19 Avalanche observations: Drouin and Nichushkin heating up, Patrick Kane thoughts, more
DENVER — The preseason vision of how Jonathan Drouin would look with Colorado is starting to materialize in reality. His comfort level is up. He knows the system. And, after a slow start to the season that included a pair of healthy scratches, he’s producing.
“His game’s been on a rise for more than a half-a-dozen games now,” coach Jared Bednar said.
Drouin has played his way onto Colorado’s top power-play unit. And with the Avalanche on the man advantage midway through the first period Saturday against Calgary , he took a pass from Mikko Rantanen , shifted his way through two defenders and beat goalie Dan Vladar blocker side. As the goal horn rang across Ball Arena, he punched the air in excitement.
Drouin has three goals and five points over his past eight games, and linemate Ryan Johansen has taken note of his improved play.
“I see him taking control of the puck when he’s got it and then demanding it with his skating,” the center said. “I think he’s been really impressive as of late, and I’ve had a blast playing with him the last chunk of games. He’s really been effective for our group.”
Added Nathan MacKinnon : “I think he’s really hit his stride the last couple weeks.”
Drouin’s history with MacKinnon perhaps led to unreachable expectations entering the season. The 28-year-old’s transition to a new team wasn’t seamless, but his game appears to be coming together. He’s finding his place.
The Avalanche winger kicks off this week’s observations column, which covers a brutal loss to Nashville and wins against Vancouver , Minnesota and Calgary. I have 19 observations in honor of MacKinnon’s assist total on the year.
This should go without saying, but good on Samuel Girard for getting the help he needs and being transparent about both his mental health struggles and alcohol abuse issues. He didn’t need to put out a statement after the NHL and NHL Players Association announced he was entering the player assistance program, but by doing so he could perhaps encourage others to ask for help if they need it.
Here’s what Bednar said about Girard, per colleague Michael Russo, who covered the game in Minnesota:
“You’re in the limelight, so I think it’s even more difficult to come out and say you need help, because it’s not as personalized, it’s not just you and your family. Everyone kind of finds out about it, so it takes more courage.
“We’re with him. We completely support what he’s going through and his decision to go into the program and get help. You’ve got to take care of yourself first before you’re able to be able to come and really help a team. We miss him and we’re really excited to get him back at some point.”
Bednar said the team hasn’t had a lot of communication with Girard and doesn’t have a sense of when he’ll return, “but we’ll be in support.”
Avalanche defenseman Jack Johnson echoed Bednar’s support for Girard.
“First and foremost, we miss him,” he said. “He’s a big part of our team. Great player, and I just miss him in the locker room as a friend. In a situation like that, step one is acknowledging if there is a problem.”
He said it was good for Girard to take that first step, and the team is wishing him the best.
Patrick Kane rumors are starting to intensify. My sense is that the Avalanche are monitoring the situation, but I don’t think they’re among the front-runners.
There are reasons why a Kane fit would make sense and reasons why it wouldn’t. He’s a player with a Hall of Fame resume and a knack for scoring goals, and Colorado could use another top-six forward. If he’s willing to sign a cheap, one-year deal for a chance to win, it could be a worthwhile experiment.
But Kane is not the guarantee he would have been a couple years ago. The last time we saw him, he was with the Rangers to close the 2022-23 season and not at his best. He then got hip resurfacing surgery after the season, which is not something easy to come back from. Nicklas Backstrom got the surgery and, after initially returning, is away from the Washington Capitals because of ongoing issues.
There’s also the question of what Kane wants. Colorado doesn’t have the cap flexibility to pay as much as other teams, and Kane might not get as much opportunity on the power play with the Avalanche as he would elsewhere. But he likely wants to win, and Colorado is a contender.
Flames forward Nazem Kadri is still a popular fellow in Denver. The Avalanche showed him on the video board during pregame warmups before Saturday’s game, and the crowd cheered in approval. Kadri nodded in appreciation.
The Avalanche invited the family of late Flames assistant general manager Chris Snow to Saturday’s game. Snow’s wife, Kelsie, and kids, Cohen and Willa, received signed jerseys from star defenseman Cale Makar , who is from Calgary. Cohen read the starting lineup in the Avalanche dressing room pregame, and Willa read it to the Calgary players.
When the told us they wanted to honor Chris at tonight’s game against the in Denver we were so grateful. When they asked us if we would be their guests, well, you can see the look on these two faces.Hockey family. pic.twitter.com/1WJMdmA7Db
— Kelsie Snow November 25, 2023
Before the game, the three Snow family members stood on the ice as a tribute video to Snow played on the jumbotron. The crowd cheered, and then the Snows met Makar and Kadri at center ice for a ceremonial puck drop. After the game, the kids were in the Avalanche dressing room getting autographs from players, and Cohen made an appearance on Sportsnet’s “After Hours” with Scott Oake. It looked like a well-deserved special night for a family that has been through a lot.
Bednar said he’s not sure that, last season, forward Valeri Nichushkin ever got to the level of “the Val we knew the year before.” The winger dealt with injuries throughout the season, then left the team in the first round of the postseason after the incident at the team hotel prior to Game 3 of Colorado’s series with Seattle .
Nichushkin got off to a bit of a slow start, but he’s been on fire since the birth of his baby daughter, Anna. He has eight goals and four assists in nine games as a father. Bednar said the baby arrived late, which was potentially on the winger’s mind leading into the birth.
