Sampo Ranta And Anton Blidh Recalled
- As expected, the Avalanche have recalled wingers Sampo Ranta and Anton Blidh from the minors, per the AHL’s transactions listing. Colorado has been shuffling waiver-exempt players back and forth all season long in an effort to try to bank some extra cap space, something that is harder to do with the team currently in LTIR. Ranta and Blidh have played in three and four games respectively with the Avs so far this season.
Today’s Nashville-Colorado, Tomorrow’s Nashville-Columbus Game Postponed
3:16 pm: Not much of a surprise, the NHL has announced that tomorrow’s game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena has been postponed as well. Like today’s game, this one also has not yet been rescheduled. The Blue Jackets host the New York Islanders tonight, but will now stay home to take on the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday. Nashville’s next game is currently scheduled for Tuesday at home against the Anaheim Ducks, but the team hits the road after. The NHL hasn’t announced a decision on Tuesday’s game just yet.
8:58 am: Happy Thanksgiving, Nashville – the rink is flooded. The NHL has announced that because of a water main break in Bridgestone Arena, today’s game between the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche will be postponed. There has not yet been a makeup date announced.
The “significant impact” on the event level has even put tomorrow’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets in jeopardy, though the league has not made a decision yet on whether it will be held.
That means it could be a rather significant break for the Predators, who last played on Wednesday and wouldn’t again until Tuesday if tomorrow’s match is also postponed. With that much time off now, it just means that later down the road the schedule will be even tighter.
After losing on Wednesday, Nashville is now treading water with a 9-9-2 record and sit sixth in the Central Division.
Colorado, meanwhile, got the rare opportunity of spending Thanksgiving in a Nashville hotel – flying in, staying overnight and now leaving for their home game against the Dallas Stars tomorrow night.
Colorado Returns Blidh, Ranta To AHL
- Now that the Colorado Avalanche don’t need to play today, they’ve returned Sampo Ranta and Anton Blidh back to the AHL. The depth forwards could be back up as early as tomorrow, when the team welcomes the Dallas Stars in.
Lower Body Tweak For Evan Rodrigues, Won't Play Friday
- The news appears to be pretty good for Avalanche forward Evan Rodrigues. Head coach Jared Bednar told reporters including Peter Baugh of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the 29-year-old has a lower-body “tweak” but is feeling okay. Rodrigues won’t accompany the team to Nashville for Friday’s game but it looks like he might not be out for too long. He’s off to a nice start in his first season with Colorado with six goals and three assists in 18 games so far.
Colorado Avalanche Re-Assign Oskar Olausson To AHL
10:40 am: This morning, the team has made those corresponding moves, recalling Anton Blidh and Sampo Ranta from the minor leagues.
7:40 am: After their game last night, a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, the Colorado Avalanche announced they’ve re-assigned winger Oskar Olausson to the Colorado Eagles, their AHL affiliate. No corresponding move was announced. The transaction leaves the team with only 11 forwards, however Colorado does not play again until tomorrow afternoon.
A first-round pick of the Avalanche, 28th overall, back in 2021, Olausson was called up just yesterday, mere hours before he was re-assigned, but didn’t go away without getting to make his NHL debut in last night’s game, in which he played just over seven minutes. Sending Olausson back to the AHL certainly isn’t an indictment on his performance last night, with Colorado needing the twelfth forward and Olausson being waiver-exempt.
Olausson, 20, has impressed since coming to North America after being drafted. The winger played last season in the OHL, his only season there, splitting time between the Barrie Colts and Oshawa Generals, where he combined for 26 goals and 23 assists in 55 games. The Swede made his AHL debut this season with the Eagles, where he’s posted four goals and four assists through 16 AHL games. While he now represents a capable fill-in for the Avalanche as needed, one would expect Olausson to continue to work on his game in the AHL as he’s still one of the organization’s top prospects.
Evan Rodrigues To Be Re-Evaluated Today
In the Eastern Conference, the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Detroit Red Wings hold playoff positions in their respective divisions, with the New York Rangers holding the first Wild Card spot and the Tampa Bay Lightning tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second spot. In the West, the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, Winnipeg Jets, Vegas Golden Knights, Seattle Kraken, and Los Angeles Kings hold playoff positions in their respective divisions, with the Calgary Flames holding the first Wild Card spot, followed by a four-way tie for second place between the St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild, Edmonton Oilers, and Nashville Predators. Will the standings hold? Nick Alberga of The Leafs Nation points out, 12 of the 16 teams in playoff position this time last year ultimately clinched a berth.
