- The Avalanche have recalled center Ben Meyers from AHL Colorado, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 24-year-old played in Tuesday’s series opener against Seattle but didn’t suit up two nights later, resulting in his assignment to the Eagles, one that turned out to be a very quick one. Meyers played in 39 games with the Avs this season, picking up four goals but was much more productive in the minors with 24 points in 30 games.
Avalanche Rumors
Michael Bunting Suspended Three Games
The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has announced that Toronto Maple Leafs forward Michael Bunting has been suspended for three games for his hit on Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak. Bunting will miss games 2-4 of the Lightning-Leafs first round series while Cernak will not play in game two on Thursday after taking the hit to the head.
Tampa Bay could also be without the services of defenseman Victor Hedman, who will be a game time decision for game two. Hedman also left the Lightning’s 7-3 victory with an undisclosed injury and did not return. The hit on Cernak led to a match penalty and a five-minute powerplay that the Lightning ultimately cashed in on twice. Tampa Bay was 4-8 on the man advantage in game one.
Bunting has been a revelation for the Leafs after coming over from the Arizona Coyotes on a two-year deal. After putting up 63 points last season in 79 games, this year he put up 49 points in 82 games. Despite his strong offensive numbers, the Bunting incident is eerily similar to the suspension issues the Maple Leafs dealt with when Nazim Kadri was in Toronto. He had several incidents in the playoffs that eventually led to a trade to the Colorado Avalanche and now Bunting has had a few issues this season with various run-ins with the league. However none have led to suspensions until his hit in game one.
Jack Johnson’s Injury Not Believed To Be Serious
Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told Ryan Boulding of NHL.com that he doesn’t believe the injury to Jack Johnson is serious and he has the defenseman as day to day. Johnson was scratched late on Tuesday night before their game one matchup with the Seattle Kraken. Erik Johnson took his spot on the blue line in the 3-1 loss.
Jack Johnson had signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks last summer after winning his first Stanley Cup with Colorado. The Michigan alum then returned to the Avalanche in a midseason trade with the Chicago Blackhawks. Overall, the former third overall pick had two goals and six assists in 83 games split between both teams.
While Jack Johnson doesn’t possess the offensive abilities that he once did and has struggled at times in his own end, he is likely the best fit for Colorado’s third pairing. If he can play in game two on Thursday it would likely bump Erik Johnson back out of the lineup. The 2006 first overall pick has struggled this season after putting up a respectable 25 points just last year.
The Avalanche currently find themselves down 1-0 to the lower seeded Kraken as they begin the defense of the Stanley Cup. They are already missing Gabriel Landeskog and Josh Manson and can ill afford to lose any more bodies as they try to claw back even in their series with Seattle.
Colorado Avalanche Recall Keith Kinkaid
The Colorado Avalanche recalled Keith Kinkaid from the AHL Colorado Eagles to serve as the team’s emergency backup goaltender during the playoffs, the team said Tuesday.
Kinkaid, 33, spent most of this season in the minors with the Providence Bruins but got into some action with the Eagles after Colorado acquired him from Boston on February 25. In 27 games with the Bruins and Eagles, Kinkaid had a 12-10-4 record with a 2.92 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
In his lone action with Colorado this season, Kinkaid made eight saves on nine shots in relief in a March 4 game against the Dallas Stars.
Kinkaid has NHL experience, having played in 169 games over the course of his career with the New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens, and New York Rangers, including one appearance each this season with Boston and Colorado. He has a career record of 70-58-21 with a 2.91 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
For the time being, Kinkaid will be Colorado’s third option in goal behind starter Alexandar Georgiev and backup Pavel Francouz, who was cleared to play last week after missing nearly two months with a lower-body injury.
The Eagles are in the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs and begin their First Round series against the Ontario Reign tomorrow night. Kinkaid will likely stay up with the NHL club for the time being, as he’s been outperformed in the minors by both Jonas Johansson and Justus Annunen this season.
PHR Playoff Primer: Colorado Avalanche vs. Seattle Kraken
With the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs now underway, PHR makes its first foray into playoff series analysis with our 2023 Playoff Primers. Where does each team stand in their series, and what storylines could dominate on and off the ice? We wrap up our First Round coverage with the Central Division matchup between the Colorado Avalanche and Seattle Kraken.
Some in NHL circles had optimistic expectations for the initial Seattle Kraken roster after their expansion draft and free agency period. While there were notable names general manager Ron Francis opted not to add to his lineup, the team he constructed was analytically sound and, if their transition game held up, could be competitive in a weak Western Conference.
Needless to say, it didn’t turn out that way. A finish near the bottom of the league gave Seattle two high-end center prospects in their first two drafts, with one of them the frontrunner for this year’s Calder Trophy. Slightly improved goaltending and high-end depth scoring have positioned the Kraken as the most-improved expansion team from year 1 to 2 in NHL history, but their first foray into the postseason won’t be easy.
