Articles in Colorado Avalanche

Wild Trade Brandon Duhaime To The Avalanche

03/07/2024 at 2:10pm EST

Colorado/Buffalo Trade

03/06/2024 at 2:03pm EST

Valeri Nichushkin Cleared To Practice

02/26/2024 at 12:26pm EST

NEW YORK/TORONTO (Feb. 26, 2024) – The National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players’ Association announced today that Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin has been cleared to resume practicing with the team and has entered the follow-up care phase of the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. Nichushkin has not yet been cleared to return to game action.

Nichushkin’s care continues to be administered pursuant to the player assistance program.

Valeri Nichushkin Receiving Care From The Player Assistance Program Of The NHLPA And NHL

01/15/2024 at 4:40pm EST

TORONTO/NEW YORK (Jan. 15, 2024) – The National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players’ Association announced today that forward Valeri Nichushkin of the Colorado Avalanche will be unavailable to his Club for an indefinite period while he receives care from the Player Assistance Program of the NHLPA and NHL.

Under the terms of the joint program, he will return to the Club when cleared for on-ice competition by the program administrators.

The Avalanche Need A Goaltender

01/07/2024 at 9:34am EST

from Sean Keeler of The Denver Post,

If Ivan Prosvetov hoists a Stanley Cup in Burgundy & Blue, I’ll shave my head. And my chest. Not necessarily in that order.

“We’ll see, we’ll talk about that,” coach Jared Bednar told reporters Saturday when asked about his goaltending options after the Avalanche’s hair-pulling, maddening 8-4 matinee loss to the Florida Panthers, the defending Cup runners-up.

“We’re in a stretch (where) there (are) no easy games coming up. There (are) no easy games, period. But especially the stretch we’re in, like that’s only two (down) of the top opponents we’re going to face. We’ve got another four straight with the top opponents of the league. So (Alexandar Georgiev’s) played nine in a row, played in (Saturday’s) game, (which) makes it 10. So we’ll see.”

We’ve seen enough, Coach.

Bednar’s Avs have now given up at least eight goals in a home game twice since Nov. 11. That’s already as many times as an opponent put up eight on Colorado at Ball Arena over the previous 14 seasons combined.

In other words, they’re a goalie away. Probably two, if we’re being honest.

Your move, Joe Sakic. The Avs, at present, have the look of half a contender, and the half that’s pulling the weight — that’s scoring in bunches — isn’t sustainable over a long, grueling postseason grind.

continued

Video - Late Evening Line -Mikko Rantanen

12/12/2023 at 3:40am EST

A Center Needed In Denver

12/08/2023 at 9:42am EST

from Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post,

Would the Avs rather slam their fingers in the window than hoist the Stanley Cup?

It would really hurt to waste a hockey club blessed with the generational talent of Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.

Here we are, far enough into the NHL season for anybody in this dusty old cowtown not unhealthily obsessed with the mediocre Broncos to see the Avs have as good a shot as any team in the league to win a championship this season.

Except for one troublesome thing, and it’s the same old irksome thing: Colorado still hasn’t found a solid way to replace center Nazem Kadri from the fire trucks that rode through Denver during that glorious victory parade in 2022.

There’s a nagging hole in this team’s championship dream at 2C.

Can the Avs solve this problem without making a trade? Nothing in a 4-2 loss to Winnipeg gave me much reason for optimism.

When the Avs took the ice on Thursday night, their second-line center was … Ross Colton?

continued

Video - 23 Minutes With Cale Makar

11/26/2023 at 9:52am EST

via the YouTube page of Sportsnet,

Colorado Avalanche defenceman and Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar joins Scott Oake and Greg Millen on After Hours to discuss how he developed his elite skills, bringing the Stanley Cup to his grandmother, what he's been reading, and much more.

Morning Line -Dean Evason On The Diving Avalanche

11/25/2023 at 10:02am EST

A Bad Night For The Colorado Avalanche

11/12/2023 at 5:09am EST

from Corey Masisak of the Denver Post,

If there were one or two obvious issues for the Colorado Avalanche to fix, this current slump would be pretty easy to explain away.

