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Jared Bednar Held From Morning Skate With COVID Testing “Irregularity”

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3:30pm: After further testing, Bednar has been cleared to coach tonight according to Baugh. 

12:10pm: The Colorado Avalanche are trying to fight off elimination at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights this evening, but they may have to do it without their head coach. Jared Bednar is absent from the morning skate thanks to “irregularity in his COVID-19 test results” the team tells Peter Baugh of The Athletic.

In terms of players, everyone that took part in the last game is at the morning skate, save for J.T. Compher, who had missed previous practices are he nurses an injury. Hopefully, that means that none of the roster has been affected by the testing and there will be no one held out of tonight’s game. If Bednar’s irregularity is not resolved, the team could potentially reach out to someone like Greg Cronin, head coach of the Colorado Eagles to help assistants Ray Bennett and Nolan Pratt.

This is certainly not an ideal situation for the Avalanche, who have lost three games in a row after going up 2-0 in the series against the Golden Knights. Mark Stone was the overtime hero on Tuesday night, scoring the winner and also helping shut down the Nathan MacKinnon line. After scoring 13 points in the first six games of the playoffs, MacKinnon has been held pointless in each of the last three.

2021 Hart Trophy Finalists Announced

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It’s time for the big one. The NHL has announced the finalists for the Hart Trophy, given annually to the “player judged most valuable to his team.” Last year’s winner, Leon Draisaitl, also took home the Ted Lindsay and the Art Ross in an impressive trifecta.

This year’s finalists are Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers, Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche.

McDavid could complete the same trifecta his teammate did a year ago, after completing one of the most impressive regular seasons in recent history. The Oilers captain scored 105 points in 56 games, a scoring rate that put him in rare company. Since 1980-81, 40 years ago, only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Bernie Nicholls, and Adam Oates have finished with a higher point/game rate over a full season. Each of the last three names on that list only did it once, and each were just barely ahead of the best offensive player in today’s game. There was absolutely no doubt that McDavid would be a finalist for the third time in his career. He previously took home the Hart in 2016-17, his sophomore year.

Matthews is a first-time finalist after winning the Rocket Richard trophy as the league’s top goal scorer. Amazingly, he had an eight-goal lead over second-place McDavid despite playing in four fewer games. Matthews was a scoring marvel this season, totaling 41 in 52 games for the Maple Leafs continuing to develop his strong defensive game. He was actually tied for fifth in points, but still 39 behind McDavid’s 105.

MacKinnon, the oldest of the three at age-25, is a Hart finalist for the third time in his career. Always a bridesmaid though, the Avalanche star has finished second in his first two runs at the award. Unfortunately–for MacKinnon and hockey fans–he played in just 48 games this season so his point total of 65 put him in the eighth spot league-wide. On a per-game basis though he trailed only McDavid, Draisaitl, and New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin. Even if MacKinnon becomes a runner-up again, it would be hard to find someone who disagreed with his placement as one of the very best players in the entire world.

2021 Norris Trophy Finalists Announced

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The NHL continues to release their award finalists, this time announcing the three nominees for the Norris Trophy. The award is given out to the top defenseman “who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position.” Last year’s winner was Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators.

This year’s finalists are Adam Fox of the New York Rangers, Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Get used to seeing Fox’s name here, as the 23-year-old defenseman has turned into one of the most dynamic two-way players in the entire league. A third-round pick by the Calgary Flames, Fox was originally traded to the Carolina Hurricanes and then to the Rangers when there were doubts he would sign out of college. New York is thanking their lucky stars for that decision after letting him loose and watching Fox score 47 points in 55 games while logging nearly 25 minutes a night. Perhaps the most impressive part is the improvement defensively he showed this season, routinely breaking up a cycle and quickly getting the puck out of his zone. Fox now has 89 points in 125 NHL games and seems like he’ll be at the top of the Rangers depth chart for a decade.

You can’t talk about young defensive phenoms without mentioning Makar though, who has been even better through his first two seasons. The 22-year-old has 94 points in 101 games and is coming off a Calder Trophy campaign. Though his point total was slightly lower than Fox, that was only really because Makar missed time with an injury. His 44 points in 44 games made him the only qualified defenseman with a point-per-game ratio this season (apologies, Brogan Rafferty). From the moment Makar stepped on the ice for the Colorado Avalanche in the 2019 playoffs he has been a difference-maker—he even scored the game-winning goal in that first match—and a Norris is bound to come before long.

