Colorado Avalanche
Avs recall Jacob MacDonald, Justus Annunen for season finale
We’re finally to the end of the NHL regular season tonight. Avalanche at Minnesota Wild – a potential second-round playoff preview. We still don’t know the full lineup for tonight for the Avs, but we know Jacob MacDonald will be in the lineup and Justus Annunen will be the backup goalie to Pavel Francouz.
The Avs recalled both players last night from the Eagles, who start their own playoff series next week.
It’ll be nice to see Jacob MacDonald back in the lineup. I talked to him at length earlier this month in California, about his recovery from concussion earlier in the year.
Darcy Kuemper will not make the trip to Minnesota. He no doubt could use a couple days of rest.
I would expect Kurtis MacDermid to play tonight. Avs need to be on their toes for this one, as you know the Wild would love to get in a couple cheap shots against some good Avs players, no doubt. After that last game in Minnesota, when Nathan MacKinnon nearly injured himself in a fight, the Avs need to be ready for anything.
The Wild need to get a point to ensure home-ice advantage in their first-round series, which will be against St. Louis. So, they have something to play for. The Avs don’t. The Presidents’ Trophy is gone, after Florida’s win last night. Remember, the last eight Presidents’ Trophy winners have one thing in common: they’ve failed to win the Stanley Cup.
More lineup news here once I get it…
*Cale Makar is expected to get a night off, with MacDonald coming into the lineup.
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This game is meaningless. No mental points to gain over MN since the Blues will eliminate them anyway. Rest Mac, Makar, and Toews and let MacDermaid, MacDonald, and JJ play.
Bring up some of the other elite prospects too
I wonder if this is the game where Makar and MacKinnon are healthy scratches? I truly wish all of our top guys were sitting. This game is definitively meaningless.
Unfortunately, I have a whole bunch of Wild fans in my family and I’m gonna have to listen to them run their mouths for a while after we lose…
I think Josi wins the Norris so its good Makar gets the night off.
Agreed. I would hope Makar cares a ton more about a Cup as opposed to Norris anyway…
If it’s based solely on points probably but if it’s based on overall play then it’s Makar
The Avs have enough players to rest MacKinnon, Rantanen, Nichushkin, Makar, and Toews. They can have a lineup that continues to give Kadri time to get up to speed and let the 3rd and 4th lines play together. A possible line up could be: Burakovsky-Kadri-O’Conner/ Newhook-Compher-Lehkonen/ Cogliano-Sturm-Helm/ Aube-Kubel-Meyers-MacDermid/ Byram-Manson/ Girard-J.Johnson/ MacDonald-E. Johnson.
Probably good to give Nuke the night off and play Meyers as you state. Rants probably should play. He just had a week and half off and looked a bit rusty last night.
Whether to play Rantanen or give him a night off to avoid injury is a valid question. I can see the plusses and minuses of both. Minny has some goons and would have no problems going after our stars. Of course we could always go with the line up that the NHL projects: Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Valeri Nichushkin
Andre Burakovsky — Nazem Kadri — Mikko Rantanen
Logan O’Connor — J.T. Compher — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Andrew Cogliano — Nico Sturm — Darren Helm
Samuel Girard — Devon Toews
Jacob MacDonald — Josh Manson
Erik Johnson — Bowen Byram

Since my last post was pending approval, I will try again. Whether to play Rantanen or give him a night off to avoid injury is a valid question. I can see the plusses and minuses of both. Minny has some goons and would have no problems going after our stars. Of course the Avs can always use the line up that the NHL projects: Lehkonen-MacKinnon-Nichushkin/ Burakovsky-Kadri-Rantanen/ O’Conner-Compher-Aube-Kubel/ Cogliano-Sturm-Helm/ Girard-Toews/ MacDonald-Manson/ E. Johnson-Byram.
No offense, but why do people love Girard so much? Not being a jerk. Their defense WAS playing better before he came back. It’s humorous watching him get pushed around, however. I mean, he tries, but it’s kinda funny.
Why not start Justus in goal? What is the upside to playing Franky in a meaningless game?
Also, the Wild have multiple hateable players who are likely to take cheap shots. Deslauriers, Greenway. Dumba fortunately not in the lineup.