Blidh moves from Bean Town to the Mile High City.
The Colorado Avalanche has brought on yet another two-way player. After losing a lot of firepower players down in the Colorado Eagles system, the organization is building its way back up. Anton Blidh is the next player to come into the team, coming in on a one-year deal.
Welcome aboard, Anton!#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/NVWpLgOntq
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 3, 2022
The #Avs sign Anton Blidh, who provides some forward depth going into training camp. He played 32 games with the Bruins last season and was formerly teammates with Artturi Lehkonen in Sweden.
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) August 3, 2022
Blidh is mostly an AHL-level player who flirted with a call-up for several years in Boston. He played his first NHL game for the Boston Bruins back in 2016-17. In 19 games, he got his first career NHL goal and assist. However, he’d only play nine games in the NHL over the next three years.
He had a career-best in the previous 2021-22 season, recording two goals and seven assists. He did have some bad penalty trouble though with 28 minutes in the box. Blidh’s standout of his game is his physicality, directing 82 hits to opponents last season and 17 blocks in 32 games, averaging 10:44 of ice time.
For Blidh to come to the Centennial State brings a lot of challenges. It’ll be really tough for him to break into the top squad at Ball Arena with the amount of talent and awareness of the system the fourth line already has from last season, Ben Meyers included. Blidh should expect to spend most of his time in Loveland with the Eagles while maybe getting the occasional call-up for injuries or resting first-team players later on in the season.
While there are no official contract conditions released so far, it should be expected that this is a two-way deal under $1M AAV. His name will certainly be recognizable for Eagles fans up in Northern Colorado when they open their season against the newly-formed Calgary Wranglers on October 21.