Hockey is back! — sort of… The Colorado Avalanche hosted the Dallas Stars on Monday night at Ball Arena for the first of their six 2024-25 preseason games. In what turned out to be a pretty bad game of hockey, the final second were interesting as the Avs lost on a buzzer beating shot by Stars defenseman Lian Bichsel. Dallas won the game, 3-2 with literally 0.1 seconds left.

Now, we know losing isn’t fun, but the wins and losses truly don’t matter much here in the preseason. Instead, lets cover what does matter and what we can breakaway from this game:

Calum Ritchie was impressive

The brightest spot for the Avs in this game from a skater perspective was the play of Calum Ritchie. He had so many impressive plays and scoring chances, and had a wonderful primary assist on the power play when Jayson Megna put the Avs up 2-1 in the 2nd period.

Ritchie played right wing on a line with center Jean-Luc Foudy and left winger Oskar Olausson, and although the line got off to a slow start, Cal got stronger as the game went on. He was often the best player on the ice in the Rookie Face-Off tournament a little more than a week ago and he continued that play into the preseason, as he was the Avs best player Monday night. If he continues this impressive playmaking ability, he should get the nod to at least play those first nine games of the regular season before the Avs would have to make a decision to send him back to juniors or not.

From what I have seen so far, I truly feel that he will get a fair shot at making the Avs opening night roster, especially since they are currently down three top-six wingers in Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen. And if he makes strides, Ritchie could be a darkhorse for the Calder Trophy this year if he ends up playing along all of the stars here in Colorado.

Annunen solid in net

Justus Annunen comes into the 2024/25 season as the Avs backup goaltender, and he’s looking to build on a solid rookie season by becoming that reliable option for the Avs and prove he truly is the starting goaltender of the future. “Juice” was very solid in the first half of this game, stopping 14 of the Stars 15 shots on goal before handing over the net to Trent Miner right around the 10 minute mark of the 2nd period.

It was great to see Justus focused to start this game. The Avs are truly in a great position with his development at the right time. They did not need to go out and spend extra cap space on a backup goaltender, as they have full on faith in Annunen to be the guy to backup Alexandar Georgiev this season. I think Annunen is good enough already that they should seriously consider giving him more starts than they are used to giving their backup, as Georgiev could benefit from being more fresh heading into the playoffs. Georgiev has started 62 and 63 games in his first two seasons here in Colorado. If Annunen plays well, I would like to see him get 25-30 starts, leaving Georgiev to only 50-57 starts. A more rested Georgiev could pay off huge for the club later on down the road.

Brannstrom-Kylington, Behrens-MacDonald pairings looked good

The Avs have a number of newcomers on the roster this season, including defensemen Erik Brannstrom and Oliver Kylington. Jared Bednar put them together on the opening night of preseason as the top pairing and they had a good showing in their debut in Avs sweaters. Both showed off their quick feet, transitions and great puck skill. It was good to see a little bit of feistiness to Brannstrom’s game in the corners and in front of the net. He’s not afraid to go after anyone and is often the first to get to the puck. His stick skills and smooth transition game are great to see when back checking and covering on the rush. Kylington was quick to make good decisions with the puck and get it to the playmakers on the ice as soon as possible.

Sean Behrens looked pretty good as well, and seemed to be a great fit paired with the veteran Jacob MacDonald (who is back with the Avs organization!). With the additions of Brannstrom, Kylington and Calvin de Haan, as well as Sam Malinski likely being a full-time member of the roster, there isn’t much room for Behrens at the NHL level yet… so he could play a ton of minutes with the Eagles in the AHL, and MacDonald would be a tremendous partner for him to develop with this season.

Could Nikita Prishchepov be a 7th round steal?

Perhaps the player that was most unknown for everyone out there Monday night was #85, forward Nikita Prishchepov. Nikita was the Avs 7th round pick in this summer’s 2024 NHL Draft, and because of his age (20) and situation playing in the QMJHL instead of his native Russia, he is getting a chance to showcase his game to the Avs right away this training camp and preseason.

