Morning Skate Diary
Avalanche lineup for tonight against Vegas
A new injury has popped up with the Avalanche. Matt Calvert is on the shelf again. Coach Jared Bednar said he’s been dealing with some “nagging little injuries” and will get the night off tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. Doesn’t sound serious, but you never know. Here, then, is the Avalanche lineup for tonight:
Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen
Saad-Kadri-Burakovsky
Nichushkin-Jost-Donskoi
Compher-Bellemare-O’Connor
D
Toews-Makar
Girard-Graves
Byram-MacDonald
Grubauer in goal.
NOTEBOOK: Bo Byram is back in the lineup after missing one game with a lower-body injury. He will replace Dan Renouf in the lineup. … Hunter Miska stopped 20-of-22 shots to lead the Colorado Eagles to victory last night. … . Marc-Andre Fleury was first off the ice after the morning skate, and is the presumed starter for Vegas tonight. … Avs are -176 favorites to win outright tonight, on SuperBook Colorado. SuperBook also has boosted the payout odds from +298 to +350 if Nathan MacKinnon scores and the Avs win. A $10 winning bet would give you $45 (your 10 back, plus 35). Check it out here.
Guest column: Kuemper deal seems better as the days pass
Dater’s Daily: Evander Kane situation gets uglier, Fleury will report to Blackhawks
Dater’s Daily: Colorado doc wants to do Eichel surgery, Helm departure severs last link to Wings Cup years
Darcy Kuemper: “I feel great, ready to go”
Tyson Jost signs new deal with Avalanche; Is that it for spending?
DATER COLUMN: Why the Avalanche got better today in goal with Kuemper
Is Joe Sakic at “take it or leave it” mode with Landeskog and Grubauer? Sounds like it
Gary Makar: His “other” son may make the Avs look like “geniuses” some day
Avalanche, Grubauer talks may have just hit a wall
-176? That seems crazy.
Optimists view on the Calvert situation: it means that we have 13 healthy-ish good forwards, so the team can let a player with minor nagging injuries rest.
I’ll go the opposite than, thank goodness this is his last year on his 3mil…contract
Calvert brings a lot of energy to the team and has been a great asset, but ya I don’t see him being resigned with O’Connor waiting in the wings. Calvert’s contract is only 2.8m but that give Super Joe 2.1m back towards the cap next year and Joe’s going to need all his pennies
Calvert…good guy but gone after this season. Saad won’t be retained, JT/Donskoi/Graves/Johnson…one will be picked by Seattle in the expansion draft.
Bring up Bowers next season, re-sign the captain, Makar and Gru. Make it happen Joe!