All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — August 26.

Colorado Hockey Now

I wrote on Sunday about the surprisingly fun event that was at Magness Arena. I’ll keep that linked below for anyone who hasn’t gotten a chance to read it yet.

READ MORE: Good Vibes and Memorable Moments at the Avalanche’s Alumni Game

Among the participants for the Avalanche was Tyson Barrie, who spent the season with the Calgary Flames. Barrie announced his retirement early Monday morning, 16 years after he was drafted in the third round by Colorado.

READ MORE: Tyson Barrie Announces Retirement — Played 8 Seasons With Avalanche

Around The NHL

Florida Hockey Now: The Panthers’ ability to get Aaron Ekblad, Brad Marchand, and Sam Bennett all signed have the oddsmakers on their side. Can the Panthers make the Final for the fourth straight season and win it all three years in a row?

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The Pens are bringing back their own Hall of Fame and will induct 10 new names spanning several generations of Pittsburgh hockey.

Montreal Hockey Now: The Habs have a hole at 2C and Kirby Dach is the guy they’ve hoped can fill that role. But he’s coming off another knee injury and was testing his ability in recent days.

Detroit Hockey Now: Past and present Red Wings poised to help CSKA return to the top of the KHL.

 San Hockey Now: What has to go right for the San Jose Sharks to make the playoffs?

The post Deen’s Daily: Tyson Barrie Retirement; Can the Florida Panthers Three-Peat appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.

All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — June 3.

Colorado Hockey Now

Aside from signing Ilya Nabokov to an entry-level contract, the Avalanche have not yet begun to cross any items off their offseason checklist. And it’s fine. We’re still four weeks away from free agency.

But I wonder about the UFAs. Not just Brock Nelson, but Jonathan Drouin, Joel Kiviranta, and even Ryan Lindgren. What about Erik Johnson? Is he ready to retire, or are the Avs willing to give him an opportunity to be a depth No. 6 or No. 7 defenseman? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Read More: 6 Trade Targets That Could Solve the Avalanche’s 2C Hole (+)

If the team chooses to rebuild its blueline after the top pair, there’s a particular defenseman in Vegas who is rumored to be on the trade market. I do wonder about a fit for him with the Avs. I’m just very much intrigued in general about what (if anything) they do with Josh Manson and Samuel Girard.

Read More: Avalanche Trade Talk: Is Vegas’ Nicolas Hague a Worthy Target?

Around The NHL

Stanley Cup Final Media Day: We’ve got a ton of coverage of Media Day from Florida Hockey Now. The Panthers are in their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final and are looking to repeat as champs against the same Edmonton Oilers they defeated a year ago.

1. The Panthers are not afraid of road to the Stanley Cup
2. Sasha Barkov Loves South Florida, Enjoys Giving Back
3. Bill Zito on Florida Panthers: ‘Job’s Not Finished’

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The Pens’ coaching search has not yet reached its end. Is there a new name to consider?

Montreal Hockey Now: Is Jason Robertson a worthy trade target for the Habs?

NYI Hockey Now: Speaking of Robertson, he could be a dream addition for the Islanders.

Philly Hockey Now: Another new contract for another young Flyers piece. This time it’s Noah Cates.

New Jersey Hockey Now: The latest Devils mailbag covers quite a lot ahead of the offseason.

Vegas Hockey Now: Hague is just one of two Golden Knights names who headline some of the trade boards.

The post Deen’s Daily: Trade Rumors Are Heating Up; Stanley Cup Final Media Day appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.

All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — May 29.

Stanley Cup Playoff Recap

• Game 4 — Edmonton Oilers at Dallas Stars: The Oilers continued to score goals at will and the Dallas Stars continued to struggle offensively. Edmonton won 4-1 and has an opportunity to advance to the Stanley Cup Final tonight if they can close out the series on the road.
• Game 4 — Carolina Hurricanes at Florida Panthers: It felt for a moment like the Canes were going to stretch this series out for another game. But then Evan Rodrigues and Matthew Tkachuk scored twice in 30 seconds, and the Panthers never let up. Florida will play for the Cup for the third straight year with an opportunity to win back-to-back championships. If the Oilers win tonight, the Stanley Cup Final will begin in Edmonton next Wednesday.

Tonight’s Schedule

• Game 5:  Edmonton Oilers at Dallas Stars (6 pm MT on ESPN & ESPN+)

Around The NHL

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The Pens still don’t have a head coach, but a leading candidate is emerging. Also, the recent IOC ruling might spell the end of Evgeni Malkin’s International hockey career.

