He doesn’t speak a whole lot of English, but he does speak hockey. That might be all that matters for Zakhar Bardakov.

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said at the start of training camp there’d be a competition for the fourth-line center spot between Bardakov and a few other young players. There really hasn’t been one. A total of 10 days has passed and each time the Avalanche have hit the ice, the 24-year-old Russian has been centering Colorado’s expected fourth line.

It shouldn’t really come as a huge surprise. Russians that have established themselves in the KHL don’t come to North America to play in the AHL. While there was likely an understanding the Avalanche give him a real look when training camp started, he’s held up his end of the bargain on the ice.

“He’s a competitor, he’s a worker, he’s heavy, he goes to the net hard,” Bednar said of the Russian. “I see him as that prototypical fourth-line center that’s big and heavy.”

If he’s going to keep that role, there’s one specific thing the Avalanche will ask of him.

“If you’re playing ‘4C’ for us, you’ve got to kill penalties, right?” Bednar said.

Luckily, that’s something Bardakov is accustomed to doing.

Unlike Nikolai Kovalenko, who was the top player on his team in the KHL, Bardakov has always been more of a role player for his team, SKA. While he had a breakout season offensively last year, putting up 17 goals in 53 games, he’s mostly been used as a checking center. With that role comes an extra emphasis on killing penalties, an area he excelled in.

Each of his last three seasons in the KHL, Bardakov has averaged over 2 minutes per game on the penalty kill. So the Avalanche aren’t asking him to do anything he hasn’t done before. If anything, he’s totally comfortable with the role he’s been put in.

For someone who can’t fully understand what his coaches are saying, he’s not falling behind.

“He’s picking it up pretty fast. He’s definitely ahead of the curve,” left winger Parker Kelly said.

Bardakov, like Kovalenko last year, has latched on to Kelly and the two have been inseparable since camp began. They’ve been together on a line each day of camp and when the team goes to practice special teams, Bardakov and Kelly are out there together killing penalties. You can often see Kelly using his stick to direct Bardakov on where to go when things shift and if the young forward has any questions, he typically goes to Kelly for answers.

Does that mean Kelly has picked up any Russian over the years?

“Just all the bad words,” he joked. “(I) try to be a sounding board when they don’t know what’s going on or have questions. I can be a guy they can come to and feel comfortable asking questions.”

Bednar said he hasn’t sat down with Bardakov to go over his play thus far in camp. That will likely happen in the next few days. He’s been watching, observing and gathering tape so that when he does sit down with him, he’s accurate with the information he’s presenting Bardakov when it comes to where he’s at learning the structure of the team.

When he does sit down with him, he’ll need some help, though.

“I haven’t (learned Russian). Too busy to learn. I wish I spoke a lot of languages,” Bednar said. “I’ll use (Nichushkin) as a bit of a translator.”

News and Notes

• Sam Girard joined the Avalanche for practice for around 20 minutes on Monday, a sign he’s progressing. He has not been ruled out of the preseason and the target is still for him to be ready on opening night.
• Mackenzie Blackwood continues to progress and is taking more shots each day, but he has not joined the team for practice yet.