"Based on the opportunity he has been given in training camp and his performance in Tuesday's intrasquad scrimmage, rookie center Brad Malone appears to have joined the list of the Avalanche's top prospects.

That active "A" list begins with 2011 No. 1 draft picks Gabriel Landeskog and Duncan Siemens and includes 2009 second-rounder Stefan Elliott. Malone, however, might be the club's most NHL-prepared rookie.

He is 22, having played four years at the University of North Dakota after the Avs selected him in the fourth round of the 2007 draft. Landeskog and Siemens are 18, Elliott 20.

Malone, 6-foot-2 and 207 pounds, played mostly with proven veterans throughout training camp and will center a line with TJ Galiardi.

"He's getting every opportunity because he's played pretty well through camp," Avs coach Joe Sacco said of Malone, who scored a breakaway goal in Tuesday's Burgundy-White scrimmage. "I was impressed with him right from the start. I like his size, No. 1, and I like his style of play, No. 2.

"We're looking to be a team that's harder to play against, and he's certainly a guy who can bring that element to our team. Whether he can do it consistently, time will tell. But certainly, he's going to be a guy who's going to get a good look.""