Morning skate notebook from Anaheim: Dries in, but Martin Kaut stays in too

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Avalanche just wrapped up their morning skate here at the Honda Center, with the big news happening not long after it was over – the signing of Pavel Francouz to a new two-year, $4 million contract extension.

The boys had left on the team bus before the news was out, but I’ll get some reaction from Pavel tonight after the game. He will start against the Ducks, and coach Jared Bednar said he will “re-evaluate” the goaltending situation after the game, when it comes to deciding on Saturday’s starter in L.A. against the Kings.

Not much earth-shattering stuff otherwise from the skate. Sheldon Dries will play tonight, and so will Martin Kaut. These are the lines for the Avs against the Ducks, in fact:

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Burakovsky

Nichushkin-Compher-Donskoi

Nieto-Bellemare-Kaut

Jost-Kamenev-Dries

D

Graves-Makar

Girard-Johnson

Zadorov-Cole

Francouz in net.

Bednar said there was nothing new to report with Philipp Grubauer’s condition. Mikko Rantanen remains out with a shoulder joint injury, but there is optimism it might not be any longer than a 2-4 week rehab.