Montreal Hockey Now: I’ve got a trade targets piece coming out later this morning where I mention Nashville’s long list of veterans. One of them, Jonathan Marchessault, is rumored to be interested in being dealt to the Habs.

Philly Hockey Now: Ian Laperriere isn’t leaving the Flyers organization after all. He’s staying there, but no longer coaching.

New Jersey Hockey Now: Should the Devils bring back a veteran forward who once played for them?

Florida Hockey Now: Eetu Luostarinen left Game 5 with an injury on Tuesday. Here’s an update on his status.

The post Deen’s Daily: Florida is Back in the Stanley Cup Final; Veteran Wants out of Nashville appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.

All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — May 27.

Stanley Cup Playoff Recap

• Game 3 — Edmonton Oilers at Dallas Stars: The Oilers have been the better team for the majority of the first three games of this series. In Game 3, they dominated Dallas, winning 6-1 to gain a 2-1 series lead. The Stars have had a lot of trouble generating offense aside from Mikko Rantanen’s hot streak, and that continued in this one. They’re struggling at 5-on-5. Wyatt Johnston, for example, has just eight points in 16 games and is a whopping -17.
• Game 4 — Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes: For the first time in almost 19 years, the Carolina Hurricanes won a game in the Eastern Conference Final. They shut out the Florida Panthers 3-0 in Game 4 on Monday to avoid getting swept for the second time in three years. Freddie Andersen didn’t play in Game 3 but came back in and stopped all 21 shots he faced.

Tonight’s Schedule

• Game 4: Dallas Stars at Edmonton Oilers (6 pm MT on ESPN & ESPN+)

Around The NHL

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Three thoughts from Dan Kingerski as we continue to await a hire for the Pens’ next head coach.

Detroit Hockey Now: Five factors to consider about Red Wings’ offseason plans.

Florida Hockey Now: Brad Machand said he was eating a Dairy Queen Blizzard in the middle of Game 3. You’d be shocked to learn he was joking.

Vegas Hockey Now: Why Mitch Marner does and doesn’t make sense for the Golden Knights.

The post Deen’s Daily: Oilers Can Take Control Tonight; Hurricanes Avoid Sweep appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.

Alex Ovechkin scored another goal inching closer to breaking an ultimate NHL record and the Florida Panthers barely squeezed out a win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Details on the Avs win and how the team they face next fared in Thursday night’s matchups in the March 21 edition of Flynn’s Daily.

Colorado Hockey Now

It was a full-team effort with 11 players earning points and Scott Wedgewood stood tall in net for the Avs’ victory. Head coach Jared Bednar switched up the lineup, which proved successful with points from 11 different players and four points each coming from the top three lines.

Read More: Good & Bad: Avs Buzzing After 5-1 Victory Over Sens

Around the NHL

The Gr8 Chase: Ovechkin notched goal No. 888 in the Washington Capitals’ 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. He is now seven goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career record of 894.

The Caps have 13 more games in the regular season — plenty of hockey to play for Ovi to reach the milestone.

Florida Hockey Now: The Florida Panthers dodged a loss with a 1-0 overtime win against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Cats are 16 points ahead of the Blue Jackets but that didn’t stop Columbus from turning up the heat on the reigning Stanley Cup champs.

It was a goalie battle between Sergei Bobrovsky against his former team and their go-to netminder Elvis Merzlikins. Bob was perfect in net stopping 25 shots while Merzlikins faced 28. Aleksander Barkov scored the game-winner 29 seconds into the extra period to give the Panthers another two points in the standings.

Vegas Hockey Now: Pavel Dorofeyev scored a hat trick to help the Vegas Golden Knights earn a 5-1 victory over the Boston Bruins. Adin Hill stopped 18 of 19 shots and the Golden Knights earned two points to put them three points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division.

“He’s got a great shot, great release, and good deception,” Hill said about Dorofeyev after the game. “He just finds those right spots on the ice. You can’t teach it.”

Montreal Hockey Now: The Habs fell 4-3 in overtime to the New York Islanders to set them three points behind the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference wild-card chase.

The Isles scored the first goal setting the tone for the back-and-forth game.

“Some blamed Samuel Montembeault’s use of the infamous reverse VH, while others suggested Brendan Gallagher’s penalty was the crux of the issue,” Montreal Hockey Now’s Marc Dumont wrote in his postgame wrap-up.

