There were a few more players from the opposing team watching parts of the Colorado Avalanche’s morning skate Tuesday at Ball Arena, and it’s a pretty safe bet on the reasoning for it: Two of their old pals were on the ice.
Miles Wood and Tomas Tatar were getting ready to face their former team for the first time with the New Jersey Devils in town.
“It’s exciting to see all the guys again,” Tatar said. “You want to play well to kind of stick it to them. I have a lot of friends on the team and I had a great two years there. I’m looking forward to the challenge of playing against them.”
Wood was a fourth-round pick by the Devils in 2013, and spent eight seasons in New Jersey. His best year was 2017-18, when he had a career-high 19 goals and 32 points, and the club made the playoffs for the first time in six seasons.
After that, it was a long grind of a rebuild, followed by a couple of seasons with increased preseason expectations but disappointing results. The team finally broke through last year, returning to the postseason and arriving as one of the top young, exciting clubs in the league.
“It was a lot of fun. When you win hockey games, it’s a lot more fun,” Wood said. “That’s what we did last year. But I’m very happy here as well. It was a nice change for me, and this is a good place to be.”
Wood signed a six-year contract with the Avalanche in the offseason. He has spent a lot of time with several of New Jersey’s key players, but didn’t really feel the need to help out much with the pregame video breakdown Tuesday morning.
“(Jared Bednar) broke down the film today and he did a great job,” Wood said. “He talked exactly about what their weaknesses are and he was spot on. I played that defensive zone for the last three years and he was spot on with what he said. We know what to do out there and now it’s time to execute.”
While Wood signed with Colorado early in the offseason process, Tatar had to wait until near the end of the summer before agreeing to a one-year contract with the Avs. He spent the past two seasons with the Devils, and like the group around him was much improved in year two.
Tatar had the seventh 20-goal year of his career last season. He also finished with 48 points and landed on a couple of Selke Trophy ballots, in part because the Devils outscored their opponents 61-28 at 5-on-5 when Tatar was on the ice.
“I was very happy to be part of the shift in the direction,” Tatar said. “We had a great year last year, broke some organizational records. A lot of guys had great, successful seasons. We turned it around. We’ll see how they are going to continue. It’s not easy to sustain that kind of hockey, but I think a lot of their young guys are becoming great players. They have a bright future.”
Both Wood and Tatar had some struggles during the club’s playoff run, and it most likely affected the latter’s ability to secure a better contract after both hit free agency. Both players also got to see some of their old mates Monday night and again Tuesday morning before the game.
“I am excited, but at the end of the day it’s just another game,” Wood said. “I guess it is a little special, but once the puck drops, it’s just a game.”
Footnotes: Bednar did not run practice Monday or the morning skate Tuesday because he is under the weather. Assistant coach Nolan Pratt handled media duties Tuesday morning, but said Bednar is feeling better and is expected to coach the team Tuesday night against the Devils. … Ondrej Pavel, who signed with Colorado near the end of last season as a college free agent after three years at Minnesota State, is expected to make his NHL debut and center the fourth line because Fredrik Olofsson is out with an upper-body injury.
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