Despite finishing with 100 points, Seattle failed to clinch a divisional playoff spot thanks to other divisional rivals going on massive winning streaks at the right time. Unfortunately, that means they face off against the Colorado Avalanche, who finished third in the conference despite significant injuries and, if you happened to forget, are the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Regular Season Performance
Colorado: 51-24-7, 109 points, +54 goal differential
Seattle: 46-28-8, 100 points, +33 goal differential
Head-To-Head
October 21, 2022: Seattle 3, Colorado 2
January 21, 2023: Colorado 2, Seattle 1 (SO)
March 5, 2023: Seattle 3, Colorado 2 (OT)
Seattle takes the season series 2-0-1
Team Storylines
Seattle will need all hands on deck if they’re to win their first-ever playoff series against Colorado. The Avalanche are as healthy as they’re going to get to start the postseason, and they finished the regular season on an 8-1-1 tear.
That means a lot of pressure on rookie Matthew Beniers, the presumptive Calder Trophy winner who centers the team’s top line between Jared McCann and Jordan Eberle. He finished fourth on the team in scoring with 57 points in 80 games, but it’s his strong two-way game that grabbed the attention of most this season, especially for such a young player.
It begs the question — will Beniers see matchups against Nathan MacKinnon? If so, can his promising defensive analytics yield success for the Kraken in helping to slow down one of the best playoff performers in recent memory? Few would be surprised to see coach Dave Hakstol utilize a more experienced option at center against MacKinnon, such as Alexander Wennberg or Yanni Gourde, but Beniers’ all-around play in the regular season has earned him a chance at heavy usage in the playoffs.
The larger factor that could lead to a Kraken upset, though, is their well-balanced attack. Seattle had six 20-goal scorers this season, including bottom-six talents Oliver Bjorkstrand and Daniel Sprong. While goals from your bottom six are generally a key to success in the playoffs, some numbers suggest the Kraken have scored more goals than they’ve earned. The Kraken scored 32.6 goals above expected at even-strength this season, per MoneyPuck, leading the league by a wide margin. If their elite finishing runs dry, it could be a quick exit for Seattle.
In net for Seattle will be Philipp Grubauer, who had some decent playoff outings in past years while a member of the Avalanche. He’s seemed to regain some of his former touch after an incredibly disappointing first year with the Kraken, posting a 14-7-3 record and .902 save percentage in 26 games since the calendar turned to 2023.
For Seattle to pull off the upset, he’ll need to match his Colorado counterpart. Alexandar Georgiev has quietly given the Avalanche high-end goaltending in his first season with the team. The 27-year-old silenced all doubts by starting 62 games, leading the league with 40 wins, and stopping 21.9 goals above expected (MoneyPuck). He’ll be making his first career playoff start tonight, though, only appearing in two games in relief during last year’s playoff run with the New York Rangers.
Colorado’s secondary objective in this series, other than continuing their championship defense, will be to escape without another significant injury. They’ll be without captain Gabriel Landeskog for the entire postseason, and all of their right-side defenders (Cale Makar, Bowen Byram, and Josh Manson) have missed significant periods of time.
Staying healthy allows Colorado to match Seattle at their strength — scoring from the middle six. Colorado’s top talent obviously overtakes that of Seattle, and while only Artturi Lehkonen registered 20 goals this year outside of MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, a healthy group of depth forwards can still score enough to give Colorado a series win.
Prediction
There’s no question the Kraken will come out excited, especially given their opponent. But hoping for some expansion team magic in the style of the Vegas Golden Knights’ first playoff appearance may be a little misguided.
Questions about consistency in goal still plague the Kraken, and, if Georgiev maintains his regular season performance, are enough to be the difference in this series alone. Colorado’s healthy top four on defense still remains the best in the West and are a viable antidote to Seattle’s consistent offense.
The prediction: Colorado wins in five games.
Gabriel Landeskog Will Not Return For Playoffs
A significant blow has been dealt to the Colorado Avalanche’s hopes of defending their 2022 Stanley Cup championship. Per a team announcement, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog’s knee injury will keep him from returning to the active roster and playing in the playoffs.
The announcement makes it official that Landeskog will miss the entirety of the 2022-23 campaign. He underwent knee surgery in October, and at the time his recovery was expected to take around 12 weeks.
Obviously, Landeskog’s recovery hasn’t been quite as fast, and in early March Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar called Landeskog’s recovery a “slow-moving process” that hadn’t yet resulted in his return to practice.
The 30-year-old is, when healthy, among the Avalanche’s most important contributors and when paired with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen can give Colorado what is likely the best line in hockey.
While Colorado hasn’t taken a major step back in his absence (they’re just one point behind the Dallas Stars for the Central Division title with a game in hand) his production has been and will continue to be a challenge to replace.
