Bo Byram Update; Avalanche Lines, D Pairs And Goalie For Predators

Yesterday in some mixing up of the lines, J.T. Compher appeared to be the first-line center. Coach Bednar confirmed today to us that Mikko Rantanen will in fact, be moving back to right wing and Compher moves into the center position. That leaves Artturi Lehkonen to fill in on the left wing. The Avalanche had an optional skate this morning. Only about half of the team showed up, including Pavel Francouz. He had missed the last couple of days due to an illness, but seems to be feeling better.

Andreas Englund Interview

I had a chance to talk to Andreas Englund today. I caught some video yesterday of him learning a few things from Kurtis MacDermid about fighting. I asked what MacDermid was teaching him at Avalanche practice yesterday:

“I can’t give up all the secrets he’s, you know, he’s a great fighter and he knows what he’s doing so just take advantage of him but try to learn stuff from him for sure,” Englund said. “He got into a couple of tips and tricks that, you know, that he likes, the way he sees fighting and it definitely helps. I think helps. Yeah, trying to learn stuff and good timing and stuff.”

I asked him, other than MacDermid, who has helped him the most since coming up to the Avalanche:

“Yeah, I would say EJ. We played a lot, especially in the beginning of my stretch there. He was great, helping me get into the NHL again in those first couple of games. That was great,” he said.

Jared Bednar Interview

We started out asking about Bo Byram right away:

“Yeah, he’s still week to week. He’s making progress for sure. But he’s not, he still hasn’t moved ahead in this timeline,” he said.

Byram watched the morning skate from the bench, seemingly in good spirits. The team maintains it’s a lower-body injury with him.

We asked about the slow starts in the previous game and how to deal with it as well:

“They gotta get ready to go. They know how important the start is. You know, it’s not like our starts have been horrible. We’re home and we’re settled in. We had a good skate yesterday and workout. Guys are in there working today in the gym, doing what they need to do to get ready. You know, everyone wants something a little bit different, which is why I don’t mind going optional (skates),” he said.

Projected Lines

Forwards

Lehkonen- Compher-Rantanen

Nichushkin-Rodrigues-Newhook

Cogliano-Meyers-LOC

D. Hunt- Hudon- Foudy

Defensemen

Girard-Makar

Toews-EJ

Englund-B. Hunt

Goalies

Georgiev

Francouz

Georgie, indeed, gets the start tonight.