Eurolanche

Defense First

Many Avalanche fans this week were disappointed that highly touted prospect Duncan Siemens wasn’t invited to the short training camp. Siemens who is currently playing with the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL has 12 points in 38 games so far. Many feel he is the best prospect not in Lake Erie for the Avs. This makes him staying home from training camp this year a good idea. It is very unlikely he would have made the Avs roster with so many NHL caliber defense men already there. Not to mention three other very good defense prospects playing for Lake Erie right now.

Right now the Avs blue line is stacked with proved NHL defender. With guys like Jan Hejda,Erik Johnson, Shane O’Brien, Ryan Wilson and Ryan O’Byrne all back from last year. As well as Matt Hunwick who many though would be gone after being a healthy scratch most of the year, looking to earn a lot more playing time this year. It will be very hard for any of the prospects to crack the line up right off the bat. Barring any injuries and good play we could see these faces all season long patrolling the blue line. Don’t forget about free agent signing of veteran Greg Zanon who jams up the back end even more.

This kind of depth of the blue line is not a bad thing. Defense prospect have been known to take more time to mature before being fully NHL ready. So nothing wrong with giving the kids some more time down in AHL and minors. Just give it some more time and next thing you know names like Elliot, Barrie and Siemens could be stables on the blue line for years to come.