After Sunday night’s preseason loss to the Utah Hockey Club, the Avalanche announced five transactions which brings the preseason roster down to 40 players.
Defenseman Jacob MacDonald was placed on waivers with the intent of assigning him to the Colorado Eagles (AHL) training camp if he clears.
Forwards Oskar Olausson, Chase Bradley, Tye Felhaber and Nikita Prishchepov were also assigned to the Eagles camp.
The hope is that MacDonald clears waivers, as he was brought back in to be a major part of the Eagles leadership group this season.
As for Olausson, it definitely seems that he has been passed up by the likes of Calum Ritchie and Nikolai Kovalenko in terms of the Avs forward prospect “depth chart”. Both Ritchie and Kovalenko are still on the remaining roster and have both gotten extensive looks this preseason — they are getting every opportunity to make this team. Olausson on the other hand definitely seems to need some more development at the AHL level. Hopefully he does get on a better development path soon, or the Avs could be looking at another situation like they were in with Martin Kaut for a while.
Here are a list of prior cuts made by the Avs:
Saturday, 9/28: defensemen Keaton Middleton and Wyatt Aamodt and goaltender Kevin Mandolese were sent to the Eagles camp.
Monday, 9/23: forward Chad Hillebrand and defenseman Devante Stephens were assigned to the Eagles camp; defenseman Saige Weinstein was assigned to his junior club, Spokane (WHL).
Saturday, 9/21: forwards Neil Shea and Briley Wood, and defenseman Garrett Pyke were assigned to the Eagles camp; forward Max Curran was assigned to his junior club, Tri City (WHL).
