The story continues to be about injuries for the Colorado Avalanche. In their first practice after knocking off the San Jose Sharks 6-2 on Saturday, Nathan MacKinnon was expectedly absent, while JT Compher and Bowen Byram each added themselves to the seemingly never-ending list of Avs injuries in the early part of this season. And it doesn’t seem like either of them will be back in the immediate future.
“Compher is going to be out approximately a month,” head coach Jared Bednar said while meeting with the media following the practice session. “[Byram] is in protocol, so he’ll be out until he feels better.”
Sam Girard was also missing from today’s skate, but Bednar clarified that it was in fact just another maintenance for Girard, which has become the norm lately as it’s safe to assume he has some type of nagging injury after he left practice last week in a bit of discomfort and that is keeping him from getting on the ice every day.
But as it always has, players coming out of the lineup, for whatever reason, gives the opportunity for others to step up. With the top line once again in need of a substitute, Logan O’Connor looks like he has gotten the next call to slot next to Gabe Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen.
Here’s how the Lines shook out:
Landeskog – Rantanen – O’Connor
Nichushkin – Kadri – Burakovsky
Jost – Newhook – Aube-Kubel
Helm – Megna – Sherwood
O’Connor has done nothing but exceed expectations since coming into the lineup amidst a myriad of injuries during the 2020 Playoff Bubble. His work ethic, willingness to bang bodies, dig pucks out, and contribute offensively has seriously caught the attention of the coaching staff.
“Every year, even as the seasons have gone on, he’s just a hard-working guy, takes a lot of pride in playing the right way, his work habits, his detail and attention to that in games and practices,” Bednar said. “He’s an easy guy to coach, and he keeps striving to get better. And he continues to.”
What is interesting about the first, I’m sure you noticed, Mikko Rantanen was skating as the center, something he did early in his career under Patrick Roy, but has done very little since.
But Bednar feels confident that Mikko, if anyone, is up to the task.
“Intelligent player,” Bednar said. “The open ice [Friday] certainly didn’t hurt him, he works to the goal lines to help out defensively, if he comes up with pucks he’s big and strong down there. Smart and good defensively, and if he comes up with pucks down low, he’s going to have it on his stick more. Little bit different workload I think, playing center, going goal line to goal line, but if anyone can handle it, I think Mikko is a real good option for us.”
There was also a notable new face on the ice today for the Avs.
Nicolas Aubé-Kubel was claimed off of waivers by the Avalanche on Friday from the Philadelphia Flyers. The pick-up initially looked like a potential 4th line upgrade over some of the current call-ups, but with the new injury to Compher, Aubé-Kubel appears like he’s going to get slotted into Colorado’s third line with Newhook and Jost.
After a pair of big wins, and more importantly, good play, this group really seems energized. For the fourth practice in a row, spirits were high, guys were chirping, play was sharp, and the team looks like they’re having fun playing hockey. Something we didn’t see in the first 10 games of the season.
The Avs head out on a two-game road trip this week that will see them take on the Vancouver Canucks, and make their first-ever trip to Seattle to take on old friend Philip Grubauer and the Seattle Kraken.
As a side note to keep an eye on, the NHL has postponed the next three Ottawa Senators games after 10 players landed in COVID protocols. It’s worth watching because the Sens are slated to be here in Denver one week from today and, with these postponements, would be their first game back in action. Any additional postponements would be mean the Avs-Sens game next week is in jeopardy.
