Following a spirited day one of training camp when the 2026-27 Colorado Avalanche held their first official on-ice team activity, the squad was back after it on day two and three. Every training camp day follows the same basic schedule with the roster of 56 players (minus the injured folks) split into two groups with a mix of NHL regulars, AHL contracts, young prospects and Avalanche hopefuls. Each session lasts close to 90 minutes with a lunch break in between. The structure of the practice is a third for warm up drills, a third for controlled 5v5 and then the last third is some small area work around the net.
Friday Festivities
There was a focus and purpose in executing the drills Jared Bednar laid out for the players. Many returnees are already familiar with the system but the reality is a preseason game is just days away and they must prepare for it.
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The groups were switched for this session and the Group 2 roster was on the ice in the morning. This collection is more of the depth players and they bring a bit more physicality. Zach L’Heureux has consistently shown he has a different energy and approach to the game. Fabian Lysell had a few more aggressive moments than he did on the first day. Jaden Schwartz also showed he can make some skillful plays.
Cale Makar joined the first group again in the red non-contact jersey as part of his rehab on the lower-body injury he suffered. The superstar defenseman did stay out longer than he did the previous day and looked good completing drills, he should be back to full-go soon.
It was a surprise that to conclude the practices on this day there still was a mandatory skate which consisted of a few heats of speed skating style figure-eights and then the traditional mountain. There are new rules in the CBA about fitness testing and conditioning in training camp but perhaps there are certain parameters where it’s still accepted.
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Saturday Skate
To conclude the official camp portion of the new season’s preparations, a smaller group of Avalanche players gathered. Taylor Makar, Nikita Prishchepov, Alex Gagne and Ilya Nabokov were given the day off as they are expected to participate in both of the upcoming back-to-back preseason contests.
With Trent Miner injured and not even taking shots in his rehab sessions yet, one name to watch has been goaltender Nikita Novosyolov. Ever since development camp he’s been consistently solid and showing improvement. He’s going to see a fair bit of AHL action with the Colorado Eagles if he keeps this up.
Cale Makar didn’t skate as it was a scheduled day off for him. The goal is for him to keep skating and get in a game at the end of the week. Speaking of, how the Avalanche manage their two sets of back-to-back games this week will be interesting as new CBA rules prevent anyone with 100 games of NHL experience cannot play in more than two preseason games. This impacts even a guy like Fedor Svechkov who is over the threshold. Bednar also indicated the Avalanche regulars would more likely play at home, which includes Sunday’s home game against the Utah Mammoth at 5:00 p.m. MT.
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First Cuts
If that wasn’t enough news to digest, the Avalanche announced their first wave of cuts, trimming the training camp roster by 11 and a reduction of the active players to 45. The AHL contracted Jayson Megna, Yanick Turcotte, Jake Wise Hank Kempf and goaltender Nikita Novosyolov were sent to the Colorado Eagles camp. Also, Shawn Carrier, Teddy Lechner, Ondrej Ruml, Linus Funck, Alexandre Raymond and Tobias Tvrznik were sent back to their junior clubs. This means that Beckett Hamilton is still with the Avalanche and should get in an upcoming preseason game.
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