CHN Puck Links: Nothing guaranteed, but Avs game in Tahoe still slated

Nothing can be assumed as a sure thing in these Covid-19 times, as seemingly another game or two gets postponed in the NHL every day lately. The Avs, of course, remain in shutdown mode through the 11th because of Covid protocol issues and aren’t slated to play again until Valentine’s Day, Sunday, at Vegas. Six days after that, the Avs are slated to play the Golden Knights at the Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Nevada.

Is the Avs Tahoe game in jeopardy of being postponed too? As of now, it doesn’t seem like it. This is an NHL-run event slated for national television, and you can bet your sweet bippy that the league will do its utmost to get the game in. But a big outbreak among either the Avs or Golden Knights could derail it, and the league won’t bend any rules just to play the one game.

“We are going to do what the medical people and the health authorities tell us to do,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told Colorado Hockey Now. “We aren’t going to treat any game different from any other.”

The Avs enter Tuesday with three players on the Covid list – Tyson Jost, Gabe Landeskog and Sam Girard. Let’s hope no other Avs players are added to the list today.

Some links around the league:

• Say hello to the newest addition to the Hockey Now family of sites. Presenting, Philly Hockey Now. All you Philly expats living in Denver, I expect some clicks and subscriptions from you! (Eventually, we want to have all the sites linked together for one price, but still some work to do on that).
• John Tortorella has asserted “Torts Law” in Columbus. Pierre-Luc Dubois didn’t want to play hard and was benched. Patrik Laine was the latest star player to phone-in his effort and ride pine (Sportsnet)
• Sam Bennett requested a trade out of Calgary. The NHL trade rumors have had a few murmurs, but Calgary has shut those down. Now, Bennett is getting a shot in a top-six role (Calgary Sun)
• Peyton Krebs tore it up for Team Canada. Now, he’s tearing up the AHL while he awaits the call from Vegas (Vegas Hockey Now)
•  David Pastrnak returned to the Boston Bruins lineup and promptly shredded opposing goalies and defensemen. He is the NHL’s first star of the week (Boston Hockey Now)
• The New York Islanders are starting to roll. They beat the New York Rangers on Monday night, and Semyon Varlamov was the turning point — he stuffed Artemi Panarin’s breakaway, and the Isles roared (NYI Hockey Now)
• Carter Verhaeghe is part of the Florida surge this season. He’s giving them a real bang for their buck (Florida Hockey Now)
• Some interesting NHL odds today, offered by SuperBook Colorado; for instance, the Jets are at +112 on the moneyline at most sportsbooks, but +123 at SuperBook. First-time Colorado bettors get a free first bet up to $300 too! (SuperBook Colorado)
• Anton Khudobin slept through his alarm the other day, and he’s paying for it with Dallas coach Rick Bowness (NHL.com)
• Just when Wayne Simmonds was starting to turn back the clock on his career…(NHL.com)