They may not have won the lottery despite having the best chance, but if there is a consolation prize about their franchise, it’s that their players seem to be thriving at the preliminary round of the 2017 IIHF World Championships. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon of Team Canada got into the act during this morning’s 7-2 blowout victory over Slovenia with a hat trick and an assist. Teammate Tyson Barrie scored four points of his own, including a goal to continue a successful string of Avalanche performances so far.
The Avalanche have eight players and a potential prospect at the World Championships, including MacKinnon, Barrie, Matt Duchene and goaltender Calvin Pickard who play for Canada (2-0-0-0), Gabriel Landeskog and Carl Soderberg who play for Sweden, Mikko Rantanen who plays for Finland and J.T. Compher who is playing for the USA. Prospect Andrei Mirinov is playing for Russia.
While it’s still early in the championships, the Avalanche have to be thrilled with their players’ performance. Friday, Pickard got the win in goal after allowing just one goal in Canada’s win over the Czech Republic. Barrie had a goal and assist in that game as well, giving him six points in just two games played so far. Rantanen had an assist in Finland’s victory over Belarus Friday, while Landeskog also picked up an assist for Sweden in their first game on Friday as well.
The Avalanche have high hopes that MacKinnon, 21, who was the first overall pick from the 2013 draft, can take his game to a new level after four solid, but unspectacular seasons. He finished last season with 16 goals and 37 assists for 53 points.
- CapFriendly tweeted the breakdown of Vadim Shipachyov’s contract breakdown with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. It will be two years with a AAV of 4.5MM. In 2017-18, the veteran will receive a $3MM base salary and a $2MM signing bonus. Then in 2018-19, Shipachyov will receive a $4MM base salary.