Instead, there are a lot of smaller fires to put out instead of one large one. And all of them were a problem Saturday night when the Avs were embarrassed in an 8-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues at Ball Arena. It was the club’s fifth loss in seven games, and the fourth time it’s lost by four-plus goals.

“Not good enough. It’s just guys quitting and not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, feeling sorry for themselves,” said an obviously frustrated Jared Bednar.

The Avs coach called the final 20 minutes a joke and the worst period he’s seen from his club.

“There’s no other explanation for it,” Bednar said when asked about he and players saying they quit in the third. “Piss-poor execution. Guys giving up all over the ice.”

continued

Watch the game highlights below.

Video- Cale Makar Okay After Falling Awkwardly Into The Boards

10/29/2023 at 5:27pm EDT

from Corey Masisak of the Denver Post,

Cale Makar left the game near the end of the second period Sunday after crashing awkwardly into the end boards, but he was able to return and play in the third, and said he should be fine moving forward following a 4-0 defeat against the Buffalo Sabres.

“I don’t really remember (what happened), to be honest with you,” Makar said of the incident. “I think a lot of it’s on me, going back slow, no effort. I don’t know if it was my right leg, I think I tried to take a stride and I don’t know if I caught myself or what happened. The next thing I knew, I was sliding into the boards....

While Makar attempted to take some responsibility for the play after the game, his teammates and his coach did not like how the play unfolded.

“It’s a penalty in my books,” defenseman Devon Toews told Altitude TV. “You learn that play in Bantam (hockey), how to get on the hips of a guy to get him off balance. You’re taught to do that when a guy is up against the boards to get him off balance and pin him.

“When you do it six feet away from the boards at speed, it gets dangerous. That’s a dangerous play. This league is trying to protect starts, trying to protect the players. That’s a play that is dangerous, in my opinion, and something that needs to be addressed.”

read on

Watch the incident below...

A Seven-Year Contract Extension For Devon Toews In Colorado

10/13/2023 at 12:13pm EDT

DENVER – The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that the team has signed defenseman Devon Toews to a seven-year contract extension that runs from the 2024-25 season to 2030-31.

Colorado acquired Toews from the New York Islanders on Oct. 12, 2020 in exchange for a second-round selection in the 2021 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. Toews is a league-best +122 since joining the Avalanche prior to the 2020-21 campaign, far ahead of the next closest player (Matthew Tkachuk, +92). In three seasons with Colorado, Toews has recorded 139 points (29g/110a) in 200 regular-season games and added 30 points (7g/23a) in 37 playoff contests. His 169 combined points during this stretch ranks sixth among NHL defensemen. The Avs are 139-45-16 (.735) in the regular season with Toews in the lineup since he joined the club.

Colorado Is The Perfect Spot For Jonathan Drouin

10/08/2023 at 9:42am EDT

from Ryan S. Clark of ESPN,

Coming here was not the only option. It was just the best one for Jonathan Drouin.

Every choice has its consequences. Other NHL teams reached out to Drouin and his representatives about joining their club. Those clubs had more salary cap space and offered more money than what the Colorado Avalanche presented to Drouin, which was a one-year contract worth $825,000 -- a substantial dip from the $5.5 million annual salary he earned over the past six seasons.

Every choice also has its advantages. Drouin makes this clear while sitting in his stall at the Avs' rustic practice facility just south of downtown Denver. One of them has to do with the stall just to the right of Drouin. Or rather, who occupies that space. It's Avs superstar center and perennial Hart Trophy candidate Nathan MacKinnon. They're best friends and have known each other for more than a decade, dating to when they were teammates with the Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Another advantage is what playing for the Avs represents. It was just this time last year that the Avs were seeking to win a consecutive Stanley Cup. They navigated a series of challenges to win the Central Division and finish with the best regular-season record in the Western Conference, only to then have their title aspirations cut short with a first-round exit by the upstart Seattle Kraken.

continued

Welcome Back Valeri Nichushkin

09/21/2023 at 5:09pm EDT

from Corey Masisak of the Denver Post,

Valeri Nichushkin’s absence from the final five games of last season became a dominant storyline as the Avalanche’s title defense fizzled with a first-round loss to the Seattle Kraken.

