After the Avalanche’s final home exhibition game — a 2-0 win over Minnesota on Tuesday — Colorado still had 30 players on its preseason roster, including 18 forwards. It’s tricky projecting the regular-season’s opening-night roster because of injuries and because new coach Jared Bednar hasn’t been pinned down about whether he’s looking to carry 13 or 14 forwards on the potentially 23-man active roster.
Veteran forward Ben Smith, 28, was signed to a one-year, two-way contract Aug. 16, six weeks after becoming an unrestricted free agent July 1. He was coming off a two-year, $3-million contract, signed with Chicago, and this season he’ll make $675,000 if he’s with Colorado, considerably less if he’s sent to San Antonio of the AHL.