Fans at Family Sports were given a nice treat that I don’t think they’ve received yet in the Jared Bednar era – a training camp scrimmage. Since taking over the Avalanche in 2016, it’s been mostly drill work and conditioning during camp, but this year has been a little different and fans were the beneficiary on Saturday.

In order to have a scrimmage, there were some changes with the groups, and while some of the lines stayed together, Bednar put together some new combinations. The biggest change found Calum Ritchie on the wing of Casey Mittelstadt, and in my opinion, he looked a little more comfortable. Mittelstadt is very good at creating space for himself and his linemates with his IQ, and the two of them seemed to work well together.

Bednar said it’s still early to say how he stacks up against NHL talent, but they want to give him opportunities in camp to show he belongs.

“I’m trying to put him with some of the more talented guys on the ice,” Bednar said. “Today, it’s Mittelstadt. They think the game similarly, they play a give-and-go game, they’re good passers. He got a little bit of a break from playing center today, playing the wing, which would be new to him. Trying to get him reps against top competition, guys like MacK, Mikko, I think is good for him.”

One guy who caught the eye of the coach again was Nikolai Kovalenko. For the second straight day, he put his body on the line and laid down to block a shot, this time in the scrimmage. He took Erik Brannstrom’s shot off his left foot, and everyone on both benches went wild. A few minutes later, he caused some havoc on the forecheck by himself, outworking a few defenders to take the puck away from Sam Girard. Once he got the puck, he fed Ross Colton in the slot, who found the back of the net on a nice move to his forehand.

When asked if players can make an impression now that sticks in his head, Bednar was quick to bring up the 24 year old Russian.

Beware…this is a long quote.

“In this league, you’ve got to earn it every day, but I’ll use this one player as an example,” he said. “I thought Kovalenko was outstanding. Yesterday, he scored as many goals as probably the whole rest of the group combined just in competitive drills and 5-on-5 drills, put a lot of pucks in the back of the net, did some good things. Comes out for the scrimmage today, I can see some areas of weakness that I want to talk to him about, but he was also outstanding again. Big shot block, couple really good forechecks, one creates a turnover, leads to Colton’s goal. Those things, I’m not going to forget about. Now, he’s going to have to continue to earn it every day, but I would say, just based on the last couple of days, we’re 3 days in, that he has a leg up on some guys, because he’s showing you flashes of things that I think he can in regular season. Now, if he dropped off a cliff here in the next couple days and someone else elevated, you’ve got to take that into consideration…we’re starting on Monday, we’re going to do some special teams tomorrow, he’s earning himself a spot in exhibition games. If he plays well, then he’ll get more exhibition games.”

When asked about that blocked shot, Bednar said he certainly remembers that stuff and his teammates will too.

“We’ve talked about our d-zone coverage and some of the sacrifices you’ve got to make, and that was an obvious one,” he said. “He’s getting out, and he could have just let the shot go through to the net, but if he’s shown he’s willing to do it on a day 3 scrimmage, then I’m sure he’s going to be willing to do it when regular season starts.”

Other Takeaways

• It was a slower first two days for Ross Colton but he was very noticeable in the scrimmage. His goal was a thing of beauty, as he put it between his legs to his backhand, then quickly took it to his forehand to beat Annunen on the blocker side.
• Sam Girard did lose the puck to Kovalenko on the lone Team White goal, but he made a great play to Cale Makar on Team Blue’s only goal, hitting Makar backdoor. Those two have spent a lot of time together in camp.
• I continue to be impressed by Erik Brannstrom. For a smaller guy, he uses a pretty long stick and uses it to his advantage.
• The other winger with Mittelstadt and Ritchie was Oskar Olausson, and I can’t say I’ve come away terribly impressed. He sticks to the perimeter a lot, which led to a lot of one-and-done shots that Annunen was able to gobble up pretty easily. He’s a shooter, and shooters have to shoot, but that’s about all we’re seeing right now.
• I just continue to be blown away by Mittelstadt’s pure skill. He’s very good at slowing the game down to his pace and that’s very difficult to do against good players.
• If Jason Polin doesn’t make the team out of camp, he’ll likely be one of the first call-ups. He’s one of those guys who understands that he’s not going to be a goal scorer at the NHL level like he was in the NCAA, and he’s adjusted because of that. The Avalanche are giving him a good look.
• After practice, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare met at center ice with all of the centers on the team and gave them pointers in the face-off circle. He had long chats with Parker Kelly and Ritchie, two guys who he’s probably competing with for a job.
• Both goaltenders played really well, but Alexandar Georgiev was unbeatable in the shootout. Miles Wood was the only Avalanche skater to score, beating Annunen on a backhand move.