Deen’s Daily: Kovalenko Talks Trade to San Jose; Patrick Roy’s Fiery Postgame Comments

Will Saturday night’s matchup against the Nashville Predators be the game that turns the Avalanche’s season around? Or was it last week’s victory in Detroit? Either way, Jared Bednar’s club needs to make sure that Thursday’s 4-1 loss vs Utah was a result of a trap game, an off night, or an illness running through the dressing room. If players are getting healthy — which is still unknown — and the Avs don’t bounce back, then the three dominant games they had to close out the road trip become nothing more than another blip of strong play in a season where inconsistencies have been the norm.

Catch my 10 Observations from Thursday’s loss here, available for CHN+ subscribers. Get a membership, or gift one to a diehard Avs fan for the holidays for just $4.49/mo or one payment of $39.99 for a full year of access. It’s the best bang for your buck for professional local coverage from beat writers on the daily beat.

Local media likes to check in from time to time on Gabriel Landeskog to see if there are any updates on the captain’s status. I know you all hate reading them, I’m aware they aren’t fun to keep up with given how the past couple of years have gone, but Jared Bednar was asked about No. 92 again on Friday. His response can be found here.

Things might have changed by now, but in the early hours of the day when this piece was written, we still don’t know who’s starting for the Avalanche against Nashville. Perhaps it’s Mackenzie Blackwood, who would be making his debut with Colorado. Blackwood met with the media after morning skate on Thursday and spoke for several minutes. Catch the full availability here, courtesy of Colleen Flynn, who does an excellent job running our Colorado Hockey Now YouTube page. Don’t forget to subscribe!

Around the NHL

San Jose Hockey Now: More content on Nikolai Kovalenko, who had an excellent second game with the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. The similarities between the Kovalenko trade involving Blackwood and the one his dad was a part of 29 years ago are fascinating. Catch that in this story from Sheng Peng. The Sharks beat writer caught up with an exclusive one-on-one with the former Avs forward. You can read all about that here.

NYI Hockey Now: Speaking of the elder Kovalenko’s trade, Patrick Roy’s media outburst on Thursday is one of the more fiery things I’ve ever seen from a coach following a win, especially in December. We all know very well how much Patty not only wants to win, but wants to make sure the process is being followed. I absolutely loved the way he backed his goalie and related it to his playing days. The Islanders made several roster transactions the very next day. You have to believe it’s the head coach continuing to send a message to his club.

Chicago Hockey Now: In an effort to get their season back in the right direction, the Blackhawks called up young prospect Frank Nazar. Was it the right move?