Barberio has no complaints

Veteran blueliner waits his turn behind youngsters to help Colorado

Mark Barberio is nothing if not patient and positive. The Avalanche veteran defenseman, who played just 12 NHL games last season because of injuries and positional depth, is good enough to be on the roster but is having a tough time getting ice time.

But you’ll never catch him complaining.

He’d rather be a healthy scratch on a good team than getting more time for a losing one. He’s OK watching young defensemen Sam Girard, Cale Makar, Ryan Graves and Conor Timmins jump ahead of him on the depth chart if that helps the Avs.

“This is where I want to be, and if that means I’m a healthy scratch sometimes, OK — I know my job is to make sure I’m always ready,” Barberio, 29, said Wednesday. “And I believe in myself. I know I can help this team. That’s the most important thing. And when I’m called upon, I have to be ready. I have to deliver.”

In the first two games, the Avs carried seven defensemen and Barberio was the odd man out. But he could be in a position to deliver Thursday when Colorado hosts the Boston Bruins. Avs coach Jared Bednar will choose between Barberio and Ian Cole to replace Timmins on the third defensive pairing with Graves.

Timmins, 21, was reassigned to the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League on Monday. Cole, who is coming off two offseason hip surgeries, was cleared Wednesday but isn’t guaranteed to play Thursday. Barberio was paired with Graves in Wednesday’s practice, and Cole skated with Kevin Connauton, who began the season with the Eagles and is currently the Avs’ clear-cut No. 8 D-man.

So chances appear good that Barberio will make his season debut Thursday.

As a professional athlete, it takes a positive mind-set to play Barberio’s role. After all, he was an every-night player with the Avs during the 2018 first-round playoff series against Nashville.

“Beats the opposite, right? But, yeah, I’ve always been that way,” he said. “I always try to stay positive. I’m not a negative person, but I was definitely in a tough place when I had to deal with all those injuries. You want to be available to help this team, and when you can’t be in the battles, that’s what hurts the most.”

Cole, meanwhile, has become a

surprise option for the Avs in the second week of the season. The two-time Stanley Cup winner with Pittsburgh was originally not scheduled to return until December.

“The motivation is certainly there,” Cole said of returning more than a month before his doctors first forecasted. “My job this summer — since (May) 20, when I got the first (surgery) — my whole summer for the past five months was to rehab and get back healthy as quickly as possible. It wasn’t to go on vacations, go to the beach and enjoy the summer. It was to rehab and get better as quickly as possible. That was my sole goal this summer and I think you’re seeing kind of the results of that.”

Footnotes. Third-line center J.T. Compher will not play Thursday because of a lowerbody injury. Bednar said Compher hasn’t skated for four days. He will be replaced by Tyson Jost, who had been playing left wing on the second line. Jost will skate with Matt Nieto and Colin Wilson, the latter of whom was a healthy scratch in the first two games. … Secondline center Nazem Kadri will face the Bruins for the first time since Game 2 of the first-round playoff series last spring in which Kadri, who was playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, was suspended for the rest of the series for cross-checking Boston’s Jake DeBrusk in the face.