The Colorado Avalanche’s training camp reached its halfway point Friday at Family Sports Center — and, yes, it also was the opening day of the Avalanche training camp.
That’s how compact camp is, with Saturday’s second and final day scheduled to be a practice for the veterans and then a scrimmage between the younger players in camp.
Friday, the 64 available players were divided into three groups for separate sessions, and Colorado coach Patrick Roy said he was pleased with how it went.
“I’m very happy,” Roy said. “I was anxious to go on the ice. It was a new format that we’re trying this year. Lasty year, we felt we didn’t practice enough before out first game and we felt that we’re going to have about nine practices before starting the season.
“Today was a good day. We want to work on our offense. We want to work on our entries, we want to make sure we’re driving the net, and stopping at the net. I loved the intensity. I thought we were quick on loose pucks and I thought it was a very good first day.”
It doesn’t mean much at this point, but there were some interesting line combinations at the Friday sessions, including Carl Soderberg centering fellow Swede Gabe Landeskog and Finnish rookie Mikko Rantanen, and Mikhail Grigorenko between Alex Tanguay and Nathan MacKinnon.
The Avs aquired Soderberg from Boston shortly before he could become an unrestricted free agent and signed him to a long-term deal, and landed Grigorenko, 21, in the trade that sent Ryan O’Reilly to Buffalo.
After Saturday’s sessions, running from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Family Sports, the Avalanche will play the annual Burgundy/White game at the University of Denver’s Magness Arena.
Erik Johnson staying put for now
Veteran defenseman Erik Johnson, who can be an unrestricted free agent next July if he hasn’t re-signed with the Avalanche, said Friday he won’t talk about his contract situation. At least not after this.
“I’ve maintained a very, very strong desire to stay in Colorado,” Johnson said. “I really love playing in Denver and I love my teammates. I love the coaching staff and I love playing for Patrick (Roy), and having Joe (Sakic) in charge is awesome.
“It’s my desire to stay here, but it has to work for both sides and I’m all for working with the team and trying to fit into the structure. I’m not out to get something over my value on the market. I’m going to work with them and I hope they work with me and we can get something done.”
He added, “I’m a big believer that you have to think about hockey and hockey only. If you have other stuff, that can distract you. I think it’s only detrimental and you don’t want that distraction, with reporters just coming in after practice and just talking about your contract. You want to talk about the team, and I’d like to get it done as soon as possible so it’s not a distraction.”
Johnson, 27, was having a career year when he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery during the all-star break and didn’t play again last season. He skated and seemed to be trying to get back in the lineup, but never did.
“After today I’m very pleased with how I feel,” he said after practice at training camp. “I feel like I’ve taken my game to another level as far as conditioning, and as far as my knee injury there’s no issue whatsoever.”
Avalanche weekend schedule
The Avs will be on the Family Sports Center ice in Centennial for the second and final day of training camp at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Veterans will practice first, then the younger players will scrimmage.
The Burgundy-White intrasquad game is 1 p.m. Sunday at the University of Denver.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or
