Dater’s Daily: Gretzky card sells for $3.75 million, Avs get next opponent tonight

Happy Friday to all. The Avs have another practice scheduled for this morning at Ball Arena, and Colorado Hockey Now will be there. Alex Newhook hasn’t been on the ice with the fellas the last couple days, so I would say today is a big day for him, if he is to start the next round on time.

Let’s do some hockey links:

• The Avs will find out their next opponent tonight. Minnesota at Vegas, Game 7. It’s a tough one to call, but I always like the home team in a Game 7. That said, the Golden Knights suddenly have some Covid issues (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• We did a 90-minute show at the 104.3 The Fan studios yesterday, talking Avs. Here’s a link to the show (104.3 The Fan)
• With Game 1 starting Sunday at 6, everybody wants to know: when will Game 2 be? The Nuggets currently have Ball Arena on Tuesday night for Game 5 against Portland. I have no idea what day they’ll choose, but I would guess it’ll be Wednesday. Vegas/Minnesota would have to play three games in four nights if they played Game 2 on Monday. That would seem a bit cruel (snicker, snicker).
• A Wayne Gretzky O-Pee-Chee rookie card sold for….$3.75 million. Holy moly. (ESPN)
• Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Sidney Crosby says he won’t play GM. The Penguins’ future is in the hands of others. 
• Did Taylor Hall “force” his trade to the Boston Bruins (No, but he really wanted it) and get set for Round Two between the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders from the Boston side. 
• On Thursday, John Tavares surprised everyone and gave the Leafs a huge emotional boost by skating before practice.
• With their series-clinching win in Game 6 on Wednesday, the New York Islanders clinched their first series on home ice since they clinched the first-round series with the Washington Capitals in six games in the first round of the 1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs. (NYI Hockey Now)
• GM Doug Armstrong says Blues’ Cup window still open. (TSN)
• The Wild are 3-0 in Game 7s on the road in their history. And, uh, two of them happened in Denver (Startribune)
• The Golden Knights are -176 favorites to win outright tonight (SuperBook Colorado)
• Five potential trade destinations for Evgeny Kuznetsov (Hockey News)