Deen’s Daily: More Landeskog Talk; West Race Wraps Up — Eighth Seed in East Up For Grabs

We’ve got more to discuss about Gabriel Landeskog following the Avalanche’s optional skate on Tuesday. In the Western Conference, the playoff race wrapped up. But in the Eastern Conference, two teams are still in the running for the final wildcard spot and it’s going down to the wire.

All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — April 16.

Colorado Hockey Now

The Avalanche will have a full team practice this afternoon at Family Sports. This will give all of us the first look at how the lineup could look heading into the postseason. In regards to the injured guys, it looks like Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Nathan MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen, Valeri Nichushkin, Ross Colton, and Jonathan Drouin are all ready to go.

Josh Manson, who has been out since March, skated in Tuesday’s optional. Ryan Lindgren did not. Those are two players worth following today to see where they slot in, if at all, at practice.

Most importantly, it’ll be fun to see where Landeskog skates. Is this going to be his first real practice where he takes line rushes? I’d be interested in seeing if he wears third-line colors at practice alongside Charlie Coyle and Ross Colton. If so, it would make his possible return for Game 1 all the more realistic.

I chatted with both Coyle and Brock Nelson about the captain on Tuesday. They both said they were following his recovery before ever getting traded to Colorado. Landeskog has the whole league talking.

Around The NHL

Calgary’s Hopes Crushed: The Flames defeated the Vegas Golden Knights but didn’t get the help they needed to stay in the playoff race. Both St. Louis and Minnesota won their games, which clinched the final two spots in the Western Conference. The Blues will take on the Winnipeg Jets as the second wildcard and Minnesota is on a collision course with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Columbus Stays Alive: The Blue Jackets shutout the Philadelphia Flyers to keep their playoff hopes alive. Montreal is still in the drivers seat as they just need to collect a point to clinch the final spot. Columbus basically needs to win its last game in in regulation and Montreal needs to lose in regulation, too.

San Jose Hockey Now: Nikolai Kovalenko’s dad, Andrei, told a Russian media outlet that the former Av isn’t happy with how the Sharks deployed him following the early December trade. Kovalenko is also talking to the KHL about a return.

Also, Logan Couture officially announced his retirement from the NHL. Greg Wyshynski of ESPN said on a podcast that there was a time where Couture was on the Avs’ radar for the second-line center position. I would assume this was around the time Colorado acquired Ryan Johansen. Just a prediction on my behalf but it would’ve made sense if Couture got healthy.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The NHLPA’s player poll was released earlier this week, and Sidney Crosby is still getting some love.

Montreal Hockey Now: It’s well documented by now that Ivan Demidov had an impressive debut, scoring his first career goal and adding an assist. But he did more than just produce points.

NYI Hockey Now: Matt Martin played likely his final home game as a member of the New York Islanders. Is it time for the Isles to clean house?