On Tuesday, the Colorado Avalanche sent forwards Mike Sislo and Trent Vogelhuber to the San Antonio Rampage. Though their roster now stands at 24 players, they may not need to send anyone else to the AHL in order to get to the regular season limit.
Center John Mitchell is nursing a hip injury, and has yet to begin practicing. As such, there is a decent chance he will open the season on injured reserve, meaning that the Avalanche are down to the roster limit of 23 skaters … for the time being.
Both Sislo and Vogelhuber were signed to two-way contracts by the Avalanche on July 1. The 28-year-old Vogelhuber, who was the only skater in camp that had previous experience in head coach Jared Bednar’s system, spent the early portion of the preseason recovering from an appendectomy. He won the Calder Cup with Bednar last season, when they were both with the Lake Erie Monsters. Coming over from the New Jersey Devils organization, Sislo impressed in camp. He had four points in 18 games for the Devils last season, scoring an additional 53 in 57 AHL contests for Albany.
The moves mean that Mikko Rantanen, Ben Smith (the only forward on the team to win a Stanley Cup), Gabriel Bourque (who was signed on Monday after attending camp on a PTO) and Nikita Zadorov, all of whom are on two-way contracts, appear to have made the opening night roster. Rene Bourque was also signed on Monday after attending camp on a PTO, but is on a one-way deal.
Here is a look at the Avalanche roster:
Forwards: Gabriel Bourque, Rene Bourque, Joe Colborne, Blake Comeau, Matt Duchene, Mikhail Grigorenko, Jarome Iginla, Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Andreas Martinsen, Cody McLeod, John Mitchell, Mikko Rantanen, Ben Smith, Carl Soderberg
Defensemen: Tyson Barrie, Francois Beauchemin, Eric Gelinas, Erik Johnson, Fedor Tyutin, Patrick Wiercioch, Nikita Zadorov
Goaltenders: Calvin Pickard, Semyon Varlamov