Avalanche bring back Pierre-Edouard Bellemare for tryout

The Colorado Avalanche made a move to possibly strengthen their forward depth on Wednesday by signing Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to a professional tryout contract.

Bellemare is back in Colorado after three seasons playing for mostly Avalanche rivals. In 122 regular-season contests in Denver, he tallied 18 goals and 15 assists. He played in 25 playoff games for the Avs as well, notching six points. Since leaving Colorado, Bellemare first went to Tampa Bay where he played in the Stanley Cup Final against the Avs and was one of the Bolts most available players over that season. Last year he was in Seattle, where he struggled, only scoring seven points in 40 games.

Hearing Pierre-Edouard Bellemare will be going to Colorado on a PTO. Played two seasons there, always like dealing with him

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 11, 2024

Bellemare is one of 14 players born in France to play in the NHL and he’s 20 games shy of passing Paul MacLean for having played more than any of his countrymen in hockey’s top league. At 700 games played and 138 career points, the 39-year-old has proven he’s a steady depth forward while bouncing between five different cities.

The Avs need forward depth especially early in the season with Gabriel Landeskog still out and hoping to make a return and the suspension of Valeri Nichushkin which won’t have him available for the first several weeks of the slate. Colorado’s fourth line could use the help, especially right away making Bellemare’s 85 games of playoff experience a bit irrelevant at least in the near term.