Busy day here at Avalanche practice, because the team made roster moves and coach Patrick Roy was his beautiful honest self.
Read and how many players Roy and GM Joe Sakic are taking to their homecomings in Montreal and Quebec City, respectively. Roy, of course, won two of his four Cup in Montreal and Sakic played the first seven years of his career for the Quebec Nordiques. Much more on those stories later this week.
Biggest news of the day: Roy’s choice to wear Paul Stastny’s vacated “A” appears to be Jarome Iginla, the former longtime captain of the Calgary Flames. However, that doesn’t mean Iggy, 37, is going to accept it and join Gabe Landeskog (captain) and Cody McLeod (assistant) with letters on their chests. Matt Duchene and Erik Johnson are also seemingly excellent candidates but Roy said he didn’t want to throw out names other than Iginla, who might defer based on the fact it probably means more to one of the younger guys.
“We have different options. I already spoke to Jarome about that possibility and I want him to think about it,” Roy said. “There’s going to be other possibilities. We got great leaders on this team.”
Other news: Roy said winger Jamie McGinn (back) is weeks away and has yet to skate on his own. The Oct. 9 season opener does not look good for McGinn, but it does bode well for a young forward like Andrew Agozzino, Dennis Everberg, Samuel Henley, Joey Hishon or Michael Schumacher, among others, to make the team out of camp. The Avs have 14 players on their big-league roster and Roy said he’ll likely keep 13, but McGinn is questionable and Patrick Bordeleau (back, out indefinitely) open a spot.
Landeskog didn’t play in either preseason split-squad game Monday against Anaheim and did not practice Tuesday. Roy said he has a slight back injury. Also not practicing was Daniel Briere, who flew back to Philadelphia to attend to his son, whom Roy said was injured playing hockey. Roy said Briere will rejoin the team in Montreal and Landeskog should be fine.
