Dater’s Daily: Avs players migrating back to Denver, Eichel drama continues on

One more day left in the month of August, and then on into September – the month when Avs players will be back on skates on Denver ice. There is still no schedule for training camp, though it’ll start some time in the middle-to-second-half of the month.

Avs players, I’m hearing, are trickling back into town and should be starting some “captain’s skates” at some point soon. I know Darcy Kuemper, based on my talk with him last week, is planning to get to town within the next week or so. Guys with kids in school tend to come back earlier than the others, as those kids are already in class probably.

Anyway, let’s do some links from around the league:

• Vancouver Hockey Now: The Winter Olympics may have been assumed, but it wasn’t until now that the deal to get players to the games has reached the finish line. Only minutiae and wrapping up small details remain. Barring a COVID wave, players are going to the Olympics.
• Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman broke the news of the contentious meeting between all parties involved in the Jack Eichel NHL trade and medical melodrama. Absolutely nothing was accomplished.
• Detroit: Draft pundits are lauding how well the winged wheels did at the NHL draft. Some believe Stevie Y snagged THREE first-round talents.
• A wild and crazy story out of Washington Hockey Now, where our own Sammi Silber tracked down the original “Tony Soprano”, who bought his son a hockey team in 2004 (Washington Hockey Now)
• Surprise! It’s Canada vs. U.S. for the Women’s World Championship gold medal (Hockey News)
• Joe Biden is probably the biggest hockey fan of any President who has ever held office (Russian Machine Never Break)
• John Tavares is healthy again and ready to go in Toronto (NHL.com)