As of Wednesday the Colorado Avalanche placed six players on waivers to play for the Lake Erie Monsters during the lockout. Patrick Bordeleau , Bryan Lerg, Thomas Pock, Sean Sullivan, Bill Thomas, and David Van Der Gulik, cleared waivers and will be on the Monsters roster. These six were among almost sixty players sent down to the AHL from their parent clubs in preparation for the impending lockout.

There also has been no word as of 8:30 pm EST if Gabriel Landeskog will also find himself in a Monsters sweater to start the season.

Everyone, I promised you that this week would be LAKE ERIE MONSTERS WEEK AT GET HIGHER (LEMWAGH), and to kick things off, we have a post written by brand new GH contributor Todd Mathias! Todd will be helping me by bringing you Monsters information 1-2 a week. -Sarah

The American Hockey League (AHL) can be a very fluid league. It’s one where you get the chance to see future National Hockey League (NHL) players develop and become the stars of tomorrow. Being a feeder league for the NHL, the AHL is a place where faces can change at the drop of a hat. Your parent club has an injury and the player can be on a flight that day up to the show. While it is great to see guys get a chance at their dreams, it leaves holes at the lower level. This process is something one has to accept as a fan of an AHL team. The benefits though are that you do see some great hockey and again great talents as the season progresses.

Goal¬tending

This year the Lake Erie Monsters will have a totally new look in net. Cédrick Desjardins and Trevor Cann are both moving on, Desjardins to the Canadiens organization and Cann having not received a qualifying offer at the end of his contract term. There will be four goaltenders fighting for the two spots in Cleveland this year. Calvin Pickard, who played two games for the Monsters at the end of last season, is looking to make the jump into the AHL. Finnish tender Sami Aittokallio will also be poised to move to North America after playing in Finland. The Colorado Avalanche also have two goalies fresh from college. Kent Patterson comes from the University of Minnesota and Kieran Millan from Boston University. These two are very competent goaltenders but from everything I’ve seen they will be starting with the Denver Cutthroats of the CHL. Training camp will be very competitive though and there could be a surprise or two when all is said and done.

Forwards

The Lake Erie Monsters corps of forwards is once again on the younger side of things. With the loss of veterans like Greg Mauldin and Ryan Stoa, the influx of players such as Paul Carey, Michael Sgarbossa, and a healthy Joey Hishon will have to step into the AHL ready to go. Again this year one gets the feeling that it will be a scoring by committee type team where each goal will be a hard fought one. Fan favorite Patrick Bordeleau will also be returning this year and will hope to improve on his AHL career high 4 goals while being a welcomed presence on the ice. Another player that will be returning this year is David Van Der Gulik. After splitting part of last season with the Avalanche, and receiving an extension this offseason Van Der Gulik will be looking to keep on pace for another solid season.

Defense

Defense for the Lake Erie Monsters this season will have some familiarity, with Cameron Gaunce, Tyson Barrie, and Stefan Elliott at least starting the season here in the AHL. All three cut their teeth in the AHL and are well on their way to breaking into the Avalanche roster eventually. One new face to look for will be Duncan Siemens. Duncan brings with him size and a physicality that will have to adapt to playing in a league with men as it will be his first full season out of the WHL. Some veteran signings will also bolster the defensive end of the Monsters. Sean Sullivan and Thomas Pöck will bring more size to the team as well as 512 combined games of AHL experience.

We are deep in the thralls of summer now, with only the occasional trickle of news reaching us from the Avalanche camp. However, a few contracts have been signed between the Avalanche and several prospects.

First, Sean Sullivan (defensemen) was signed to a one-year, two-way deal. Sullivan split last season between the Worchester Sharks and the San Antonio Rampage, the AHL affiliate teams of the San Jose Sharks and the Florida Panthers. He earned 34 points in 61 games. Next is Bill Thomas (right wing), another player who played for the San Antonio Rampage. He did play a seven game stint with the Florida Panthers, wherein he scored one goal. Another defensemen, Thomas Pock, was signed to a one-year deal. He spent his past year playing in Europe, spending some time with Avalanche legend Peter Forsberg’s MODO. Patrick Bordeleau has re-signed, a move that makes many fans, including myself, happy. Bordeleau is more of enforcer, but he does have some skill as well. I don’t expect him to make the Avalanche, but he is a good option if the Avs find themselves in need of a third or fourth line player to call up. Finally, Michael Sgarbossa was inked to a three year, entry level contract. Sgarbossa, along with Jamie McGinn and Mike Connolly, was acquired in the trade between the Avalanche and the Sharks that sent TJ Galiardi and Daniel Winnik to San Jose. Sgarbossa led the OHL in scoring last season, and is one of the prospects whom I feel very excited about. Once again, I don’t expect him to make the team out of training camp, but in the next year or two, I think fans will get to see him play in a few games at least.

Here Sgarbossa accepts the award for leading scorer in the OHL from Steven Stamkos, a former winner and current NHL All-Star. Source: Avalanche twitter feed.

Here is a short little article by Adrian Dater of the Denver Post about another Avalanche prospect, Mitchell Heard.

And, finally, here is my projected lineup for next season.

McGinn-Stastny-Jones

Landeskog-O’Reilly-Hejduk

Downie-Duchene-Parenteau

McLeod-Mitchell-Kobasew

O’Brien-Johnson

Wilson-Elliott

O’Byrne-Hejda

Varlamov

Now of course, the forward lineup is subject mostly to the Milan Hejduk who shows up at camp. If he looks to be his old self, the scorer, he should be on a line with O’Reilly and Landeskog. Should he shows up with the seemingly lost touch he displayed through much of the second half of the season, I am not sure where to put him. I also slotted Downie into a left wing hole because out of the five players who play on the left wing, he seems the most able on his off side. Another option for that left wing hole is Mark Olver. (Also, I put Stastny-O’Reilly-Duchene as 1-2-3 in the same sense that Crosby-Malkin-Staal were 1-2-3. They should really each get about the same amount of playing time in even strength situations.) As for the defensemen, I know I put Elliott with Wilson rather than Zanon or Hunwick, each of whom is considered a safer bet to make the team out of training camp. However, I still think that the Wilson-Elliott pairing is the best match. Those two players, when they played together, worked fabulously. And of all the defensemen on the team, Shane O’Brien seemed to fit the best with Erik Johnson. If Hejda’s wrist should delay his start to the season, I can see the pairing of O’Byrne with either Zanon or Hunwick, though Zanon seems a more likely choice, as he and Hejda’s styles are much more similar.

As for the goaltending, I think it would be good to see Varlamov start about 60 games this season, leaving 22 for J.S. Giguere. Of course, if either finds himself on a winning or losing streak, the number may fluctuate slightly. However, I think this is the best recipe to keep both goaltenders fresh and healthy.