Hammond: My Avs Christmas Wish List

What a crazy time to be alive. That’s all I could think of when I got the email stating the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames would have all of their games postponed ‘tll after the holidays. 

To say the Colorado Avalanche were on a “hot” streak would be an understatement. They had won 13 out of 17 and were scoring goals practically with their eyes closed. Darcy Kuemper had been playing well with a 2.77 GAA and .907 save percentage. The team just got backup goaltender Pavel Francouz, as well as JT Compher a couple of games before him. Things were already going well for the team but more important: the team was starting to get healthy.

Then there was the game against the Nashville Predators last Thursday night. For the first time ever, I don’t think Twitter was able to keep up with all of the player updates. First, it was Andre Burakovsky and JT Compher. Then, Kuemper and Cale Makar, on top of Devon Toews and Gabriel Landeskog already being out as well. The Avs lost the game 5-2. Francouz found out he was starting 90 minutes before puck drop. Some notice is better than none I guess. Turns out that would be the last game the Avs would play ’til after the holidays.

Now, the Avs will have to add four games to their already jam-packed schedule. Coach Bednar spoke about it briefly after last Tuesday’s 4-2 win over the New York Rangers, but the team is already playing every other night. Squeezing in four games is going to be a challenge for everyone. But, if the NHL doesn’t do the Olympics in Beijing, as Terry Frei wrote about today, the three weeks that would have been lost to the NHL schedule can be utilized for make-up games. Or, at least one would presume.

As always we hope for a quick and safe recovery for the players who tested positive with COVID. For the players who did not, let’s hope this is a nice quarter-season break to heal up some of those lingering and small injuries.

We are not starting 2022 with negative and bad news! We are going to be positive and look for the positives in crappy situations. I’ll start. I am scheduled to be in Las Vegas for the game on Dec. 27, which would be my first game ever on the road as a credentialed reporter. Please, Covid Gods, let this game happen! (Dater edit: The Tip Jar is open for her trip, folks. Let’s put her up at a good strip hotel, instead of out in Death Valley). But seriously, I hope with this 2-week break the team comes back refreshed, mostly injury-free and are able to pick up right where they left off. Scoring an abundance of goals, rock-solid defense led by the magical abilities of Cale Makar and two healthy goalies.Alright, maybe this was more of a wish list than anything. Santa did you get everything?