The post Flynn’s Daily: Nelson Nets 2; Ovechkin 7 Away From Historical Record; Cats Win in OT appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.

The teams are evenly matched, with only a point difference between them. The Avs have three players in the NHL’s top 10 in points, goals and assists (Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar), the Panthers only have one (Sam Reinhart). However, the stats do not indicate what kind of offensive power Florida possesses.

Notebook: Is Gabriel Landeskog Actually Nearing a Return?

“They’re a well-rounded team. They score a lot because they play extremely hard, but they’re a good checking team too,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said. “They’re going to take time and space away from you, they’re going to run into you every chance they get. So this is a difficult team to create offense against, no questions.”

Florida’s head coach Paul Maurice said his team is more defensive-minded despite having highly-skilled scorers in the lineup. With two highly-offensive teams facing each other, there’s the possibility of it coming down to a goaltender battle.

“God, we hope not, but possibly, probably, right at the end of the day, that’s how it’s decided. We have some really good offensive players that we can score goals. But it’s really not how we’re built or how we play,” Maurice said. “We were a very strong defensive team last year. We tied Winnipeg with the fewest goals against, and that’s really how we’re built.”

Mikko Rantanen scored his 100th career power-play goal against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night but said special teams could be better. The PP and penalty kill will be important against the No. 6 power-play team in the league and an exceptional goaltender.

“Hopefully our team can help Blacky (Mackenzie Blackwood) in the net as much as we can. He’s a really good goalie …,” Rantanen said. “We rather play a little low-scoring game and win the game. He’s playing really well so hopefully he can help us, help us again.”

The Avs offense was lighter than usual last game, which led to a 2-1 shootout loss against the Habs. A key to beating the Panthers is to create more offense while taking away their scoring chances — and that means beating Bobrovsky.

“He’s a really good goaltender, so get traffic anytime you can, try and make it difficult on him with screens and tips,” Logan O’Connor said. “It’s sort of cliche, but it’s obvious with good goaltenders that no one likes traffic, so it’s making his job difficult in there, and don’t pass up on opportunities.”

Cale Makar is on the verge of scoring his 100th career goal and Rantanen is riding a 13-game scoring streak. If the Avs rev up the offensive power they’ve had in the six games before Saturday’s SO loss, they’ll ensure a victory over the Cats.

The post Avs Need to Fire Up Offense Against Panthers appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.

READ MORE: Is Gabriel Landeskog Actually Nearing a Return? 

The Avalanche saw their six-game winning streak end against Montreal on Saturday. They led 1-0 entering the third period but lost 2-1 in the shootout. It was the first time all season that Colorado didn’t win a game it led entering the third period. And it’s also the first OT or shootout loss of the season. The good news is they still gained a point in the standings.

Against the Panthers, the Avs have a chance to reach 25 wins at the halfway mark of the season, which is something head coach Jared Bednar references as a team goal after morning skate.

“The goal is to get to 50 wins every year,” Bednar said.

Last year they had 26 wins through 41 games. Coincidentally, Colorado also hosted the Panthers on Jan. 6 a year ago — an 8-4 loss in what ended up being the last game of Ivan Prosvetov’s career with the Avs.

Mackenzie Blackwood is back in goal and the lineup will look nearly identical to the one that lost to Montreal. The only difference is Tye Felhaber filling in on the fourth line instead of Oskar Olausson. Colorado was 1-for-5 on the power play against the Habs. As is normally the case, the team spent a large portion of the morning skate focusing on special teams, albeit Jonathan Drouin was absent from skate. He’ll be in the lineup, Bednar confirmed.

The Avs won the first game of the season series back on Nov. 23, defeating the Panthers 7-4 in a high-scoring affair. Drouin led the way with two goals and Alexandar Georgiev recorded one of his last wins in an Avalanche uniform.

READ MORE: 10 Observations: The Avalanche let Montreal Hang Around For Too Long

Florida enters the matchup with almost the same record as the Avs. Paul Maurice’s club is also searching for its 25th win halfway through the regular season. They lead Colorado by a point in the standings because they have two OT losses instead of one.

In their last game on Friday, the Panthers won 3-2 in the shootout against Pittsburgh in the second half of a back-to-back. They’ve been wildly inconsistent for about a month though. In December, Florida was shut out four times in 15 days. They failed to score a goal in consecutive games on two occasions. The first set was on the road at Calgary and Vancouver but the second set was at home against Tampa Bay and Montreal. Jakub Dobes, who just beat the Avs, was in goal for the Habs and made his NHL debut with a shutout victory.

