5 random players you forgot were on the Colorado Avalanche

4. Johnny Boychuk

While hardly a reverse Bourque on the whole, Boychuk did start his career in Colorado before winning a Cup with Boston. His preceding climb to the top level also required more patience and persistence.

The Avs drafted Boychuk in 2002, but did not summon him until 2007-08. In between, he spent two more seasons in junior, then dressed for four different Avalanche affiliates in the AHL.

After a full season apiece in Hershey, Albany, and Lowell, then half of one in Cleveland (Lake Erie), Boychuk finally debuted in Denver on January 5, 2008. Ironically, he has since logged more action with that night’s Pepsi Center visitor, the New York Islanders, than any other team.

The Colorado call-up lasted less than a month, and gave Boychuk four nonconsecutive games. After January 20, he was back with the Lake Erie Monsters for the balance of the season, his last in the Avalanche pipeline.

The next fall, he was still in the minors with the Providence Bruins. Although after being named the AHL’s top blueliner in 2009, Boychuk buried his paltry Avalanche legacy with five seasons in Boston, then six on Long Island. He played two more AHL games in 2009-10, but suited up for the majority of Boston’s slate, and has not looked back in the decade since.

Nor has he gone back to his first NHL workplace that much. Three of Boychuk’s games as an Av were in Denver, and he has barely doubled that total with his visiting outings at the Pepsi Center over the last 12 years. As a Bruin or Islander, he has opposed Colorado 15 times overall, but only six on the road.