The Colorado Avalanche are preparing for opening night Wednesday in Vegas, where the team will begin the 2024-25 season. In order to comply with NHL roster rules, the Denver team made several transactions on Monday.

The two that may surprise some, but shouldn’t be a surprise once you get into the details, were the losses of Nikolai Kovalenko and Ivan Ivan in a group of five players. Based on head coach Jared Bednar’s statements, both Kovalenko and Ivan Factor are members of the NHL roster this season, but are currently with the Colorado Eagles, at least on paper.

For Monday, the Avs had to send everyone down so they could move inactive players to the right spot on Tuesday. Gabriel Landeskog also belongs to this list. Artturi Lehkonen and Tucker Poolman, who are expected to go to Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR), as well as the suspended Valeri Nichushkin.

Once these five roster members get their proper spots, Chris MacFarland can bring back Kovalenko and Ivan. The Avs went 1-5-0 in the preseason, but Kovalenko stood out with two assists and Ivan scored a goal, showing some guts for the bottom-six forward group.

Kovalenko is a sought-after prospect despite only being a sixth-round pick by the Avs in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. At 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 185 pounds, he is a winter athlete who can also play center. Torpedo played in the Russian KHL for Nizhny Novgorod and scored over 100 points in 113 games, including the postseason. After his seventh season in the KHL, Kovalenko moved to the Avs late last year, where he played in Games 5 and 6 of the Colorado series against Winnipeg.

Ivan has yet to make his NHL debut in a game that matters, having spent 2023-24 with the Avalanche’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Eagles. There he played 67 games and collected 31 points. Before coming to Colorado, he scored 177 points in 191 appearances with the Cape Breton Eagles of the QMJHL from 2019-23. And he also had this appearance in 2022 when he represented his country.

#Avs Nikolai Kovalenko and Ivan Ivan are among the group assigned to the Eagles when the club finalized its “official” opening night squad.

These are both accounting steps, depending on who is using LTIR. They will be “back” in time to play Vegas on Wednesday.

— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) October 7, 2024

Kovalenko is expected to begin the season on the Avs’ second line alongside Casey Mittelstadt and 2023 first-rounder Calum Ritchie. While Ivan should be on the fourth line with Parker Kelly Joel Kiviranta.

The Avs also sent Adam Scheel, TJ Tynan and Ondrej Pavel on Monday.

The Avs’ roster now has 21 players with 11 forwards, eight defensemen and two goalies. This is what it looks like.

goalkeeper
Alexandra Georgiev
Justus Annunen

Forward
Chris Wagner
Parker Kelly
Ross Colton
Logan O’Connor
Jonathan Drouin
Miles Wood
Nathan MacKinnon
Casey Mittelstadt
Calum Ritchie
Joel Kiviranta
Mikko Rantanen

defender
John Ludwig
Devon Toews
Cale Makar
Josh Manson
Calvin de Haan
Samuel Girard
Oliver Kylington
Sam Malinski