







1. Don't look now but the Avs are 3 points behind the Blues with 2 games at hand. The destiny of the Central Division is officially within their control. The Avs will also host the Blues for their final regular season game.





2. The Avs had a 10-day break before the Flyers game on Feb. 1st and it really shows. Other than Nathan Mackinnon who participated in the All-Star game, everyone else on the Avs including the coaching staff enjoyed a lengthy break from the grind of the NHL season. They were a bit rusty the first game against Philly but getting the rest they really showed in the last fours contests, posting 4-1 record since the All-Star break. They have a softer schedule going forward (there’s not such thing as an easy schedule in the NHL). That is good news because it puts the aforementioned Blues very much within reach.

3. The hockey world got some good news today hearing from Elliot Friedman that negotiations to send NHL players to the 2022 Olympics are making significant progress. This is great news for the hockey world. The Avs have always historically had players from smaller hockey countries. Whether its Wojtek Wolski from Poland, Karlis Skrastins (RIP) from Latvia, or currently P.E. Bellemare and Andrei Burakovsky from France and Austria respectively. Aside from the obvious guys like Mackinnon and Landeskog the Avs could be sending quite a large crew to Olympic games. Its also not too crazy to think that they could have 3 goaltenders representing their countries at the games: Phillip Grubauer for Germany, Pavel Francouz for the Czech Republic, and Justus Annunen for Finland.

4. With the trade deadline coming up teams are always looking to add Stanley Cup experience. Last year the Blues were Stanley Cup champions with 0 players on the roster that had previously won the Cup. I did a little digging and the last time that happened was more than 40 years ago (I stopped digging after 1990) the Avs currently have 3 players who have previously won a cup (Phillip Grubauer, Andrei Burakovsky, and Ian Cole). They also have 3 players who have played in the Stanley Cup finals without winning the cup (Jonas Donskoi, Matt Nieto, and P.E. Bellemare). The Avs are hardly lacking in playoff experience but adding more at the trade deadline is never a bad thing.









5. Last nights game against the Wild might be the best game I’ve seen Erik Johnson play all year. He didn’t show up on the score sheet but was all over the ice in the defensive zone and huge reason the Avs snagged 2 points in Minnesota. Johnson and Ian Cole have quietly been fantastic the last several games. I’ve always said the best defensive defenseman is the guy you don’t notice. It means they’re doing everything right shutting down the other teams top guys. Having a presence like that in the D-Zone is instrumental in playoff success and the Avs need both of these guys to be really sharp going into the post season.