Well the 2010 Colorado Avalanche training camp is complete and the Burgundy & White game is actually happening right now in Brookfield, CO. If I didn’t live in New York I would most definitely be attending this game. I thought I would take a look at the prospects I talked about in my last post: Kevin Shattenkirk, Colby Cohen, and Stefan Elliot. I have decided to throw in a little bit about Jonas Holos as well since Billy made a comment about him last week.
Kevin Shattenkirk was probably the guy that I heard the most about during camp. There were a lot of tweets about his play during scrimmages and his name popped up in a lot of articles and blogs I read last night and this morning. Here is hwat I learned about Shatty:
- He isn’t afraid to go into the corner where he usually wins the battle and emerges with the puck in his possession.
- He is great at passing , but typically makes the safe easy play instead of taking a chance to send a forward on a quick break.
- Occasionally out of position on the defensive zone.
- Mishandled a few passes back to the point that cost the team offensive possession.
Colby Cohen was the most offensive defenseman in camp tallying a goal and two assists, but his defensive ability seemed to be an issue. Obviously, having issues playing in his own zone is a gigantic hurdle standing between Cohen and his dream of playing for an NHL club. Here’s a little on Cohen:
- His shot from the point is, as expected, an absolute rocket and something the Avs are desperately in need of on the blue line.
- Most consistent through both days of camp, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing because he struggled in his own zone at times.
- Cohen was paired with Liles and the two worked really well together. Liles got caught pinching a few times, but Cohen was there to back him up just like he should have been.
I searched everywhere to find information on Stefan Elliot, but routinely came up short. the only place I was able to find anything about his play was on the Colorado Avalanche Scrimmage Recap article. Here is what I gathered from that.
- He got lit up by Justin Mercier in Day 1
- Duchene skated around him like a pylon in Day 2, but his partner Kevin Montgomery broke up the 2-on-1.
You win some and you lose some and I guess I was way off by predicting Elliot might have a shot of making the team. With that said a reader (Billy) commented on last week’s article about Jonas Holos who I failed to mention. I decided to throw him into this article and see how his first NHL training camp went. Everyone likes Holos’ chances of making the team, and he helped support this cause by having a decent camp.
- Very positionally sound player.
- Made a lot of good decisions with the puck.
- He is a big kid and uses his body well which was displayed when Chris Stewart was barreling down on him and Holos stopped him dead in his tracks.
- It took nearly two full scrimmages until Holos won a battle for the puck in one of the corners.
- Hasn’t adjusted to the speed of the game and made a few poor decisions when under pressure because he did not have as much time to make a play as he thought.
Based on what I have read and posted above I would have to say it is pretty much a toss up between Shattnekirk, Cohen, and Holos as to who makes the team out of camp. There are still six preseason games for these three players to prove they are ready to step up and play in the National Hockey League. They have to go out there and work hard and prove to the coaching staff that they belong in the NHL. The preseason commences tomorrow evening (Tuesday September, 1st) in St. Louis and wraps up a little more than a week later at home against the Dallas Stars. I’m sure during the preseason players will be cut and the guys with the best shot at making the team will play all the way through until September 30th with the final cuts being made sometime soon thereafter.
As was previously mentioned tonight is the Burgundy & White game. Shattenkirk, Cohen, and Elliot are all playing for the White team, while Holos is on the Burgundy roster. One player who I noticed was not on either roster was Greg Mauldin who had an excellent camp. Head over to Put It On Ice to read more about Mauldin and other Colorado Avalanche prospects.