Landeskog scored 30 goals and 59 points in just 51 games last season and added 11 goals and 22 points in the Avalanche’s successful playoff run last season.
In recent games, the Avalanche have played Evan Rodrigues in Landeskog’s traditional first-line left wing spot, and while Rodrigues is a solid, productive middle-sixer (15 goals and 36 points in 67 games this year) he can’t offer nearly what Landeskog can.
At the very least, Avalanche fans can take solace in the fact that their team has had since the start of the season to find a way to survive without Landeskog, and as mentioned they’ve done more than just keep their heads above water this season.
So while this announcement confirming Landeskog will not return for the playoffs certainly makes winning a second-straight Stanley Cup more of a challenge, it’s still entirely possible that the Avalanche still find their way to hockey’s summit once again.
They remain a deep squad with some of the best high-end talent in the NHL, and they’ve already spent the last few months proving to rival teams that they can still dominate games even without their captain on the ice.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Artturi Lehkonen Could Return Before End Of Season
As the season comes to a close, Dallas currently sits in second place in the Central Division of the Western Conference. With two games remaining, each against the Blues, Dallas sits one point back of the division-leading Avalanche, who have the same amount of games played.
- Although it has come seldomly this season, the Colorado Avalanche may have a positive injury update before the season is over. Ryan Boulding, a correspondent for the NHL, is reporting that Artturi Lehkonen may be back for the final two games of the regular season. The forward has been out since the team’s March 13th game against the Montreal Canadiens. Even after missing a month of the season, Lehkonen is enjoying a career year in his first full year in Colorado. In 62 games for the Avalanche, the Finnish forward has scored 20 goals and 29 assists. If the Avalanche are to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, Lehkonen will be an important piece to that puzzle.
- On the negative side of the injury front for Colorado, Ryan Boulding is also reporting that Darren Helm may not be ready for the playoffs. Helm has been injured for most of this year, only suiting up in 11 games for the Avalanche. Although his contributions are low this season, Helm can be an important piece come playoff time. Not a top threat in any lineup, he has scored big game-winning playoff goals, most notably in Game 5 of the 2009 Western Conference Finals, and Game 6 of the 2022 Western Conference semi-finals.
Colorado Avalanche Re-Sign Callahan Burke
The Colorado Avalanche have re-signed depth forward Callahan Burke, the team announced Wednesday afternoon. The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando says it’s a one-year extension for Burke, who will remain in Colorado through 2024.
Burke, 26, will stick around as an impactful top-nine forward in the minors for the Colorado Eagles. Brought into the organization on an AHL contract by the Eagles out of the University of Notre Dame, Burke made his NHL debut earlier this season for an injury-ravaged Avalanche team. After playing in two games in December 2022, he’s still looking for his first NHL point.
A two-time Big Ten champion with Notre Dame in 2018 and 2019, it’s been a long road to NHL relevancy for Burke. Yet he’s managed to work his way into a rather important spot for the Eagles, where he sits third in scoring with 37 points (16 goals, 21 assists) in 68 games.
Burke was a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights before agreeing to the extension. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2024.
Gabriel Landeskog Unlikely To Return In Regular Season
- According to Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, it appears unlikely that team captain Gabriel Landeskog will play in any of the team’s four remaining regular season games. Bednar confirmed Sunday that Landeskog has not yet resumed practicing with the team and is unlikely to do so before the end of the regular season. A playoff return hasn’t been ruled out for Landeskog, who will miss all 82 regular season games with a knee injury.
Snapshots: Byram, Haula, O’Brien
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram will not be in the lineup tonight per Bennett Durando of the Denver Post. The 21-year-old is battling an illness and will sit out the Avalanche contest against the Los Angeles Kings in a showdown between two playoff-bound Western Conference teams. Byram has 23 points in 39 games played this season.
He missed significant time earlier this season with injury, but this absence appears to be short term since it is an illness and not an injury. Byram joins Cale Makar and Josh Manson on the sidelines for the Avalanche who will be a bit shorthanded on the blue line as they try to catch the Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division standings.
- Erik Haula is not in the New Jersey Devils lineup tonight according to Amanda Stein, the lead reporter for the team. Haula has played all 79 games for the Devils before tonight’s contest, but has taken consecutive maintenance days at practice leading up to today. With the playoffs just around the corner, it will be worth keeping an eye on Haula’s status in the coming days to see if he can get back in the lineup before the postseason.
- Elliotte Friedman of Hockey Night In Canada reports former first-round draft pick Jay O’Brien is not going to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers. O’Brien just played his final college season with Boston University, scoring eight goals and 32 points in 39 games. He was taken 19th overall in the 2018 NHL Draft and the Flyers have until this August to sign him or allow him to become an unrestricted free agent. Friedman said on “32 Thoughts” segment that O’Brien will not be joining the Flyers and will become a free agent later this summer. The Flyers will receive an additional second round draft pick as compensation for not signing a former first round pick.