Right wing Rene Bourque came to the Colorado Avalanche training camp ready to impress. He played in five of Colorado’s six preseason games.
The 34-year-old forward was coming off a year in which he played 49 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets and only made an impression because he creamed coach John Tortorella during practice. His three goals and five assists in 49 games certainly weren’t going to impress. Indeed, he got half that many points (1 goal, 4 assists) in his five preseason games.
The Avalanche rewarded Bourque’s hard work by signing him to a one-year, one-way contract worth $650,000.