Evan’s NHL Daily: MacFarland ‘Concerned’ About Georgiev’s Workload, Landeskog Skates

It was a big day around the Colorado Avalanche, as Gabriel Landeskog moved one step closer to a return to NHL ice. Granted, there are A LOT more steps for him to go through, but it has to start somewhere, and it’s was just good to see him back on the ice. His teammates loved it as well.

Meanwhile, Chris MacFarland is going to be on a podcast next week with Frank Seravalli, but the insider let out a little nugget of information from his conversation with the Avalanche GM that was pretty interesting.

All that and more in this Friday edition of Evan’s Daily.

Colorado Hockey Now

Looking back at the win over the Golden Knights and reflecting on how dominant Valeri Nichushkin has become.

Yes, he’s still a long way away from returning to NHL action, but it was just good to see Gabriel Landeskog back on the ice Thursday.

There’s a chance Colorado gets Artturi Lehkonen back on this road trip, but still some questions around when Miles Wood will return.

You can get a subscription to CHN+ for $29.99 a year with the code “evan10” and get access to the + content on every site in the network. In addition to the + content, everything will be ad-free, which is the biggest perk.

Georgiev Workload Concern

On the DFO Rundown podcast that was released on Thursday, Frank Seravalli let it be known that he talked to Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland this week. They had a conversation that will release next week on his podcast “Frankly Speaking.” While the podcast obviously isn’t out, Seravalli gave a little nugget of information that came out in their discussion.

Here’s what he had to say.

“Had an interesting chat yesterday with Avs GM Chris MacFarland, which drops next week on ‘Frankly Speaking.’ Look, it’s a really good team. I think he acknowledges that. I think he said how aggressive they are at the deadline will kind of become self-evident based the way that they play. But I think figuring out their goaltending situation is going to be of paramount importance to them. We’ve talked about it, in how they’re running Georgiev into the ground, and he admitted that he’s concerned. He said in an ideal world, he’d like to have him much closer to 55 games. He’s on track for 68. Right now, at the halfway point of the season, he’s already made three more starts than anyone else. That obviously doubles into six more than anyone else. Then you compound whoever else you might be facing, you’re dealing with a guy who’s probably not going to be very fresh. And you’ve sort of admitted to everyone else around the league, because of the way that you’ve ran him out there, you don’t really believe in Ivan Prosvetov. I’d be really surprised if the Avs don’t go out and get a goalie. I’m not saying it’s going to cost them a lot of assets, but it may cost them some cap space, and I do think they’re in a spot where they also need to be judicious with their assets.”

He went on to talk about the big contracts on the team, and how they have to re-sign Mikko Rantanen. You also have to account for Landeskog coming back with his cap hit. He talked about the Avalanche needing entry-level players in the salary cap world of the NHL, and hinted that they talked about it on the podcast.

While it’s not a huge surprise given the light workload they’ve given Prosvetov, I guess we need to take a look at what NHL goalies could make sense for the Avalanche. Seems like a lot of teams need help in net, so they won’t be alone looking for a goalie.

We’ll look for that conversation with MacFarland when it comes out next week.

Around The NHL

Trevor Zegras might be on the trade block, but he won’t be going anywhere anytime soon because of an injury. Zegras broke his ankle the other night and needs 6-8 weeks to recover.

Injury Update: Trevor Zegras suffered a broken ankle on Tuesday and will have surgery in the near future. He will be out approximately 6-8 weeks.

In the same game, Pavel Mintyukov suffered a separated shoulder and will be out approximately six weeks.https://t.co/dVPHlhrPSB

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) January 11, 2024

National Hockey Now

Looks like there might be a goaltending controversy with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

East Coast NHL fans have it tough when their team heads out West, especially when they keep going to overtime like the Boston Bruins have been.

The Red Wings reaction to a loss says a lot about their progress.

Never good to be embarrassed by the worst team in the NHL, but that’s what happened to the Canadiens.

Tage Thompson scores a few to get the Sabres a big win over a bad team.