The NHL has resumed back to action as they had taken a 11 day break to come up with a plan to slow down the covid outbreaks among almost every team across the league. The league’s added back Taxi-Squads to help stop the surge of cancellations throughout the NHL. It consists of up to 6 players being held as reserves in-case players on the active roster face isolation due to positive covid tests. Taxi-Squads were used last year for this reason and will be brought back since it was effective in preventing postponements. Another implemented policy is that they have reduced the isolation period to 5-days for players who are asymptomatic.
Despite the league resuming play on the 28th, the Avs had more games postponed due more positive cases throughout the organization. The last game they played was December 16th against the Nashville Predators where they ended up losing 5-2. They ended up missing entirely their 3 game road trip against Atlantic and Eastern divisional teams, which is speculated to be made up during the olympic break in February. Avs had additional postponements missing their two game home and away series against their division rival, the Dallas Stars. The next game that is scheduled for them to play is January 2nd, against the surprising Anaheim Ducks, who are finding ways to win in spite of having low expectations from experts at the start of the season. The game is expected to go without cancellation and it’ll be the Avs first game in quite some time.
The Avalanche are experiencing lots of time off because of the outbreaks, allowing for players to recover from physical injuries during this time. This is the only good that’s come out of this pause. In particular, young defensmen Bo Byram has missed a bit of time with a concussion. It has been reported that he’s had full participation at practice recently which is a good sign. But the main focus for the Avs at the moment is to get healthy on the covid front.
Colorado has had another injury filled season, but are forced to fight through this adversity. The team is overall in a good position to make a serious run for the top of the Central Division since they’re currently sitting at 4th. The Avs have played the least amount of games of anyone in the Central, so if they can string together some wins, they can quickly get back to the top. Nazem Kadri, the Avalanche’s point leader with 38 points, and Mikko Rantanen the team’s leader in goals with 14, have both been key benefactors to the success of the team’s offense. The depth of many other players’ contributions has also been a factor in the overall success. Nathan MacKinnon has been silent on the goal side with only 3, but picked up his production by distributing the puck with 21 helpers. He’s only played 17 games because of injuries, so with the 2nd half of the season remaining, I predict he will add to the score sheet even more if he can continue to remain healthy.
The Avalanche have lots to be excited about if they can get through the Covid issues and injuries. They look to start out 2022 strong with the next 4 out of 5 games to be played at Ball Arena in Denver. This will be a huge advantage to utilize a home crowd since they may need to workout the rust from having a long break.
