Denver Gazette beat writer Evan Rawal takes you around the NHL and inside the Avalanche training room:

While we wait… and wait… and wait for NHL training camps to open in mid-September, it’s fair game to inspect the Colorado Avalanche roster and feel it looks incomplete.

Because it is.

The Avalanche are in better shape than most other teams because they’re set at the most important positions. With a healthy Gabriel Landeskog, the top six up front looks as good as it has since the team hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2022. Cale Makar and Devon Toews are back as the dynamic duo leading the defense, while the additions of Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood should have everyone feeling a lot more comfortable about the goaltending situation compared to 365 days ago.

Still, it’s not a perfect roster. No roster ever really will be, but there’s room for improvement. General manager Chris MacFarland has shown he’s not afraid to tinker with his roster late in the summer, evidenced by the late-summer additions of Evan Rodrigues and Tomas Tatar in past years. While it’s no guarantee he does it again this summer, there are areas where this team could use some help heading into camp.

Bottom-six stability

With Logan O’Connor set to start the season on injured reserve after offseason hip surgery, Colorado’s bottom six would be pretty thin if the season were to start today. Ross Colton, Jack Drury and Parker Kelly are the returning regulars that you can pencil into the lineup.

Beyond them, there are question marks.

Can Zakhar Bardakov, someone MacFarland has gone out of his way to mention multiple times this summer, adjust to North American hockey quickly? Which Ivan Ivan will the Avalanche get next year — the one who exceeded expectations in the NHL or the one who struggled to score (two goals in 36 games) in the AHL? And are any of the other forwards under contract able to step in and eat minutes at the NHL level?

O’Connor likely will return within the first two months of the season. Given his slow start to last year after having the same surgery on his other hip, it might take him a bit of time to get going. The Avalanche should (and likely will) look into adding one or two more forwards before the season starts, even if that means scouring the waiver wire during preseason. Joel Kiviranta is still available on the open market and it would make a lot of sense to bring him back on a reasonable deal.

Center depth

The Avalanche dealt away Charlie Coyle in June and still haven’t replaced him. It was a move made to create some breathing room under the cap; breathing room they haven’t yet used. Drury can fill-in as the third-line center in the immediate, but it was a risky move to make. They’ve now gone from a near perfect setup down the middle to having some question marks.

Parker Kelly spent most of last season at center, but it was clear down the stretch he’s a better winger than center. The same can be said for Ross Colton. So with no Coyle, that leaves the Avalanche with some unknown commodities beyond Drury down the middle. The aforementioned Bardakov and Ivan are question marks. While they’ll get long looks in camp, it sure feels like a spot the team will eventually look to upgrade.

Another defenseman

With the addition of Brent Burns, it seems likely the Avalanche are set on defense to start the season. Keaton Middleton is someone the organization likes and can play some minutes in the regular season, but you’d likely want to add at least one more defenseman in front of him between now and the postseason.

How the defense gels could dictate what kind of defenseman they need. Does Burns fit in immediately? Will it be another injury-riddled season for Josh Manson? Things get tricky if Burns struggles and Manson misses time. Going out and getting a top-four defenseman won’t be cheap.

What I’m hearing

—Connor McDavid’s likely extension in Edmonton this summer will likely cost at least $16 million per season. I doubt Cale Makar tops that with his eventual extension, but it might. Either way, it’s going to be a big number next summer for the Avalanche defenseman.

—The Martin Necas extension is the big contract the Avalanche must worry about over the next 300-plus days, but Drury will be up for a contract next summer as well. He’ll be restricted, so it’s not as great a priority. But if Drury spends a chunk of the season as the third-line center, that works in his favor at the negotiation table, assuming he takes advantage of the opportunity.

What I’m seeing

—The 2021 draft was a strange one because it was the COVID season where teams weren’t able to scout like they normally do, but the Oskar Olausson pick was a swing and a miss right from the get-go. It’s never a good sign when your first-round pick can’t hit a point-per-game in the CHL and once Olausson turned pro, he just didn’t improve.

Is it a drafting issue or a development issue for the Avalanche? Probably a little bit of both.

—Gavin Brindley is listed at 5-foot-9, while Danil Gushchin is listed at 5-8. Brindley has some bite to his game for a guy his size which will endear him to the coaching staff, but a lot of the forward call-up options from the Eagles will be undersized players.

What I’m thinking

—Beyond Utah, Anaheim feels like the other team in the West that could take a step forward. The wild card for them is Joel Quenneville, who hasn’t coached in the league in four years. 

—More expansion for the NHL feels inevitable, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Just stick with 34 teams for a while, NHL. There’s no need to rush back to Atlanta for a third time.