The ATT Center, much like the 2015 Rampage, is currently “Under Construction” Photo courtesy KSAT
Running With the Herd Live returned tonight for a special mid-summer edition. After some quick intros for our new hockey brothers and sisters to the northwest, we update Rampage fans on the whereabouts of some of our favorites from last season, look at the Avalanche offseason and how it impacts the Rampage, and dig deeper into players we could potentially see in San Antonio.
JP and I also discuss the brand new AHL Pacific Division, try to make sense of the recently approved AHL rule changes, and briefly touch on the ATT Center renovations.
We won’t have another show until we get close to NHL training camp, unless we get some big news from the Avalanche or Rampage. But be sure to check back for updated additions to the Rampage Offseason Chart and AHL Free Agent Big Board.
Great commentary guys. I’m looking forward to listening to your reports on how Avalanche prospects are doing throughout the year! Sorry for the long and rambling post below but hopefully I can give you some insight into the Avs organization that you asked about during the show…
Y’all were joking that the Avs players’ names are hard to pronounce and that the Avs love their European and Russian players. This is a VERY recent transition over the past couple of years for our franchise since we used to exclusively target American/Canadian players for the longest time. Our last Russian player drafted was all the way back in 2004 so seeing us take two this year in Andrei Mironov and Segei Boikov is a huge shift in identity. Roy and Sakic also want the organization to be a lot bigger from top to bottom so the Rampage will see the effects of this identity change with players like Andreas Martinsen, Borna Rendulic and possibly Dennis Everberg who are all big power forwards signed from professional leagues in Europe.
As for your question about the Avs seasoning players… I don’t know if it is confirmed through a quote or just speculation but Roy has a rule that he wants his defensemen to play at least 100 games in the AHL before he considers calling them up for a shot at an NHL spot. The same can go for forwards like Hishon to an extent but Roy really wants our defensemen developed properly and not hurried into the NHL before they’re ready. So you may see a lot of potentially great players like Bigras and Geertsen with the latter looking to be a top pairing workhorse for the Rampage if Coach Chynoweth uses him in that capacity. His skating was extremely smooth at player development camp last week and I think he can eat up minutes and become a true shutdown Dman for the Rampage this year. Martinsen also impressed at camp but he is a 25 year old coming from a professional league so he was supposed to. Look for him to be a force on the ice for the Rampage as well.
On a final note, the Avs always get hit by the injury bug every year so I hate to say it but you will see a revolving door of players leaving and coming back to your team throughout the year. I felt bad for Lake Erie the last few years because we killed their roster with call-ups. Again, looking forward to listening to y’all this year and the Red Wings suck!
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