TORONTO — Following the Avalanche’s morning skate at the Air Canada Centre, Hart Trophy candidate Nathan MacKinnon sat at his stall and addressed a throng of media for more than 20 minutes Monday.

In what was supposed to be the last question, the Avs’ star center was asked if the culture of the team improved after Matt Duchene was traded to Ottawa on Nov. 5 in a three-team deal that netted Colorado seven pieces, including 19-year-old defenseman Sam Girard, who played his 32nd game with the Avs on Monday night against the Maple Leafs.

“It did a lot,” MacKinnon said of the improved culture. “There’s nothing wrong with Dutchy wanting to leave. I think it’s fair. He’s eight, nine years in this league and it wasn’t like a crazy breakup or anything. He went about it really good this season. But obviously we knew he wanted to leave. Now we have everybody here that wants to be here, which is great. If Dutchy was here I’d think we’d be in a good spot as well. He’s a really good player and obviously it’s nice to get ‘G’ (Girard) here. He’s a great defenseman.”

MacKinnon, who will play in this weekend’s All-Star Game in Tampa, Fla., is the NHL’s second-leading scorer with 59 points (23 goals) in 45 games. He has been the league’s top scorer since Nov. 1, and his career-high nine-game points streak coincides with the Avs’ nine-game winning streak. The Toronto media couldn’t get enough of MacKinnon on Monday until a team spokesman intervened.

Asked if he liked the attention, MacKinnon said: “Better than no attention, I guess.” Related Articles Avalanche re-signs former DU star Logan O’Connor on two-year contract

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Lineup. The Avs used the same lineup Monday from their last game, a 3-1 victory Saturday over the New York Rangers. Colorado coach Jared Bednar said injured goalie Semyon Varlamov (groin area), who is on the trip along with defenseman Tyson Barrie (hand) and Sven Andrighetto (leg), won’t return to the lineup until after the all-star break. Barrie and Andrighetto are day-to-day, Bednar said, so they each could play Tuesday at Montreal or Thursday at St. Louis.

Footnotes. Avs forward Blake Comeau took a puck to the chin at the morning skate during warmups. The puck came off a shot from rookie A.J. Greer, Comeau said, but the wound did not require stitches. … Avs rookie forward Dominic Toninato was drafted by Toronto but chose to play four years at Minnesota-Duluth and become a free agent in August, at which time he chose to sign with Colorado. Toninato attended Maple Leafs development camps and said he wanted to sign with them but they only offered him an American Hockey League contract, while the Avs and other teams offered him NHL entry-level deals. “It’s crazy, being on the opposite side of it, but it’s a lot of fun being back here and hopefully we can get a win,” Toninato said.

COLORADO AT MONTREAL, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, ALT, 950 AM

Spotlight on Alex Galchenyuk

The Canadiens’ American from Milwaukee is the team’s second-leading scorer but has a minus-22 rating, second worst on the team and fourth worst in the NHL. Montreal defenseman Jeff Petry is at minus-24. Galchenyuk, 23, has had a rocky six-year relationship with the Habs, who chose him third overall in the 2012 draft. He is pointless in his last three games and only played 15:43 in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the visiting Boston Bruins.