Exclusive: Ryan Graves Avs Playoff Diary; On life in the bubble and his hotel room putting game

EDMONTON, ALBERTA – Ryan Graves continues to be a revelatory find for the Colorado Avalanche, a Nova Scotia kid who toiled in the minors for several years before having a big, bust-out year for the Avs in 2019-20. The NHL’s plus-minus leader in the regular season (+40), Graves now plays on the top-2 Avs defense alongside partner Cale Makar.

Graves, like the rest of his Avalanche teammates, is holed up at the J.W. Marriott in Edmonton for the Western Conference playoffs. He was a leading man in the Avs’ 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues in their round-robin game on Monday, scoring the Avs’ first goal.

On Tuesday, in the first of an occasional series, Graves took some time to give Colorado Hockey Now a first-person account of what life has been like for him so far in Edmonton:

You could only take a couple bags with you on the trip here, so I couldn’t pack a ton of stuff. But I did take a few books, and I also took my putter and a little putting hole. I got a little putting green going on here in my room. My putting’s only been OK. The room’s got a little left-to-right break to it, so it’s not as straightforward as most hotel rooms seem to be.