there, and we just have to take that next step. We talked about it yesterday, just getting 5 percent better every day or 1 percent better every day. Just make those little gains every single day and know to trust in our process."