“His head (was) probably not fully on hockey, which is understandable,” Bednar said. “I kind of had the feeling that maybe after he had his baby and everything settled down that we’d start to see him go, and we have.”
Nichushkin played more than 27 minutes against Minnesota, then gave Bednar 24:55 the next night against Calgary. After an assist against the Flames, he’s up to 19 points in 20 games.
With Pavel Francouz out for the season, Colorado will have to decide if Ivan Prosvetov is the answer as backup goaltender. The front office hasn’t gotten a ton of opportunities to see Prosvetov in action because of Colorado’s spread-out schedule to start the year. That should change coming up as Colorado has 15 games in December.
Prosvetov had an excellent game against the Flames, stopping 29 of 30 shots. He made a big pad save on Jonathan Huberdeau as Calgary made a late push at six-on-five. The game raised Prosvetov’s season save percentage to .919.
“I thought he was outstanding tonight,” Bednar said. “It wasn’t a ton of work at times during the game, and then there were some flurries. ... He looked really quick and strong and covers a lot of net as a big guy.”
Teammates, including Nichushkin and Fredrik Olofsson , came up to Prosvetov’s locker postgame to give him props for his outing.
Artturi Lehkonen , who was injured earlier this month when he went headfirst into the boards, was at the Flames game. He’s out of a neck brace.
“He’s gone and checked back in with the doctors, everything seems to be going fine,” Bednar said. “He’s lucky it wasn’t worse and now he’s starting to make some progress and he’s been around the team a little bit more, and I’m sure as the days and weeks start coming by here, he’ll get more into the working out and rehab stuff and do what he can.”
. Wild coach Dean Evason took issue with the Avalanche after Friday’s game, accusing players — notably Makar — of diving. Per Russo:
Evason was frustrated by the penalties tonight, accusing the Avs, specifically Cale Makar, of diving pic.twitter.com/wRKliE3sP1— Michael Russo November 25, 2023
. Kurtis MacDermid , who has been a healthy scratch in all but five games this season, made the most of his 3:30 of ice time against the Wild, scoring the game-winning goal in the third period. He took an Andrew Cogliano pass in front of the crease, deked goalie Filip Gustavsson and backhanded it into the net. In his postgame interview with TNT, he called the goal “an out-of-body experience.”
MacDermid’s on-ice contributions are limited, but you can see how much his fellow Avalanche players appreciate him whenever he makes them. His teammates mobbed him on the ice after the goal.
. Alexandar Georgiev made a smart play when Brandon Duhaime knocked Colorado’s net off its moorings. The Avalanche goaltender, knowing the Wild couldn’t score with no net on the play, skated to the bench so Colorado could get an extra attacker. It didn’t lead to a goal but was a heady play by Georgiev.
. Joonas Donskoi took in the Avalanche-Wild game and dressed his son in Colorado gear. Donskoi played 116 games with Colorado, most recently in 2020-21. Mikko Rantanen flipped his son a puck during pregame warmups.
We spy with our little eyes...Donskoi #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/hzr7vHEzqN
— Colorado Avalanche November 25, 2023
. Colorado had a catastrophic end to its game Monday in Nashville. In the third period, the Predators had 64.89 percent of the expected goal share at five-on-five and outchanced Colorado 6-3, per Natural Stat Trick . The Avalanche allowed two scores in the final minute to go from being up a goal to leaving without a point.
Per 102.5 reporter Nick Kieser, the game marked only the 12th time in the NHL since 1931 that a team scored a game-tying and go-ahead goal in the final minute of regulation in the same game.
. That was a brutal loss, but the Avalanche did an impressive job not letting it get them into a slide. They allowed the first goal to Vancouver on Wednesday but took the lead by the end of the first period thanks to goals from Nichushkin and Drouin.
“It’s just the nature of the league,” Johnson said. “Games just keep coming and coming and you can’t sit and dwell on the last game, good or bad. Especially right now it feels like we’re in a pattern where it feels like we’re playing every other night.”
. Josh Manson got a five-minute major and a game misconduct for cross-checking Brock Boeser in the Vancouver game, which felt extreme. Manson’s stick certainly came up as Boeser charged at him, but the defenseman wasn’t looking at Boeser and didn’t seem to hit him too hard. The play was initially called a minor penalty on both Manson and Boeser, but after a review, Manson’s penalty was upgraded.
This is what led to the Josh Manson ejection. pic.twitter.com/HdozJtqIoX— Peter Baugh November 23, 2023
. The Manson play is an example of why I believe reporters should be able to request comment from referees postgame. One reporter could serve as a pool reporter and talk to a ref about a controversial decision, then the reporter could distribute the comments to other media members. That’s how MLB makes umpires available.
If the league did that, officials could explain their decision making and everyone would leave with a better understanding. It would benefit all parties.
. I could see MacKinnon going on a goal-scoring surge after scoring against Calgary. He hadn’t found the net in seven games entering the Flames game, but that drought ended when he flung a puck in a puck from the point midway through the second period. The shot didn’t have a ton of velocity on it, but it snuck through traffic in front of the net and fooled Vladar.
“He tends to have these stretches throughout the course of every year that he gets snakebit a little bit,” Bednar said. “But he also tends to get hot every once in a while and ride a streak for a while. So I think he’s been a little bit frustrated, but he continues to work and do the right things.”
Perhaps the star center just needed to see a puck go in and the odd Flames goal will spark a hot stretch.
(Photo of Jonathan Drouin celebrating with his teammates: Matthew Stockman / )