It might not come this season though, as there is an old hand standing in the way of the two young guns. Hedman has been a finalist for five straight years now, winning the award in 2018 as the league’s best. He took home the Conn Smythe last year when the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup and is generally regarded as the best defenseman in the league. Sure, that may be changing with these young players improving every day and Hedman’s defensive game showing a little inconsistency, but the 30-year-old is still a force every time he touches the ice. In a season where he also dealt with injuries, Hedman totaled 45 points in 54 games and averaged the seventh-most ice time in the league at 25:03.

Brayden McNabb Removed From COVID Protocol

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The NHL released a blank COVID Protocol Related Absences list today as the lone remaining member, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb, has been removed. McNabb had been in the protocol and in isolation since May 26 following a positive test, but was expected to come off the list when he was spotted skating ahead of Vegas’ morning skate on Sunday.

However, McNabb’s return to the lineup remains on hold. Although he has exited isolation following the required ten days, the NHL’s COVID Protocol states that any player who tests positive for Coronavirus “must refrain from exercise for a total of 14 days from the time of the first positive test” and also must pass cardiac testing. This means that McNabb cannot return to action until Wednesday at the earliest. His morning skate participation likely falls under the “low-grade exercise” permitted if a player has been asymptomatic.

With the Colorado Avalanche up 2-1 in the West Division finals and Games Four and Five scheduled for Sunday and Tuesday, McNabb will need his Knights teammates to force a Game Six on Thursday in order for him to have any chance to return. The irony is that Vegas could desperately use McNabb’s defensive play in order to pick up more wins against a dynamic Avalanche offense.

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 06/05/21

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Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in the COVID-19 Protocol. Here is today’s list for the remaining playoff teams:

Vegas – Brayden McNabb

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Players removed today: Jayson Megna, Colorado Avalanche

After a long stretch with one player from each team in the ongoing West Division Finals being sidelined on the CPRA list, it’s now down to just one. The wait continues for McNabb to return to the Golden Knights, but Megna is now available to the Avalanche. The veteran forward only played in seven NHL games this year and had not seen any postseason action before he landed on the CPRA list, so this is not the same level of impact as if McNabb, a regular defenseman for Vegas, was able to return. The countdown is now on for the league to get back to an empty list.

No Contract Talks For Philipp Grubauer Until After The Playoffs

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Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer had a dominant 2020-21 season, earning himself a Vezina Trophy nomination along the way as he posted a 1.95 GAA along with a .922 SV% in 40 games.  That has him extremely well-positioned heading into unrestricted free agency for the first time this summer, even in a flat-cap marketplace.  However, talks on his next deal haven’t started yet as his agent Allain Roy told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription link) that those discussions will wait until Colorado’s playoff run comes to an end.  Grubauer is in the final season of a three-year, $10MM contract and could potentially double that on the open market this summer with a couple of recent comparables at $6MM or higher.

Colorado Signs Andreas Wingerli

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The Avalanche have added to their prospect pool as they announced the signing of center Andreas Wingerli to a one-year, entry-level contract.  PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that the deal carries an AAV of $925K including signing and performance bonuses.

The 23-year-old was under contract with Skelleftea of the SHL for next season but earlier today, his deal was terminated so it was only a matter of time before his destination was announced.  Wingerli has seen regular action in Sweden’s top league since 2015-16 where he has developed into a reliable two-way presence while being known for his speed.  This season, he played in 50 games, finishing fifth in scoring with a dozen goals and 16 assists along with 66 penalty minutes.

His performance this year helped him earn a spot on Sweden’s entry at the World Championships.  While they didn’t qualify for the medal round, Wingerli had a decent showing, notching a goal and two assists in seven games while averaging just over 10 minutes a night on the fourth line.  Clearly, he did enough to catch the eye of the Avs who signed him soon after his tournament came to an end.

Colorado has three regular forwards plus trade deadline acquisition Carl Soderberg set to reach unrestricted free agency this summer and they won’t be able to keep their whole core intact.  Accordingly, they’ll be relying on some low-cost depth and with Wingerli’s deal being an entry-level one, he’s someone that could conceivably be part of their plans next season.

NHL Upholds Nazem Kadri’s Eight-Game Suspension

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June 2: Greg Wyshynski of ESPN reports that Kadri’s hearing with the neutral arbitrator is set for Friday.

May 31: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has upheld the eight-game suspension that the Department of Player Safety assessed to Colorado Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri. Kadri had appealed the decision looking for a reduction, but Bettman concluded that the discipline handed out was warranted.

