Deen’s Daily: Girard Reflects on Trade Seven Years Later; Lehkonen’s Successful Return; Holloway Scare

Following the Avalanche’s practice on Thursday, I went into the dressing room looking for Samuel Girard. It was the day before the seventh anniversary of the whopper Matt Duchene trade, and Girard, 19 years old at the time, was one of the intriguing pieces heading to Colorado.

Girard was already gone, but after a quick chat with Avs PR and explaining what I wanted to write about, they went looking for him and brought him back for a quick interview. Before I started recording, Girard took a moment to just sit in shock at the idea that it had already been seven years. But he was beyond excited to relive the experience. I truly do appreciate him opening up and sharing a lot of what I didn’t know about how things went down for him.

We’ve spent so many years looking at this trade from Duchene’s angle. But Girard’s story was worth telling, and I’m glad he and head coach Jared Bednar were generous with their time with me 1-on-1 to help me put it all together.

You can read the story here. It’s behind a paywall and only available for CHN+ subscribers. These are the stories I enjoy telling — the ones that fans truly deserve to read. Please do consider subscribing. My colleague Colleen Flynn and I are only scratching the surface of what we have planned for the season. We’d love to have you join us for the ride.

Lehkonen: Welcome back, Artturi.

In his first game of the season, Lehkonen was slotted on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen and quickly made an impact. He had a goal and an assist, was great on the PK and the PP, and helped his linemate elevate their play. MacKinnon put up five assists and Mikko Rantanen scored twice — his first goals in nine games.

The Avs doubled up the Seattle Kraken 6-3.

MacKinnon/Makar Streaks: Cale Makar had two assists against the Kraken before leaving the game with an injury. Bednar was asked about his status postgame but said he didn’t have an update. Makar played one shift in the third period after sitting out the last part of the second.

“He tweaked something,” Bednar said.

But before his injury, his two assists, along with MacKinnon’s dominant night, extended both of their season-opening point streaks to 13 games. There were a bunch of records they both matched or inched closer to.

Around The NHL

Dylan Holloway: Blues forward Dylan Holloway suffered an injury scare on Tuesday after blocking a shot with his neck. He finished his shift and went to the bench before eventually needing to leave the game in an ambulance for further evaluation. The initial reports back from the team are positive. The entire hockey team wishes him the best in his recovery.

Boston Hockey Now: The Bruins had two shutout wins over the weekend. But, the script was flipped on them on Tuesday, in a loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Just as things were starting to look up for the Pens, they blew a lead to a struggling team.