Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is returning to the Colorado Avalanche on a tryout contract, the club announced Wednesday.
Bellemare, 39, played for Colorado during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, scoring nine goals each season as a depth forward. He was with the Tampa Bay Lightning for two seasons after that and spent last year with the Seattle Kraken, appearing in 40 games (four goals, seven points).
He was a popular player in the Avalanche dressing room and could fill a void left by the retirement of Andrew Cogliano on multiple levels. The Avs could use another veteran player on the fourth line, especially on the penalty kill. Losing Cogliano and defenseman Jack Johnson drained some of the club’s veteran leadership as well.
Bellemare would need to sign a standard contract to play for the Avs this season. Joel Kiviranta signed a PTO ahead of camp last year, made the team and returned on a new deal for 2024-25.
Beyond Cogliano, the Avs also lost depth forwards Fredrik Olofsson, Zach Parise, Brandon Duhaime and Yakov Trenin. Colorado is also going to be missing Valeri Nichushkin (suspension) to start the season, is likely to be without captain Gabe Landeskog (knee) and could be short Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder), so there could be extra job openings to fill for opening night.
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