There are usually a lot of handshakes involved when a player shows up at an NHL facility for the first time after signing with a new team.
When Pierre-Edouard Bellemare arrived at Family Sports Center ahead of this season, he was met with a lot of hugs. That familiarity is a big reason why Bellemare, six months shy of his 40th birthday, believes he can still help the Avalanche pursue another Stanley Cup championship after signing a player-tryout contract shortly ahead of training camp.
“Everybody knows my kids. Everybody knows my wife,” Bellemare said. “It’s just been so familiar. Even when I left here, it was always a good relationship. I always take time to talk with the guys when we played each other.
“I don’t know the other situation. I’ve never had a PTO somewhere else, but I would assume it’s a huge advantage.”
This isn’t a new team for Bellemare, of course. He played for the Avalanche during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. As he has at every NHL stop, Bellemare became an immensely popular player in Denver. Whether it’s fans, teammates or coaches, Bellemare’s reputation as a hard-working, affable player makes him easy to root for or embrace in a locker room.
After playing just 40 games for Seattle last season, he had no offers of a guaranteed contract this summer. As the new season neared, Bellemare and his family had to contemplate his future, both in hockey and beyond.
Visit Advertiser websiteGO TO PAGE“With the family, my kids and my wife, you have to think, ‘What are we doing for them?'” Bellemare said. “It’s like, we really want to play, but what if nothing happens? What do we do then? We discussed the Plan B situations. We can always go to Europe, but my family wanted to stay in the States. I wanted to play another year, at least, in the NHL. It wasn’t, ‘Is this the end?’ but more, ‘OK, if this doesn’t happen, what about the kids?’ I can’t just be conscious about what I want, because they have school in September.”
So now Bellemare is back in Denver with plenty to prove. He wants to win the Stanley Cup. He wants to help France qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics as he enters his 23rd year playing for the national team.
The Avalanche has an obvious need for a player with his skill set. The two guys who manned the fourth-line center position the most a season ago, Fredrik Olofsson and Yakov Trenin, are gone to Switzerland and St. Paul, Minn., respectively. Beyond that, the Avs are in desperate need of penalty killers, particularly someone who can win faceoffs.
Colorado is also short a lot of veterans who were at least an ancillary part of the club’s leadership core last season, with guys like Andrew Cogliano and Zach Parise retired and Jack Johnson in Columbus.
“We’ve got an opening in that (No. 4 center) slot,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We have a handful of guys that we’re looking at for that position. But he looks good. You kind of know what to expect from (Bellemare), from him being here before. He’s kind of jumping back in seamlessly again, bringing his leadership and consistency on the ice.”
Some of that leadership has been on display at practice. He’s worked on taking faceoffs with some of the younger Avs after nearly every practice.
Bellemare took the first faceoff of Colorado’s first penalty kill Monday night in the exhibition opener against Dallas. He played more than five minutes on the PK against the Stars and looked like a seasoned pro.
The Avs do have a couple of other options for that spot, including an audition at center for free agent Parker Kelly. Chris Wager, who got a few games last year in that role, is back as well.
But it’s hard to not see the job as Bellemare’s to lose, even if he’ll continue to attack the competition like his NHL career depends on it.
“It’s going to be a lot of grind, a lot of trying to block the shot, a lot of doing the right thing defensively,” Bellemare said. “Those minutes maybe don’t look that attractive in a team that isn’t trying to win the Cup. But for a team competing at this level, doing the right stuff on the PK, sacrificing the body, blocking the shots for the team, getting the puck out — those are like your stats. That’s your thing you can contribute to help the team win.
“It comes down to, how can you help? Can I be good defensively to give the top line some rest without losing momentum for our team? Can I go on the ice when we lose the momentum, like on the PK, and just be dialed in so they get nothing and when the top guys come back they are pumped up because of my job? That’s how I see it.”
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Originally Published: September 24, 2024 at 3:17 p.m.