Sergei Bobrovsky gets the nod in goal. He’s 17-8-1 but with a .899 save percentage. If he ends the season below .900, it would be the first time he doesn’t reach that mark since his second season in the league in 2011-12.

READ MORE: What Went Wrong For Avalanche vs Habs; McLellan Elevates Detroit; Miller vs Pettersson

Season Series

• Nov. 23 at Florida Panthers (W, 7-4)
• Jan. 6 vs Florida Panthers

Avalanche Injuries

• Scott Wedgewood (lower body, week-to-week)
• Valeri Nichushkin (lower body, day-to-day)
• Ivan Ivan (upper body, week-to-week)
• Oliver Kylington (upper body, IR)
• Miles Wood (upper body, LTIR)
• Gabriel Landeskog (knee, no timetable)

Projected Avalanche Lines (subject to change)

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Jonathan Drouin — Casey Mittelstadt — Ross Colton
Joel Kiviranta – Parker Kelly – Logan O’Connor
Jere Innala — Juuso Parssinen — Tye Felhaber

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Josh Manson
Keaton Middleton — Sam Malinski

Mackenzie Blackwood
Trent Miner

Projected Starters (subject to change)

• Confirmed: Mackenzie Blackwood (COL)
• Confirmed: Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA)

Upcoming Milestones

• Jonathan Drouin — needs 1 goal for 100
• Cale Makar — needs 1 goal for 100
• Nathan MacKinnon — needs 4 PPG for 100
• Casey Mittelstadt — needs 3 games for 400
• Devon Toews — needs 4 assists for 200
• Ross Colton — needs 7 games for 300
• Logan O’Connor — needs 8 points for 100

The post Avalanche Game 41 vs Florida Panthers, Halfway Through! Lines, Notes, & How to Watch appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.

Notebook: General manager Chris MacFarland doesn’t usually meet with media in early December. But he did this year after making two goalies trades to revamp Colorado’s goaltending duo. He also made it pretty clear that more is coming. The trade deadline is on March 7 and the Avs, who are 18-14-0, still have other pressing needs to secure a playoff spot and hopefully make a run. With Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood in the fold, what’s the next move for the Avalanche? 

Around the NHL

Florida Hockey Now: The Stanley Cup deciding game last June was an exciting, low-scoring matchup between the Oilers and Panthers. Florida came out on top, winning 2-1 to secure its first championship. In a rematch of the seven-game series, the two teams exchanged goals in what ended up being a wild third period.

New Jersey Hockey Now: The New Jersey Devils have two key free-agent defensemen who are up for contract this summer. One of them is unrestricted and the other is restricted. Both are top of mind for GM Tom Fitzgerald.

Detroit Hockey Now: Amid a season of disappointment, the Red Wings have actually had pretty solid goaltending. At least that’s what the numbers say.

Speaking of Detroit, one of their former first-round draft picks is finally starting to find his way.

NY Islanders Hockey Now: The Islanders finished a home-and-home with the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. In the second matchup, the Islanders fell by a goal. Three takeaways from the weekend.

The post Deen’s Daily: Next Avalanche Trade Target; Crazy Stanley Cup Final Rematch appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.

Jonathan Drouin scored his first two goals of the season. His first was a bounce off his shoulder pad from Cale Makar’s shot into the net, and his second was a backhand from a Makar pass.

Sam Girard and Logan O’Connor scored their second goals of the season, and Oliver Kylington and Valeri Nichushkin each netted their first.

Girard’s goal — the fourth of the game — was a lucky deflection off Dmitry Kulikov’s skate in front of the net. The 27-year-old defenseman also made a perfect pass to Mikko Rantanen in front of the net for the fifth goal. It was Rantanen’s only goal but he had three assists for a four-point game.

“Really good game, three really good games in this road trip. Florida — defending champions, and really good team so when we play like this, results are going to come on their own,” Rantanen said after the win. “And defending was good. Offense, we had a night tonight for sure. We were able to score on some chances that we might have not been able to score in the previous games.”

Kylington lined up a cross-ice pass on O’Connor’s goal for his first assist of the season. His goal was a wrist shot just under the crossbar over Sergei Bobrovsky’s shoulder off a perfectly placed pass from Nichushkin.

The 27-year-old Sweden native played the last three games after being in and out of the lineup since the start of the season.

“I just try to be consistent with my play and give the coaches what I’m good at,” Kylington said.

