As the 2017-18 season grows ever closer (preseason is just 24 hours away), the Colorado Avalanche have started to do some preliminary work to trim their roster down for the start of the season.

It was announced by the club on Monday morning that five players - forwards Hugo Roy and Ben Storm, defenders Josh Anderson and Tom Gregoire, and goaltender Sam Brittain - have all been reassigned to their respective clubs for the upcoming season.

Both Gregoire and Roy will head back to the QMJHL, where they’ll both re-join the Sherbrooke Phoenix for a final season. Gregoire is heading into his final regular season, while Roy will play an overage year, heading back after putting up an impressive 34 goals and 60 points in 68 games this past year.

Anderson will join Gregoire and Roy back in the major-juniors for the upcoming season, although he’s headed out west for another year with the WHL’s Prince George Cougars.

The 2016 third-round selection put up three goals and 11 points in 69 regular season games for Prince George last season - and although he boasts a stay-at-home size at 6’ 3” and 220 lbs, expect him to work on adding to his playmaking resume in another year up in Canada.

Brittain and Storm, on the other hand, are headed for the minors. They’ll both report to the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage, preparing for the upcoming season as the Rampage look to improve upon their performance from last year.

Expect Brittain to potentially see yet another reassignment, as the former Florida Panthers draft selection has bounced up and down between the AHL and the ECHL during his career and spent the majority of his tenure last year with the ECHL’s Manchester Monarchs.

Ben Storm, on the other hand, should remain with the Rampage for the foreseeable future. A sixth-round selection of the Avalanche from the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, the 23-year-old left wing (who spent plenty of his time patrolling the blue line as well) went pro with the Rampage this past spring out of the NCAA’s St. Cloud State and will look to remain at the AHL level as long as possible.

The team still has a lion’s share of cuts left to make before the final NHL roster has been fleshed out, but this is a good start.

See the rest of the team’s prospects in action on Tuesday, when they host the Vegas Golden Knights for the team’s first preseason game of the year.