- Peter Baugh of The Athletic reports Brad Hunt is also heading to the World Championships. The Colorado Avalanche veteran defenseman will be representing Canada for the first time at the age of 34. After bouncing between the NHL and AHL for much of his early pro career, Hunt became a full-time NHL skater in 2017-18 with the Vegas Golden Knights. He spent the next five seasons at the NHL level but split the 2022-23 campaign between the Avalanche and their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. He is an offensive defenseman who scored ten points in 47 NHL games and had 21 points in 24 AHL games.
Avalanche Rumors
Denis Malgin To Play At World Championship
- Avalanche winger Denis Malgin is expected to be a late addition to Switzerland’s roster for the Worlds, according to a report from Watson News. The 26-year-old did well after coming over in a midseason swap, picking up 11 goals in 42 games despite averaging just 10:32 per night. Notably, Malgin does not have a contract for next season; it’s typically rare for a pending free agent to play in this event.
2023 Norris Trophy Finalists Announced
The National Hockey League is announcing finalists for all of their end of season awards this week. Today, they have revealed the three players that are up for the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman. In the running are Adam Fox of the New York Rangers, Erik Karlsson of the San Jose Sharks and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche.
Fox has quickly become known as one of the best offensive defensemen in the league, and his 72 points in 82 games are proof of that. He has also become a well-rounded defender and is regularly on the ice for the Rangers against the other team’s top players, and routinely takes over the play when he is on the ice. He also averaged over two minutes of ice time per game while his team was shorthanded, proving he can be counted on in all situations. The 25 year old has already won a Norris Trophy once, in 2021, and is now up for the award for the second time after playing just his fourth NHL season.
Karlsson had an incredible bounceback season for the Sharks. After scoring 97 points in 158 games combined over the previous three seasons, the 32-year-old defenseman had his best season yet by scoring 25 goals and 101 points. This was the first time a defenseman reached 100 points since Brian Leetch did so with the New York Rangers 31 years ago. Karlsson’s game is geared heavily towards offense and not as much towards defense, which could cost him in his quest for a third Norris Trophy after winning the award in 2012 and 2015. However, it is hard to argue the value of a defenseman that can score 101 points.
Makar has stormed onto the NHL scene much like Fox. Once they arrived, they immediately became stars. The 24-year-old defender won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2020, the Conn Smythe in 2022 as Playoffs MVP and he also took home the Norris Trophy last season. He was limited to 60 games this season, but made his mark by scoring 17 goals and 66 points while being a tremendous defensive presence as well. No one in the entire NHL averaged more time on ice per game than Makar’s 26:23 per contest and he is among the league’s best in all situations.
The Norris Trophy will be handed out on June 26th at the NHL Awards ceremony.
Andrew Cogliano Out For The Season
04/30/23: Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told reporters today, including the Seattle Times’ Geoff Baker, that Cogliano would miss the rest of the playoffs due to the fracture of the C5 vertebrae in his neck.
It’s a major loss for the Avalanche penalty kill, and while Colorado is undoubtedly fixated on tonight’s Game Seven, the organization’s greater priority is likely helping Cogliano, a veteran of over 1,200 NHL games, recover from this gruesome injury and return to full health.
04/29/23: Although the play will reportedly not result in any suspension being handed out, due to the hit from behind from forward Jordan Eberle of the Seattle Kraken in Game Six, Andrew Cogliano will be out indefinitely for the Colorado Avalanche with a fractured neck. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Cogliano has fractured his C5 vertebrae, which are towards the top of the spinal cord structure.
It is unknown whether the Department of Player Safety was in the know of the damage done to Cogliano on the hit, but given the context of this series, it will likely raise a host of questions surrounding the supplemental discipline being handed out in this year’s playoffs. Although the context surrounding this hit was different, Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar received a one-game suspension for Game Five due to his hit on Kraken forward Jared McCann, who was also injured on that play.
Becoming a theme that has begun to sound like a broken record to this point, the Avalanche will once again lose team depth due to injury. Already without Gabriel Landeskog, Josh Manson, Darren Helm, and Valeri Nichushkin (personal reasons), the Avalanche will be without some very important players as they look to close out the Kraken in Game Seven.
Colorado Avalanche Recall Brad Hunt
04/30/23: After a short stay on the Eagles’ roster, Hunt has been recalled back to the Avalanche. According to the Athletic’s Peter Baugh, Hunt could be an option to enter head coach Jared Bednar’s lineup tonight for Game Seven against the Seattle Kraken.