- Colorado Avalanche forward Evan Rodrigues left last night’s game early with what appeared to be a lower-body injury and was ultimately ruled out for the rest of the game. From Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar says Rodrigues will be further evaluated today. One of the newest members of the Avalanche, Rodrigues has fit in with Colorado nicely since coming over in free agency this summer, registering six goals and three assists in 18 games so far.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Colorado Avalanche
As Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2022-23. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Colorado Avalanche.
Who are the Avalanche thankful for?
The Avalanche have an incredible team, so naturally, it’s difficult to pick just one person the franchise should be thankful for. That being said, though, one name does emerge above the rest of the pack: Georgiev. Why? Because when looking at both a player’s performance alongside what could reasonably be expected of that player, Georgiev soars above all other Avalanche players.
Cale Makar is doing extremely well. Nathan MacKinnon has been brilliant. Mikko Rantanen has stormed out the gates. But brilliance is the expectation for those players. For Georgiev, what could reasonably be expected from a netminder who posted an .898 save percentage last year? Could the Avalanche have expected the performance he’s given them?
Even the most optimistic Avalanche fan would have to admit that Georgiev’s play so far this year has come as a surprise. The netminder has gone 9-2-1 with a 2.40 goals-against-average and a sterling .929 save percentage. That .929 mark is tied for third-best in the NHL, and is eight points better than the .921 save percentage former starting goalie Darcy Kuemper gave Colorado last season.
The Avalanche surrendered three draft picks to the New York Rangers in order to acquire Georgiev, and then promptly gave him a $3.4MM AAV contract that runs until the summer of 2025. At the time, it was viewed as a risk, seen as the team taking a major leap of faith in trusting such an unproven goalie in a year where they would be defending a Stanley Cup championship.
Now, it seems that leap of faith is being rewarded, and that’s something for the Avalanche to be most thankful for.
What are the Avalanche thankful for?
The depth of talent in their organization.
Every NHL team faces its fair share of injuries over the course of a season. That much is unavoidable. But in the Avalanche’s case so far in 2022-23, their injury woes have gone beyond “fair share” territory. At the moment, the team has two players on injured reserve and two more on long-term injured reserve. In addition to those inactives, numerous players are either playing through ailments or battling day-to-day injuries that aren’t worth full IR placements.
It is no secret: Colorado has dealt with an avalanche of injuries so far this year. But what has kept the team afloat (to the tune of a three-game winning streak and an 11-5-1 overall record, has been the depth players who have adequately taken on spots in the lineup that were vacated by injured players.
Players such as Martin Kaut, who hit waivers earlier this year, and Jacob MacDonald, an undrafted 29-year-old blueliner, have been forced into impact roles this year. While the team would still ideally have the players originally penciled into those roles healthy, the contributions of these depth players cannot be forgotten.
Once the Avalanche’s injured stars return to full health and resume their spots in the lineup, the help given to the team by their depth players cannot be forgotten.
What would the Avalanche be even more thankful for?
Better performance from Alex Newhook.
So much has gone right for the Avalanche so far this year, and much of what has gone right has been related to the risks the team took last summer as they walked a salary cap tightrope after winning the Stanley Cup.
One of the major dice rolls the team took was to trust their internal options (plus Evan Rodrigues, who they eventually signed to a one-year deal) to be able to handle their second-line center role.
The thought was that Newhook, a 2019 first-round pick who had 33 points in his 71-game rookie year, would be ready to take the next step and occupy the spot in which Nazem Kadri had so much success.
So far this year, though, that thought has been proven to be a bit premature. Newhook, who has spent time on the wing as well, has found consistent scoring to be a struggle and has just six points in 17 games so far.
What would make the Avalanche even more thankful this holiday season is if Newhook could manage to play like the top-six center the team expected him to be. If he could, that would go a long way toward providing confidence that the Avalanche could defend their 2022 Stanley Cup title.
What should be on the Avalanche’s holiday wish list?
A cleaner bill of health.