Prishchepov still looks like a raw player at the NHL or even AHL level, and played the least amount of ice time than any Avalanche skater, but in the 11:03 he did play, he had some moments that stuck out. He played on a line with newcomers Matthew Phillips and TJ Tynan, whom we will mention below, and after an early penalty in the game, he settled into the game nicely and even had a few surprising scoring chances. He’s a lanky skater, but if he fills in a bit and continues to develop, he could be a solid two-way, bottom-6 forward at the NHL level within a few seasons. It will be interesting to see if he is sent back to his junior team in Victoriaville for a final season or if the Avs feel like he’s ready for the AHL already.

TJ Tynan is back, and he has a new little friend in Matthew Phillips

Tynan is back for a second tour of duty in the Avalanche organization, as he is a part of three the three returning members that the team brought back, along with Jayson Megna and Jacob MacDonald. They were all fan favorites with the Eagles during their previous stays, and they are all back to be the new leadership group for the Avs AHL affiliate this season.

Tynan showed off his skill in this game, and he did it alongside Prishchepov and another new face, Matthew Phillips. The duo of Tynan and Phillips was fun to watch, as they are both below-average sized forwards that carry a ton of quickness and puck skill.

Colorado’s first goal was scored when Prishchepov stole the puck away from a Dallas defender in the corner, fed it to Tynan behind the net, who then one-touched a pass out to Phillips back door. It was a very fast paced, pretty goal that leveled the game at 1-1 late in the 1st period. This group played well together all night, and I would expect Phillips and Tynan to at least stay together heading into the Eagles’ regular season, unless one of them proves enough to make the Avs opening night roster.

Keaton Middleton isn’t an NHL defenseman

It wasn’t all good for the Avs in this one, as there were definitely some players that struggled. Keaton Middleton did not look good, as the giant 6’5” defenseman had 4 giveaways, including a dangerous one right in front of the net. He looks a little lost at times in his own zone, and doesn’t bring anything to the table offensively or on the rush. He’s your typical stay-at-home, body checking AHL defenseman. Middleton has appeared in only 3 regular season games and with was back in the 2020-21 season for the Avs. Colorado would be in deep injury or roster trouble if they ever need to suit him up for a regular season NHL game ever again. He had one solid hit on a Stars player in the corner that got the fans’ attention, but other than that he wasn’t a factor. However, I wouldn’t be shocked if he stays around and plays in most of the remaining preseason games to have an enforcer on the ice and to make sure not too many of the important defensemen are in the lineup for these meaningless games.

Jean-Luc Foudy left something to be desired

Avs fans are wondering when this kid will ever take that next step. Foudy has incredible wheels and has had a few sparks in his couple of games in the NHL to this point. But it’s the consistency that has killed his chances. Maybe if the Avs were back in the mid 2010s when they were not a contender, a guy like Foudy would just get thrown into the lineup and try and develop that way… but the roster and lineup spots are too important to head coach Jared Bednar to mess around with the inconsistencies a young forward like this can bring.

Even in this game, Foudy was inconsistent and did not seemed totally engaged or focused the whole time. There were a few times where he had the puck and tried to make a play, but it seemed like he thought about it way too long instead of making a quick decision. There was even a time where he had Cal Ritchie open in front of the net, but instead of making a quick pass, he looked down at the puck and then up at the goalie before taking a shot into the goaltender chest. Even Ritchie seemed confused or frustrated with this play.

Unless things dramatically change, I don’t see Foudy making this team on opening night, even with the few lineup openings the Avs seem to have at the moment. Foudy will no doubt be a top-6 forward for the Eagles this season and has a chance to be a mid season call-up if he progresses this right way.

That is all for now. I want to thank you for reading these breakaways from the Avs first preseason game. Stay tuned for similar analysis from their second game, as the Avs this time will visit the Stars for a game in Dallas on Friday night.