Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Avalanche Rumors

Samuel Girard Has Returned To Practice

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

One of the most notable inclusions in practice this morning for the Colorado Avalanche was defenseman Samuel Girard, who is working his way back from being in the NHLPA Player Assistance Program for nearly a month (X Link). Returning to the ice is positive in its own right, but Girard is not expected to be back in the lineup this evening.

With his return to the team imminent, Girard will look to build upon his season after a month off, scoring one goal and four points in his first 15 games for the Avalanche this year. Aside from Girard’s play on the ice, the fact that he is nearing close to a return shows he has gained an adequate degree of success fighting his personal ailments via the program.

[SOURCE LINK]

  • Back to the Avalanche, having missed the last handful of games with a lower-body injury, defenseman Cale Makar is once again questionable for tonight’s matchup against the Senators (X Link). Furthermore, although forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Ross Colton were absent from practice due to maintenance days, they are both expected to be in the lineup this evening.

Ben Meyers Recalled

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

  • The Colorado Avalanche sent forward Ben Meyers back down to the AHL after their most recent game, but today the team recalled him, making the move effectively a paperwork-only transaction. Meyers, 25, has been involved in numerous transactions of the sort so far in his young career. He’s played in four NHL games this year and 17 AHL contests, and has scored 13 points in 21 games across both levels combined.

Makar, Cogliano Out Tonight

at CDT | by 3 Comments

As the Colorado Avalanche are set to take on the Chicago Blackhawks tonight, the team will still be without defenseman Cale Makar and forward Andrew Cogliano, according to Conor McGahey of Altitude Sports. On Makar specifically, with a relatively easy schedule to finish out the calendar year, the Avalanche may keep Makar out for several games for him to comfortably recover from his ongoing lower-body injury.

[SOURCE LINK]

Cale Makar Out Tonight With A Lower Body Injury

at CDT | by 6 Comments

The Colorado Avalanche have announced that star defenseman Cale Makar will not play tonight against the Winnipeg Jets due to a lower-body injury. Not much information was provided about Makar’s ailment, but the 25-year-old just returned to the Avalanche lineup on December 7th after missing two games with a lower-body injury.

Makar played in the Avalanche’s last four games but didn’t quite seem himself as he registered just a goal and an assist during that time. Makar’s status is also up in the air for tomorrow night’s game as the Avalanche take on the San Jose Sharks at home in the second half of their back-to-back.

Makar is second in NHL scoring by a defenseman with eight goals and 29 assists in 27 games thus far this season. He trails the Vancouver Canucks Quinn Hughes by two points, but Hughes has played four more games. If Makar can get back to full health, he would have to be a favorite to win a second Norris Trophy for the league’s best defenseman.

Makar played just 17:21 in the Avalanche’s last game against the Buffalo Sabres which is well off his season average of 24:10. In fact, Makar hasn’t played less than 21 minutes in a game at all this season, except on Tuesday night against Buffalo. It’s not known if Makar suffered the injury in that game or began to feel discomfort, but more information should be available in the coming days.

Seattle Kraken Acquire Tomas Tatar

at CDT | by 11 Comments

Per a team announcement, the Seattle Kraken have acquired forward Tomas Tatar from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a fifth-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft. After signing with the Avalanche on a one-year, $1.5MM contract this past summer, Tatar will end his tenure with Colorado after having only played 27 games.

In what will now become a very brief experiment with the Avalanche, Tatar struggled to fit into the team system in Colorado, only scoring one goal and nine points overall. Only averaging a touch over 11 minutes of ice time per night, it was Tatar’s lowest usage rate since his sophomore campaign back in the 2012-13 NHL season.

With a relatively cheap contract, and brought in late in the summer to serve as increased offensive depth for the Avalanche, Tatar became an easy contract to move out, allowing Colorado to replenish a separate fifth-round selection, after having moved out their own two years ago in a trade for Andrew Cogliano.

Moving forward, the Avalanche will likely utilize either Ross Colton or Miles Wood in their top six, replacing Tatar on the wing. Also brought in as offensive depth over the offseason, Colton and Wood have translated much better to the system in Colorado, outperforming Tatar in almost every metric.

Similar to the reasoning that brought him to Colorado in the first place, the Kraken are dealing with their own injuries up front, as both Andre Burakovsky and Jaden Schwartz find themselves on the team’s injured reserve and long-term injured reserve, respectively. Upon the eventual return of both forwards, Tatar should still have a relatively safe spot in the Kraken’s middle six forward group.

Being a change of scenery candidate, Tatar can only benefit from this move to the West Coast, as he is in the midst of one of the worst seasons of his 13-year career. Sporting career lows in shooting percentage, points per game, and CorsiFor%, Tatar can only improve his game from here on out.

Unfortunately, with both the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers passing them in the standings over the last few weeks, Seattle has an uphill climb to return to the playoffs this season. Being only one of three teams to pass the 30-game mark up to this point, the Kraken are sporting a 10-14-7 record, Seattle sits two points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference with two more games played.

Avalanche Recall Ben Meyers

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Avalanche recalled forward Ben Meyers from AHL Colorado on Monday, per a team announcement. With the Avalanche sitting at 22 out of the maximum 23 players on the active roster before the move, no corresponding transaction is necessary.

Meyers, 25, signed a one-year, one-way deal worth $775K to remain in Denver last summer but did not make the Avalanche’s roster out of camp. The 2022 college free agent signing out of the University of Minnesota responded to the demotion well, posting five goals and 12 points in 17 contests to start the campaign, good enough for third on the team in scoring.

