Dater’s Daily: Covid Disrupting NHL Again, Francouz expected to start Friday in Loveland

Good Friday morning to you all. Looks like another day in the 60s here in Denver. Just your normal December weather, in other words. Let’s do some hockey links, notes, observations, starting with news about Pavel Francouz:

• Frankie is expected to start in net for the Colorado Eagles tonight at the Budweiser Events Center. It would be his first hockey action since spraining an ankle in a preseason game. I’ll be there covering it.
• If Darcy Kuemper is on the shelf for a while with a suspected concussion, Frankie’s stay with the Eagles might be very short-lived. The Avs may want him back sooner than they’d planned, we’ll see.
• Jonas Johansson showed some good character with that 4-1 win over the Canadiens last night, one night after giving up eight goals in Toronto.
• San Jose: What a day. Evander Kane won full custody of his daughter, and his ex-wife was ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment. And Kane’s ex-wife released a video showing Kane with a gun she claimed was loaded, but his lawyers claimed it was part of a photo shoot. Full story. 
• Sportsnet: Claude Giroux to the Ottawa Senators? It’s not the first time Giroux’s name has appeared in NHL trade rumors, but the Flyers might make more moves to change the course of their season. 
• Vegas: Jack Eichel! Not long after Eichel’s disc replacement surgery, he’s back on the ice. Video of him on the ice in North Carolina–in full Vegas Golden Knights gear. 
• TSN: Montreal Canadiens trade rumors, Ottawa prefers in-house solutions to the NHL trade market, and the Arizona Coyotes vigorously denied being for sale and moving to Houston. 
• NYI: The New York Islanders are quickly falling out of that wild-card race. They lost again on Thursday night but gained a point. Their winless streak hits nine…
• Tyler Bertuzzi, the NHL’s only unvaccinated player, is in Covid protocol (Detroit Free Press)
• Meanwhile, Covid is hitting the St. Louis Blues pretty hard – and this is after other teams such as the Islanders and Senators have had Covid sweep through the team (ESPN)