When the Avalanche are fully healthy, their roster has precious few holes. The team is built like a juggernaut and is fully capable of winning another Stanley Cup. But to get to that point, they’ll need their players to be healthy enough to contribute. So far this year, that hasn’t been the case.
They’ll need captain Gabriel Landeskog to return from his major injury, Valeri Nichushkin to return to the ice and get back to where he was last season, and they’ll need the rest of their roster to avoid extended stays on injured reserve.
This general sentiment — a need to stay healthy — applies to all teams, but it’s especially important for a team on a Stanley Cup-or-bust trajectory. Triumphing over every other NHL team is extremely difficult, and requires the right balance of talent, will, and luck.
The Avalanche have no shortage of talent, that much is clear, and they proved their mettle during their run last season. But luck is that final championship-winning component, and getting some better luck than they’ve had so far in the health department should be the number-one item on the Avalanche’s holiday wish list.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Colorado Avalanche Recall Oskar Olausson
The Colorado Avalanche, still not comfortable with their NHL depth, have recalled 2021 first-round pick Oskar Olausson from the minor leagues. Jayson Megna is coming back up as well after he, Anton Blidh, and Andreas Englund were assigned yesterday.
Olausson, 20, comes up following a win by the Avalanche on Monday that saw them ice their fourth line for just a handful of shifts. Megna played 5:25, Dryden Hunt 5:41, and Blidh saw the ice for just 4:16. Even Martin Kaut was under ten minutes in the match despite it going to a shootout, putting huge pressure on the top players. Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen played nearly 30 minutes, while even Evan Rodrigues broke the 24-minute mark thanks to huge powerplay time.
With Englund staying down, it likely means that Samuel Girard will return to the lineup tonight, giving the team another defenseman to rely on. Cale Makar played more than 32 minutes on Monday, while Englund saw just 11.
While they are winning, and now sit second in the Central, this isn’t how the Avalanche likely want to operate for long. They need to be able to find a mix of players that can take some heat off the top names, or risk burning them out in the early part of the year. Olausson, who has barely any professional experience under his belt, will get the next chance to show what he can do.
In 16 games with the Colorado Eagles, the young forward has eight points.
Colorado Avalanche Suspend Danila Zhuravlyov, Returns To Russia
Colorado Avalanche defense prospect Danila Zhuravlyov has been suspended by the team and will return home to Russia, as announced today. Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater reports the suspension is not related to any on-ice or off-ice incident, but rather comes as a result of his returning to Russia for “personal and family-related reasons.”
There had been rumors swirling of Zhuravlyov potentially returning to his home country for the past month, mainly from Russian outlets. Mikhail Zislis of Sport-Express reported last week that Zhuravlyov’s former KHL club, Ak Bars Kazan, was aiming to have the 22-year-old return to the club.
A 2018 fifth-round selection of the Avalanche, Zhuravlyov made his North American debut this season and registered an assist in 14 games with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. He demonstrated solid defensive upside in the past handful of seasons with Kazan.
Zhuravlyov’s entry-level contract runs through the 2023-24 season. If it becomes clear that Zhuravlyov will not return to the Avalanche organization, a mutual termination is entirely possible.
Colorado Avalanche Recall Andreas Englund, Jayson Megna
The Colorado Avalanche are hitting the road, and they’re bringing some extra players with them. Andreas Englund and Jayson Megna have both been recalled today, joining Anton Blidh who was brought up last night. The team is heading to Carolina to play the Hurricanes tomorrow, with stops in Washington and Dallas before returning home.
Englund, 26, got into his first game with the Avalanche a few days ago in place of the injured Kurtis MacDermid and played just over 10 minutes. That was his first NHL appearance with any organization other than the Ottawa Senators, and the 6’3″ defenseman did rather well in his limited exposure. Whether he stays in the lineup is still to be determined but that long reach and physicality fit in nicely whenever he was put on the ice.
Megna, meanwhile, has already played five games for Colorado this season, but hasn’t cracked the eight-minute mark in any of them. The 32-year-old forward hasn’t scored an NHL goal since 2016-17, despite a handful of appearances every year. Given how little the team has played him even when he does dress, don’t expect much from the minor league veteran.
Sampo Ranta, who has been a regular call-up recently, was not included in this latest round. The youngster is still looking for his first NHL point and will have to wait for his next opportunity.