Dater’s Daily Links: Avalanche with another scout in Winnipeg last night

Has everybody gotten all their Stadium Series frustrations off their chests by now? Good, let’s move on to some real hockey talk again.

• The Avalanche had a top pro scout (not going to reveal the name) at the Winnipeg-Chicago game last night, at the MTS Centre. The Avs have been scouting the Jets a fair amount of late, especially in Winnipeg. Sometimes, that can be deceptive though. For instance, the Vancouver Canucks almost always have a scout at the Pepsi Center for Avs games, but he’s a “local” scout who lives in the Denver area. Same with a Pittsburgh Penguins scout, and one from the Kings.
• That said, I’m not aware of any Avs scout who has their base in Winnipeg, so something may be brewing between the teams. I’ll eat my hat if the Bo Byram-Kyle Connor rumors come to fruition (one high-ranking member of the Avs organization asked me what I was “smoking” when I ran the rumor by him, so there you go).
• Some good analysis of the Blake Coleman-to-Lightning trade of yesterday. There was a report that the Avs had gotten Coleman, but it wasn’t true. (Hockey News).
• Why Cale Makar remains the heavy favorite to win the Calder. (Hockey News)
• More updates on Jay Bouwmeester’s health (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• Some Chris Kreider scuttlebutt (New York Post)