Lab #72: Give and Take

Cal Ritchie’s stock continues to rise as we approach training camp day one!

The 72nd installment of the Mile High Hockey Lab is available on your preferred Podcast platform! Training camp is just a few days away, and we have you covered heading into what should be an exciting camp. Will Gabe Landeskog return sooner rather than later? Does Pierre Edouard Bellemare’s PTO hurt Cal Ritchie and Oskar Olausson’s chances of making this year’s team? Let’s recap where these topics took us on our latest episode!

PEB on a PTO

The first topic discussed in this episode was Frenchman Pierre Edouard Bellemare’s return and what that might mean for other roster hopefuls in the Avalanche system. I wondered if this was a signing meant to aid some young guys in learning how to prepare as a pro, but Jackie Kay isn’t convinced. She and Evan Liu think he fits the 4C penalty-killing role perfectly. Ezra called it “putting a round peg in a round hole” and agreed that his ability to win faceoffs on the kill makes him a great fit. The question with PEB is if his 39, almost 40 years of age, will allow him to keep up with this Avalanche team.

Preseason hockey on deck

We finally have an actual hockey game to talk about, but what can be learned from preseason hockey? What should we focus on heading into the season? Time on ice is an excellent indicator of standing among the coaches, but so is not playing in certain matchups. Our panel agrees that optics are crucial for skating and passing ability early in the preseason.

What do you look for in the preseason as a barometer of success? Let us know in the comments.

‘Give and Take’ Young Guns Edition

We are introducing a new segment during this year’s training camp in which we will quantify how we view six bubble prospects throughout the four weeks leading up to the beginning of the season. We have chosen Cal Ritchie, Andrei Kovalenko, Oskar Olausson, Jean-Luc Foudy, Sam Malisnki, and Sean Behrens. Each week, each contributor will give points (-2,-1,0, 1,2) to each player to position them among each other, from most likely to make the team least likely. The week of votes is in, and here are the results:

#1 Cal Ritchie | 5 pts

#2 Oskar Olausson | 1 pts

#3 Jean-Luc Foudy | 0 pts

#4 Sean Behrens | 0 pts

#5 Sam Malinski | 0 pts

#6 Nikolai Kovalenko | -1 pts

I was surprised that Kovalenko had a minus one despite not having a chance to do anything with camp not quite underway, but that was Evan’s reason for deducting a point. All five other players in our study participated in the rookie faceoff and have been scored based on that. We should see his stock rise as the weeks go by, as he’s probably the most likely game-one roster player!

Bold Predictions

We ended the show as usual with our bold prediction of the week! Listen to the broadcast on your preferred podcast platform and see who earned a ding or a buzzer this week! Here’s Ezra Parter’s bold prediction:

Be sure to share your #BoldPredictions on X and in the comments here! We will discuss them on our show and give you any dings you might earn!

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Go Avs!