Avs Morning Skate: Resilience is being tested

Good morning from Ball Arena!

The resiliency of the Avs is being tested yet again… We can confirm that Nathan MacKinnon will indeed not play tonight, as he remains out in covid protocol. New to that list is veteran D-man Jack Johnson, who, as AD first reported this morning, has also tested positive for covid, though he is asymptomatic. He will also not play tonight.

Here’s a list of players who are unavailable to the Avs: MacKinnon (covid), Johnson (covid), Gabe Landeskog (suspension), Val Nichushkin (wrist injury, week to week). Yikes.

Dylan Sikura and Stefan Matteau were recalled yesterday. There’s a good chance they could both play tonight.

Avs head coach Jared Bednar would not divulge any lineup details, but did indicate he’ll try out a few different options.

Here’s what lines looked like last game:

L̶a̶n̶d̶e̶s̶k̶o̶g̶ – Kadri – Rantanen

N̶i̶c̶h̶u̶s̶h̶k̶i̶n̶ – Compher – Burakovsky

Ranta – Jost – N̶e̶w̶h̶o̶o̶k̶

Helm – Megna – O’Connor

On Defense:

Girard – Makar

Byram – EJ

Murray – J̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶J̶o̶h̶n̶s̶o̶n̶

Kurtis MacDermid spoke with the media this morning so it’s assumed he’ll be in as well. Whether he’ll be in at forward or defense is the question, but with Jack Johnson out, it’s assumed he’ll play on D, though we could see some forward too.

Other news and notes:

• Coach Bednar and Joe Sakic met with Alex Newhook recently. Bednar confirmed that Newhook’s reassignment to the Colorado Eagles was due to performance.
• It was also in part due to cap space issues.
• Darren Helm was on the ice but is considered questionable after being “banged up a bit” in the Chicago game
• Also “banged up” after the last game was Andre Burakovsky. He looked healthy and well in morning skate and should also play tonight.
• Gabe Landeskog was also on the ice for morning skate, though he will not play in the next two games after being suspended for this hit.
• The Avalanche will honor the late, great Pierre Lacroix tonight. The team will be raising a banner in his honor tonight and a few former Avs greats will be in attendance.
• Peter Forsberg, Ray Bourque, Adam Foote and Milan Hejduk will be there, among a few others.
• In Colorado Eagles news, Mikhail Maltsev…

Game 1 of the AHL season and Mikhail Maltsev is already setting the bar pretty high for the @ColoradoEagles with this power-play goal. @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/boCljISexm

— Kevin McGlue (@kmcglue) October 16, 2021

Be in your seats by 5:55 p.m. MT tonight for Lacroix’s ceremony.