As a young hockey player in the Vancouver area, new Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews remembers driving through Burnaby, British Columbia, and seeing streets named after legendary Avs center Joe Sakic.
“Burnaby Joe is what we always referred to him growing up,” Toews said Monday. “I watched a lot of Avalanche games when they were at their peak.”
Toews is now a key figure in Colorado’s ascension to what could be a similar peak, and he’s working under Sakic, the Avs’ general manager. Acquired from the New York Islanders for two second-round draft picks Oct. 12, Toews was impressed with his new club after Monday’s first training camp practice at Family Sports Center.
Toews (pronounced Taves) is among two new front-line players for the Avs, and he said that became obvious early in Monday’s skate.
“You can tell there’s chemistry out there with a lot of guys. It’s a pretty similar group to last year and I’m one of the new guys trying to fit in and find my place and try to be part of the solution here to move forward and eventually win a Cup,” he said. “The chemistry is there. We just have to take that next step. We talked about it (Sunday): Just getting 5 percent better every day, or 1 percent better every day. Just making those little gains every single game and trusting our process.”
Toews began camp on the Avs’ first defensive pairing with Cale Makar. Toews met Makar and the other Avalanche veterans over the past two weeks when the club held captain’s practices.
“We’ve been skating in groups of 10 at the most the last couple weeks. You can only do so much with 10 guys. So having a full squad out there, running some structural drills, was something different and something I think we all enjoyed today,” Toews said.
Geographically, Toews is back on the western side of North America for the first time since 2013 when he finished his final junior season with the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles. He played three years of NCAA hockey at Quinnipiac, helping lead the Bobcats to the 2016 national championship game, two for the AHL’s Bridgeport Tigers and two with the Islanders.
Toews, 26, was married two days before he was traded to the Avs, and he and his wife are enjoying their new home.
“It’s a beautiful city,” he said. “This kind of caters more to home than New York does to me. We’re loving it so far, looking forward to hopefully things opening up slowly and safely and we can explore a little bit more.”
“Unfit” to practice. Forwards Gabe Landeskog and Brandon Saad, defensemen Erik Johnson and Keaton Middleton and goalie Philipp Grubauer were “unfit” to practice Monday, Avs coach Jared Bednar said in an afternoon Zoom call.
On Sunday, Bednar said his team was 100% healthy in terms of injuries, so their absences could be COVID-related.
“I don’t know what the protocols are, when they’re going to be back,” Bednar said. “They’re unfit to practice today. Tomorrow morning I’ll get news if they’re fit or not. I’m just not allowed to relay what exactly they are.”
Footnote. The Avalanche’s start times to its 56-game regular season were announced Monday. The Feb. 20 game against the Vegas Golden Knights — an Avalanche “home” game expected to be an outdoor game at Lake Tahoe — is slated for 1 p.m. The NHL has not officially announced any outdoor games this season.