Good: Full team effort 

Seven players earned multiple points in the win: Rantanen (4), Nichushkin (3), Drouin (2), Makar (2). Devon Toews (2), Girard (2) and Kylington (2). Artturi Lehkonen, Nathan MacKinnon, Ivan Ivan and O’Connor all had one point each.

See my breakdown above for more details on the full team effort.

Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves on 31 shots and played another solid game despite giving up a goal less than a minute into the first period. The netminder got beat on three of the four goals, but Aleksander Barkov’s was a wonky one with a bat of the puck into the net that bounced off Georgiev when he made the initial stop.

Bad: Turnovers, Penalties

The Avs stayed mostly on top of the puck but had another high number of giveaways with 21. The Panthers were unable to convert on many of them due to the Avs’ recovery plays.

“We fixed some things that hurt us in Washington — number one, getting back above pucks early to shut down the rush attack. It’s important against Florida as well, that you get back above them because they can be a really dangerous team …,” head coach Jared Bednar said after the game. “I thought that we did a nice job of that, real good defending commitment tonight, and it led to good offense. It was smart puck play … If we didn’t, we laid it back in behind them and got our forecheck rolling a little bit. So I felt like we were a hard team to handle tonight in a lot of different areas.”

The Avalanche were assessed five penalties while the Panthers only got two.

The Cats were called for delay of game after challenging a goaltender interference call on a goal that was waived off. Miles Wood got into it with Matthew Tkachuk and both were sent to the box.

Florida capitalized on a power play at the end of the second from Joel Kiviranta’s interference minor.

More Avalanche News

• No Better Time for an Avalanche Road Trip
• Flynn’s Daily: Where Avs Sit Quarter Way Through Season
• Deen’s Daily: Georgiev Victorious in Return; Datsyuk Signs Symbolic Contract; Blackwood for Team Canada?

The post Good & Bad: Full Team Effort in Avalanche Win appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.

Colorado is coming off two consecutive road wins, while Florida has dropped four of its last five. This is the first of two meetings between the teams this season. The Cats beat the Avs in both games last season.

Head coach Jared Bednar has been moving wingers around the top two lines since Valeri Nichushkin and Jonathan Drouin returned to the lineup. No one combination has stood out so he’ll continue to shift players around until that chemistry forms organically.

Guerilla Sports’ Jesse Montano said the Avs’ lineup did not look to have changed from the last game at the team’s morning skate at the Panthers’ practice facility in Fort Lauderdale.

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice is mixing up his lineup. According to the team’s senior digital content manager, former Avalanche forward Evan Rodrigues will face his old teammates on the wing of the Panthers’ top line in South Florida.

Alexandar Georgiev is the expected starter and has won each of his last four starts, earning a save percentage of .914 and a goals-against average of 2.22.

Check out my breakdown of the Avalanche’s first 20 games in Flynn’s Daily: Where Avs Sit Quarter Way Through Season.

Season Series

• Nov. 23 at Florida
• Jan. 6 vs Florida

Avalanche Injuries

• Ross Colton (foot, 6-8 weeks)
• Gabriel Landeskog (knee, no timetable)

Projected Avalanche Lines (subject to change)

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Jonathan Drouin
Valeri Nichushkin — Casey Mittelstadt — Mikko Rantanen
Joel Kiviranta — Ivan Ivan — Logan O’Connor
Miles Wood — Parker Kelly — Nikolai Kovalenko

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Josh Manson
Oliver Kylington — Sam Malinski

Alexandar Georgiev
Justus Annunen

Projected Starters (subject to change)

• Unconfirmed: Alexandar Georgiev (COL)
• Unconfirmed: Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA)

Upcoming Milestones

• Mikko Rantanen needs 4 power-play goals for 100
• Artturi Lehkonen needs 1 point to hit 250
• Cale Makar needs 1 multi-point game to hit 100 becoming the 15th defenseman under the age of 27 in NHL history to do so

How to Watch

• TV: Altitude TV
• Radio: 92.5 Altitude Radio

Avalanche News

• No Better Time for an Avalanche Road Trip
• Flynn’s Daily: Where Avs Sit Quarter Way Through Season
• Deen’s Daily: Georgiev Victorious in Return; Datsyuk Signs Symbolic Contract; Blackwood for Team Canada?
• Good & Bad: Alexandar Georgiev Stellar in Avs Win Over Caps

The post Game 21 vs Florida Panthers: Lines, Notes & How to Watch appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.