Dater’s Daily Links: Avalanche games in Finland games postponed

Tough news this morning for the many Avs fans based in Europe: The Avalanche games in Finland, which were scheduled for some time this fall, have been postponed. Chalk up another one for the coronavirus.

By my unofficial count, this is the second time Avalanche games in Finland have been nixed. The first were slated to happen in 2001, but 9-11 took care of that. Let’s hope they can be played again some time, because we all know there are a ton of great Avs fans overseas.

I know that guys such as Mikko Rantanen and Joonas Donskoi were really looking forward to these games, for obvious reasons. Rantanen was planning on having the whole team over to his place for a visit, for one thing.

Some links on a Friday in May:

• The Maple Leafs are not officially treating this shutdown as an “offseason” (Hockey News)
• The Brendan Leipsic story is not pretty (Hockey News)
• How going to your local hockey rink is likely to change – maybe forever (Hockey News)
• More from Larry Brooks: The NHL may be leaning toward a 24-team playoff (NY Post)
• As for where the playoffs might be played: I don’t think the Avalanche/Denver has submitted a formal proposal to have them. Could they still submit one? I guess, but it’s probably too late in the day for that.
• Jeff Carter’s days as an NHL player may be over. The story I’m linking to says he has a “core muscle” injury, but it’s fairly common knowledge Carter has bad lower-back issues. (NBC)

PANDEMIC POP-CULTURE RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK

Fiona Apple’s new album “Fetch the Bolt Cutters”. Phenomenal. Sonically, it’s one of the better albums I’ve ever heard.