There are other key players who won’t be on the ice Thursday when Colorado officially opens training camp to start the 2023-24 season, but Nichushkin is expected to participate. His coach and teammates expressed support at Wednesday’s media day for a player who had been a key component of the club’s Stanley Cup run two years prior.

“(We welcomed him back) with open arms,” Avs center Nathan MacKinnon said. “We love Val. I think we just know he’s going to be here for us. He’s such an amazing player. He’s a good person at the end of the day and a great guy. We all love him.”

Nichushkin left Avs the day of Game 3 during their opening-round series with the Seattle Kraken, for what the team termed “personal reasons.” An intoxicated woman was found in Nichushkin’s hotel room that same day, and a team doctor called for an ambulance to take her to the hospital, according to a Seattle police report.

The team never acknowledged the report, nor did the Avs ever say Nichushkin was punished for what transpired. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said during the 2023 Stanley Cup Final that the league was satisfied with how the situation was handled and Nichushkin was not under investigation.

continued

Late Evening Line -Gabriel Landeskog

09/20/2023 at 11:31pm EDT
"I'm going to continue supporting my teammates and being their biggest cheerleader. The only reason I'll be not here every single day of the season is because I need to focus on what I need to do and that's to get myself better, and put myself in the best spot to continue to progress physically. I'll be supporting my teammates from a distance at times and then, at some point or another, I'll be back here rocking and rolling with the guys."

-Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche. Landeskog will miss the entire season after having cartilage replacement surgery on his knee. The AP at ESPN has more.

Tomas Tatar Signs With Colorado

09/12/2023 at 11:13am EDT

Jonathan Drouin Going To The Avs

07/01/2023 at 4:29pm EDT

It Appears Ross Colton Is Headed To Colorado

06/28/2023 at 10:58am EDT

added 11:07am,

Montreal Obtains The Rights To Alex Newhook From Colorado

06/27/2023 at 2:11pm EDT

NASHVILLE - Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced on Tuesday that the team has acquired the rights to forward Alex Newhook in exchange for Montreal's 31st (previously acquired from Florida) and 37th overall picks in 2023 and defenseman Gianni Fairbrother.

Newhook, 22, scored 14 goals and added 16 assists in 82 games with the Avalanche in 2022-23 before adding one assist in seven playoff games.

Nashville Trades Ryan Johansen To Colorado For Alex Galchenyuk

06/24/2023 at 12:10pm EDT

Nashville, Tenn. (June 24, 2023) - Incoming Nashville Predators General Manager Barry Trotz announced today that the team has acquired forward Alex Galchenyuk from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for forward Ryan Johansen. The Predators will retain 50 percent of Johansen's contract, which has two years ($8 million annual average value) remaining.


Gabriel Landeskog Will Miss The 2023-24 Season

05/09/2023 at 10:39am EDT

Done In Denver And How The Kraken Did It

05/01/2023 at 5:29am EDT

from Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post,

Where did the good times go? A scant 305 days after parading the Stanley Cup through the streets of Denver, the Avalanche dynasty crumbled.

With a 2-1 home loss on a sad Sunday night to an upstart Seattle team that had no business beating the defending NHL champs, the Avs unlaced their skates and headed home early from the playoffs, carrying with them hard questions that go far beyond woulda, shoulda, coulda.

Is this Colorado team, despite the star power of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen, a one-hit wonder?

Can Valeri Nichushkin, who mysteriously disappeared from this first-round series, be trusted as a key member of this squad going forward?

And if injured captain Gabe Landeskog, whose troubling knee injury cost him the entire season, can’t return to full health, might the roster need a major renovation instead of minor retooling?

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

continued

from Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic,

Video- The Seattle Kraken Advance To Round 2 Of The Stanley Cup Playoffs

05/01/2023 at 12:24am EDT

Seattle defeated the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 to win the series 4-3.

More later and game highlights are below.

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