Over the past two seasons with the Avalanche, Meyers appeared in 44 games. He’s logged five goals and a -8 rating while averaging 9:38 per game, but he’s still looking for his first NHL assist. Meyers made six appearances in last year’s First Round elimination at the hands of the Kraken, but he was held of the scoresheet and posted a -2 rating in a paltry 5:30 of ice time per game.

The Avalanche are in an uncharacteristic lull, dropping five of their last six games and falling to third in the Central Division based on points percentage behind the Jets and Stars. Meyers’ recall comes as depth forward Joel Kiviranta is battling an illness, so either Meyers or defenseman-turned-winger Kurtis MacDermid will suit up for fourth-line duties tonight against the Flames. Colorado has struggled to get secondary scoring going this season. Outside of Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, only Valeri Nichushkin is scoring at a clip higher than 0.5 points per game.

Tony Granato Diagnosed With Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

at CDT | by 4 Comments

Former University of Wisconsin head coach Tony Granato took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Sunday to share that he’s been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and will be taking a temporary leave of absence from his roles with NBC Sports Chicago and NHL Network.

Granato, 59, has had an illustrious hockey career. He was originally drafted in the sixth round of the 1982 NHL Draft – going to the New York Rangers at 120th overall, one spot lower than goaltender Ron Hextall. Granato played in four seasons at the University of Wisconsin after his draft selection, totaling 100 goals and 220 points in 152 games with the school. He moved to the IHL for one season after Wisconsin, where he was recruited to represent the United States at the 1988 Winter Olympics. He scored eight points in six games at the event and made his NHL debut a few months later, with the 1988-89 season marking his rookie year. Granato kicked off his career with a bang, recording 36 goals, 63 points, and 140 penalty minutes in 78 games with the Rangers. The performance was enough to land Granato third in Calder Trophy voting that year, behind winner Brian Leetch and runner-up Trevor Linden.

The Rangers traded Granato to the Los Angeles Kings after just two seasons, sending him in a package deal for former 150-point-scorer Bernie Nicholls. Granato would go on to spend seven seasons in L.A., recording the best years of his career between 1990 and 1993, when he totaled 229 games, 106 goals, 214 points, and 512 penalty minutes. But despite the eventful stat line, Granato didn’t receive any more award votes until joining the San Jose Sharks in 1996-97, when he won the Bill Masterton Trophy, the league’s sportsmanship award. Granato received the award after returning from a head injury suffered in the second half of the 1995-96 season that left him with a brain bleed and required surgery. He played in five more seasons with San Jose before retiring in 2001.

Granato took just one season off before joining an NHL bench, initially stepping into an assistant coaching role for the Colorado Avalanche ahead of the 2002-03 season; although Granato would go on to replace Bob Hartley mid-season and serve as the team’s head coach through the 2003-04 season. Granato also served as the Avalanche’s head coach for the 2008-09 season, replacing Joel Quenneville. He otherwise served as an assistant coach throughout his 13-year NHL coaching career. In 2016, Granato returned to the University of Wisconsin, replacing Mike Eaves and carrying on the torch of a former player serving as the team’s head coach.

Granato ranks third on Wisconsin’s all-time goals list and fourth in points. His college showings were the start of a 40-year career around the Big 10 and NHL. We at Pro Hockey Rumors extend our thoughts to Tony and his family.

Lehkonen To Miss Another 6-8 Weeks

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

  • Without much specificity into the severity of the injury, the Colorado Avalanche have been without top-six forward, Artturi Lehkonen, for the last month after he suffered a neck injury in the team’s game against the Seattle Kraken on November 9th. After joining the team for practice yesterday, the expectation is that Lehkonen will not return for another six to eight weeks, narrowing his return to January or February (X Link). Currently sitting at fourth in the Western Conference, Colorado will only have a few weeks to see how Lehkonen returns before potentially making a move at the trade deadline on March 9th.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Lehkonen Skates Before Practice Friday, Still No Timetable For Return

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

  • Avalanche winger Artturi Lehkonen skated ahead of Colorado’s practice today, relays Corey Masisak of The Denver Post (Twitter link). The 28-year-old has been out for the last month due to a neck injury but was able to shed his neck brace late last month.  There remains no timetable for his return but returning to the ice is at least a step in the right direction.  Lehkonen had three goals and five assists in a dozen games before the injury.

Avalanche Reassign Oskar Olausson

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Avalanche reassigned forward Oskar Olausson to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles on Thursday, per a team announcement.

Olausson, 21, was a first-round pick of the Avalanche in 2021. He’s struggled to adapt to the pro game since wrapping up his junior career in 2022, posting 28 points in 83 AHL games dating back to last season. After being sent to the minors prior to the start of this season, the Avalanche brought Olausson up earlier this week and played him in Tuesday’s contest against the Ducks, in which he recorded two shots on goal in 11:50 of ice time playing on a line with Ross Colton and Mikko Rantanen.

It’s been a bit of a disappointing transition for Olausson, who was ranked as high as 13th overall by some scouts heading into the 2021 draft. He was a consensus late-first/early-second-round pick, though, so while he hasn’t flashed his ceiling at the pro level yet, there’s still time for the 6-foot-2, 181-pound youngster to develop.

The Avalanche hope a bit of confidence injected by the recall can help jumpstart his game with the Eagles. Before the call-up, Olausson had just one assist in his last five AHL games.

The Swedish winger is in the first season of his entry-level contract after being slide-eligible for the last two seasons. Carrying a cap hit of $863,333, Olausson will be a restricted free agent in 2026.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top