Rookies Dries makes debut in Avs’ opener vs. Minnesota
Rookie forward Sheldon Dries, a former threeyear captain at Western Michigan, made his NHL debut Thursday night when the Avalanche began the season against Minnesota at the Pepsi Center.
In the last week, Dries, 24, was competing for a lineup spot with secondyear forward Dominic Toninato, the former MinnesotaDuluth captain. But Toninato was reassigned to the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League after Wednesday’s practice.
The Avs are carrying just 12 available forwards, with Sven Andrighetto beginning the year on IR.
Dries’ parents and girlfriend were scheduled to attend Thursday’s game.
“Excited, anxious, obviously a little nervous — all the nerves going all at once,” Dries said Thursday morning. “You only get one NHL debut.”
Dries played left wing on a line with center J.T. Compher and right wing Matt Calvert.
The undrafted Dries graduated from Western Michigan in 2017 and played last season with the AHL’s Texas Stars, who advanced to the Calder Cup Final.
Dries had 19 goals in 70 games for the Stars to create multiple freeagent offers over the summer.
He is among a handful of former NCAA captains on the Avs. Compher was a captain at Michigan, Alex Kerfoot at Harvard and Toninato with the Bulldogs.
Tyson Jost, 20, likely would have been captain at North Dakota if he remained in school beyond his freshman year.
“There was a spot available, I felt like, if I competed and played my game, and I could be a callup guy if I need to be in the future,” Dries said of signing with Colorado. “It was just a good opportunity to play in the NHL.”
No. 7.
Colorado left winger Gabe Landeskog is entering his seventh season as team captain, and only six other players have captained their teams longer than Landeskog: Boston Zdeno Chara (13th season), Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby (12), Chicago’s Jonathan Toews (11), Minnesota’s Mikko Koivu and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (both 10), and Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf (nine).
Landeskog, 25, is the youngest among that group.
Footnotes.
Avalanche pregame introductions included Andrighetto and defensemen Mark Barberio (healthy scratch) and Conor Timmins (nonroster IR). They each were in dress suits on the bench. … The Avs had an optional morning skate Thursday, stemming from the fact they had two good practices Monday and Tuesday. … Rookie forward Vladislav Kamenev and secondyear defenseman Anton LIndholm went from Avalanche IR to be reassigned to the Colorado Eagles on Thursday afternoon. Avs coach Jared Bednar has made it clear that young players.