Deen's Daily
Deen’s Daily: Avalanche Round up; Halak Retires; Crosby’s Future
Another week without any notable additions to the Avalanche’s roster. What gives? Also, Jaroslav Halak’s career is over, and the Penguins are again dealing with Sidney Crosby chatter.
All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — July 18.
Colorado Hockey Now
We’ve completed another week with no real movement for the Avalanche. This summer is becoming harder to predict, but I do think they have at least two more notable moves in them. Even if they don’t come until August or September, like when they added Evan Rodrigues and Tomas Tatar in past years.
And by notable, I mean even a signing like Brett Leason or Victor Olofsson is notable in my books. The Avs have a strong top six already. They’ve got six NHL capable defensemen under contract, albeit the fit might not be best for that group. Unless they trade someone off the roster, they really don’t need to add much more than two bottom six guys to start the season and then go from there. That’s when the mid-season trade market can start to figure other things out.
Anyway, here’s a round up of everything I’ve written this week to catch you up. I’ll have more coming this afternoon, starting with a goaltending piece, before writing about the team’s current depth chart, and more, in the coming days.
READ MORE: Chinakhov Wants Out of Columbus — Why the Avalanche Should Make a Move
- Remember when the Avalanche traded a second and third-round draft pick for Andre Burakovsky? He was the same age that Yegor Chinakhov is now. And his offensive numbers at the time weren’t all that much different, either. At least on a point per game clip.
Read More: Breaking Down the Avalanche’s 2025-26 Schedule
- I highlighted everything that stuck out for me regarding the upcoming regular-season schedule. It’ll be here before we know it. I know I’m excited.
Read More: Avalanche Mailbag 1.0: Stanley Cup Window, Offseason vs Mid-Season Trades, and the Landeskog Effect
- The first part of the CHN Avalanche Mailbag, covering questions about the Stanley Cup window, mid-season trades, and a (finally) healthy Gabe Landeskog
Read More: Avalanche Mailbag 2.0: Necas’ Next Contract, Trade Value, and Bottom-Six Depth Uncertainty
- The second part of the mailbag had several thoughts about Martin Necas’ future with the club, and that much-needed bottom six depth.
Read More: Former Avalanche Forward is Heading Back to the KHL
- Remember how tough it was to let go of Nikolai Kovalenko in that deal with San Jose for Mackenzie Blackwood? That was just seven months ago. It was announced last weekend that Kovalenko has signed in the KHL.
Around The NHL
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Two new trade targets have emerged for the Penguins, both names that I wrote about yesterday. Also, we’ve got more chatter around the hockey world about Sidney Crosby, even though he’s not yet given anyone a reason to discuss his move out of Pittsburgh. Dan Kingerski covers all of that in this Friday story.
Boston Hockey Now: Jaroslav Halak announced his retirement on Friday. He was drafted 22 years ago and had one heck of a run, which included a stop in Boston.
Detroit Hockey Now: J. Bednar the goalie. Not Jared, but Jan. The Red Wings prospect is thankful for how the organization has treated him and still has hopes of living out his NHL dream.
He’s got many, many reasons why he should stick it out. The Halak retirement should serve as motivation. We all remember 2010, when the goalie of the future, Carey Price, was beat out by Halak for the starting position in Montreal. Halak was drafted in the ninth round, No. 271 overall two years before Price went No. 5. Goalies are voodoo, you truly never know what you’re going to get. In this case, Halak went on to have a lengthy NHL career with several starting jobs as well.
Vegas Hockey Now: Are the Golden Knights done making moves in the offseason? Here’s what their depth chart looks like right now, after acquiring Mitch Marner and losing a stalwart like Alex Pietrangelo all in the same summer.