04/29/23: Following their victory over Seattle on Friday to extend their first-round series, the Avalanche made a roster move, assigning defenseman Brad Hunt to Colorado of the AHL, per the AHL’s transactions log.
The 34-year-old is no stranger to being sent to the minors this season as this is the seventh time it has happened. In between those assignments, Hunt got into 47 games with the Avs this season, picking up four goals and six assists in limited minutes as he averaged just over 11 minutes a night. He has been quite productive in his first season of AHL action since 2016-17, tallying seven goals and 14 helpers in just 24 contests.
While it may seem odd that a team who was missing a defenseman (Josh Manson) due to injury last night would then turn around and send a blueliner down, this was done at least in part for waiver-related purposes.
Hunt cleared waivers back on April 1st, resetting his clock. Players can’t spend more than 30 days cumulative on an NHL roster without needing to pass through waivers again and days in the playoffs do count as it is part of their playing season. Accordingly, Colorado is sending Hunt down now to keep him eligible to play with the Eagles for their playoffs run, rather than running the risk of losing him if they had to waive him to send him down after the Avalanche get eliminated, an outcome that could come as soon as Sunday if they aren’t able to win in the series-deciding game against the Kraken.
Manson, Helm Out For Game Seven
- Bennett Durando of the Denver Post reports that Josh Manson and Darren Helm will miss Game Seven for the Colorado Avalanche. So far in their series against the Seattle Kraken, Manson has played in five games, unable to score a goal or help with one, but still finding himself on the scoresheet in the form of PIMs, as he has accrued eight already to this point. In much of the same as how his regular season went, Helm has only played in one game this series and was also unable to find the scoresheet for the Avalanche.
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Cap Situation Could Make Samuel Girard A Trade Candidate This Summer
- While Colorado is still alive in their first-round series, some are already looking ahead to what their offseason might look like. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli is one of those, suggesting that defenseman Samuel Girard could be the odd one out on the back end for the Avalanche with the team needing to fill as many as nine roster spots with not a ton of cap space to work with. The 24-year-old should be highly sought after if that happens as he’ll have four years left on his deal after this one at a $5MM AAV which is good value for someone consistently logging more than 21 minutes a night on the back end while chipping in offensively; he had a career-high 37 points this season.
Josh Manson Out For Game 6
The Colorado Avalanche will be without defenseman Josh Manson tonight in a must-win Game 6 against the Seattle Kraken, head coach Jared Bednar told reporters. Manson played just 8:27 in Wednesday’s Game 5 before exiting with an undisclosed injury.
- Staying in the Avalanche/Kraken series, McCann did not join Seattle for practice this morning, per head coach Dave Hakstol, suggesting the 40-goal scorer will miss his second straight game. It means undrafted rookie Tye Kartye will likely remain in McCann’s spot for Game 6 after scoring his first NHL goal in his first NHL game in Game 5. McCann had just one assist in four playoff games prior to exiting the series.
Jack Johnson Could Return In Place Of Cale Makar
- Veteran Colorado Avalanche defender Jack Johnson hasn’t played in his team’s First Round series against the Seattle Kraken due to a lower-body injury, but NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika reports he could draw in for the suspended Cale Makar in Game 5. Johnson, who recorded four points and a +10 rating in 25 games after being re-acquired at the trade deadline from Chicago, would slot into a bottom-pairing role. If he’s unable to play, 34-year-old Brad Hunt could make his first postseason appearance since playing in four games with the Wild during the 2020 bubble.
Nichushkin Out, Helm And Johnson Possible
- Coming off of the recent suspension of defenseman Cale Makar, Ryan Boulding of the NHL also reports that Valeri Nichushkin will still not be an option for the Colorado Avalanche in Game Five. Fortunately for the Avalanche, they seemed to have been in this position all season long due to injuries, and their depth was able to carry them to a first-place finish in the Central Division. The terms of Nichushkin’s absence has been one of the more bewildering stories off the ice these playoffs, as he has been out of the lineup for personal reasons, leaving Seattle shortly before the Avalanche took on the Seattle Kraken for Game Three.
- In the same announcement, Boulding also reports that forward Darren Helm and Jack Johnson may be options for the Avalanche for Game Five. Helm, seemingly injured for the entire season, has been out of the lineup since Colorado’s loss in Game One. Johnson on the other hand, re-acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks at the trade deadline, has yet to suit up for the Avalanche in this series.
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