In the decision, Bettman notes that the NHLPA attempted to compare Kadri’s disciplinary history to that of Tom Wilson, Radko Gudas, Brad Marchand, and Zac Rinaldo, arguing that recent decisions regarding those players “illustrate the concept that if a Player plays clean for a given amount of time,” he should not be considered a player who repeatedly violates the league rules. The commissioner did not agree with this assertion, even directly examining the records of each player and comparing them to Kadri. While the NHLPA asserted that a four-game suspension would have been the correct discipline, Bettman disagreed.

The Avalanche forward can now appeal to a neutral arbitrator, though that process only examines the methodology used by the league to determine the length of the suspension and does not make a ruling on the actual incident itself. Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey now reports that Kadri will indeed pursue this route as Wilson did in 2018. In that case, the 20-game suspension that Wilson received was reduced to 14 by the neutral arbitrator Shyam Das, the same one that Kadri will have hear his case.

Kadri has already served three games of the suspension, all Colorado wins.

2021 Vezina Finalists Announced

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Over the next week, the NHL will be releasing the finalists for all of the major regular season awards. First up is the Vezina Trophy, which is given to the best goaltender in the NHL and is voted on by the league’s general managers.

The finalists this season are Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights, Philipp Grubauer of the Colorado Avalanche, and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Fleury, 36, has been written off several times in his long career but seems to just get better with age. He posted the best regular season of his career in 2020-21, recording a .928 save percentage while splitting the net with Robin Lehner. The tandem already won the William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals in the league, and Fleury personally ranked among the top of almost every category. Despite winning nearly 500 games in the NHL, Fleury has never been a Vezina finalist before.

Grubauer, 29, is also a finalist for the first time. The Avalanche netminder posted a .922 save percentage in 40 appearances, leading the league in shutouts with seven. His record was impeccable, losing only nine games in regulation all season. Though Grubauer has put up numbers like this before, he has never carried a heavier workload. His career to this point may be easy to overlook, but among goaltenders with at least 200 starts, Grubauer’s .920 save percentage would put him fifth all-time.

The two new finalists will have to slay a giant if they want the award though, as Vasilevskiy is back again. The Lightning goaltender has been a Vezina finalist for four consecutive seasons, winning the award in 2019. For the fourth year in a row, he had led the NHL in wins, this time taking home 31 of his 42 appearances. His .925 save percentage matched his career-high (the number that won him the Vezina) and his goals-against average dropped even further. Even though he’s only 26, it seems clear that Vasilevskiy is destined to go down as one of the best goaltenders the NHL has ever seen.

Snapshots: NHL Draft Forwards, Rangers Front Office, Johnson

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Just three days after NHL Central Scouting released its top five lists for North American and international players, NHL.com’s Mike Morreale released his list of the top 10 forwards for upcoming NHL draft. With no dominant player at the top of draft lists this year, most draft rankings have differed significantly from list to list, and Morreale’s is no different. After NHL Central Scouting listed Michigan center Matthew Beniers as the No. 6-ranked North American skater, Morreale has him as the top NHL forward in this upcoming draft, moving him ahead of names such as Mason McTavish, Kent Johnson and Dylan Guenther.

McTavish, who has moved up the draft rankings quite a bit since his performance at the recent WJC-18’s, ranking as the second-best forward in the draft. He notched five goals and 11 points in seven games for gold-medal winning Team Canada. Sweden’s William Eklund, Johnson and Guenther round out the top five.

  • It looks as if the New York Rangers front office continues to get smaller and smaller as the New York Post’s Larry Brooks confirms that Nick Bobrov, who has served as the team’s director of European scouting over the last six years has left the organization. Bobrov has had a hand in quite a bit of the Rangers’ drafts over the years, giving the team quite an international flavor in their young prospects. Bobrov joins a list of exiting executives, including the firings of President John Davidson, GM Jeff Gorton and head coach David Quinn as well as the resignation of Brian Leetch of Hockey Ops.
  • The Colorado Avalanche got a welcome sight on the ice when defenseman Erik Johnson stepped onto the ice this morning for an optional morning skate, according to The Athletic’s Peter Baugh. The veteran blueliner has been out since January with an upper-body injury and was ruled out for the season. Head coach Jared Bednar said he doubted that Johnson would return at some point in the playoffs, however. “I don’t know about him being fully cleared or anything like that to actually play,” said Bednar. “He’s just taking it step-by-step. … As he feels better, he’s doing more.”

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