Deen’s Daily: An Avalanche of Questions; Makar Wants to Play vs Finland; Marchand Praised

Our Avalanche mailbag popped off with questions last week. Cale Makar skated on Sunday and wants to play. Also, Brad Marchand is getting praise from his peers at 4 Nations.

All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — February 17.

Colorado Hockey Now

We made it through a whole week without Avalanche hockey. Does anyone else miss it as much as I do? And I say that knowing very well that the 4 Nations Face-Off has delivered beyond expectation. And isn’t quite done yet.

Speaking of 4 Nations, Makar missed the big game against Team USA, but he’s hoping to get back in the lineup for Monday’s Game 7-like matchup against Finland. If Canada can beat the Finns in regulation, they’ll advance to Thursday’s championship against USA. And same goes for Artturi Lehkonen and the Finns — a regulation win puts then in the final.

Check out the responses from last week’s mailbag. You guys all crushed it with the questions. Here’s part 1, from yours truly. And part 2 can be found here, from Colleen Flynn.

Around the NHL

Boston Hockey Now: Marchand is getting high praise from his peers at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Marchand, 36, is one of thtree returnees from Team Canada’s 2016 World Cup of Hockey roster. The others, of course, are Sidney Crosby and Drew Doughty.

Florida Hockey Now: Matthew Tkachuk seems ok after missing the last 12 minutes of Saturday’s game. It sounds like he’ll skip tonight’s matchup against Sweden since America is already locked in for the championship.

NYI Hockey Now: Is Adam Pelech an option for Team Canada’s blueline at next year’s Olympics?

Philadelphia Hockey Now: The 4 Nations Face-Off has put all other All-Star games to shame. And I agree with this. Not just NHL All-Star games, but even NBA and NFL games are no match to this tournament. The NHL hit a grandslam with this.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The Americans won the battle on Saturday; the NHL is winning the war.