Avs sign Artem Anisimov to PTO; Rookie camp schedule released

Artem Anisimov has been signed by the Avalanche to a professional tryout contract. Like a lot of guys the Avs seem to take a flyer on, Anisimov spent time in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization at the same time guys like Jared Bednar and Chris MacFarland did.

The 34-year-old Russian has had a pretty decent NHL career to this point, with 771 games to his credit and 376 points (180 goals). He can play center and left wing, and the Avs are likely thinking of him as a potential LW guy should Alex Newhook not look good enough to take such a role in training camp.

The Avs clearly are stockpiling some potential diamond-in-the-rough depth personnel for the season with these PTOs, starting with the Jack Johnson signing last week. I will say about Artem Anisimov what I said about Johnson: If the Avs wind up playing either of these guys a lot, it means something has gone wrong with the guys ahead of them on the depth chart. But that’s not to say it might not work out well for either of them, and the team. We’ll have to see what happens.

It’s a bit of a worrisome thing, quite frankly, that the Avs are dipping this low into the “unsigned, scrap-heap” pile of names here, for potential top-6 help up front. I don’t want to me a negative Nancy here, but these are always longshot, risky signings. They rarely work out.

I give you such names as Rene Bourque and Sven Andrighetto and Joe Colborne and Nail Yakupov and…I’ll stop now.

Here is the Avs’ rookie camp schedule. First come, first served!