‘They’ve Gotten Better’ – Bednar On Chances For Kadri/Cogliano Return

On his Altitude radio show this morning, Jared Bednar gave a more upbeat assessment on the possibility that injured Avalanche forwards Nazem Kadri and Andrew Cogliano could still return to play in the Stanley Cup Final.

Asked if the chances of Kadri and/or Cogliano have gotten better, less or stayed the same, Bednar said, “I think they’ve gotten better. I think there’s a possibility that we see one or both of those guys. Time will tell. It’s still a day-to-day process. They’re putting in a bunch of work in the training room to get ready and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to see them at some point.”

The Avalanche main guys did not practice today, with Game 2 of the Final not until Saturday at Ball Arena. But here is some video from TSN’s Ryan Rishaug of Kadri:

Kadri on the ice again today, this time with a stick and doing some light puck handling. pic.twitter.com/m0kVeR6UML

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) June 16, 2022

The town is still buzzing from the Avs’ overtime victory in Game 1 last night. Avalanche Mania is now definitely a thing again, and Bednar said, on his show, that the crowd was a factor in the game.

“It’s certainly an energy-booster for our team. There’s a buzz. It’s a big difference-maker,” he said.

Asked if it was a difficult decision to start Darcy Kuemper in Game 1, Bednar also said on his show: “It was pretty easy. He was healthy, had a great week of practice. To me, it’s his net, and (let’s) see what he can do. That’s what we brought him in for.”