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Tag: miles wood

  • Avs betting Gavin Brindley, fresh off two-year extension, isn’t close to reaching his ceiling

    On Sunday in Vancouver, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar showed his faith in Gavin Brindley.

    On Tuesday in Denver, the Colorado front office followed suit.

    Two days after Bednar moved the fourth-line forward to the first line in the third period and then sent him back onto the ice for overtime, resulting in Brindley’s first career game-winning goal, the Avs announced they signed Brindley to a two-year extension.

    That extension, which carries an average annual value of $875,000 and runs through the 2027-28 season, is evidence that Colorado believes the 21-year-old can emerge as a fixture in the offense over the next three years.

    “I think he can be a (first- or second-line) forward in this league,” Bednar said. “He plays bigger than his size, the motor, the relentlessness, the skill level and the brain to go with it is all there. His (ceiling) is really high. He’s being used in that (fourth-line) role because there’s guys I trust higher in the lineup, and who have played those roles before.

    “… (What he did in Vancouver), that’s repeatable from him. We’ll keep trying to move him up when he’s really going, or when other guys are struggling. If not, he just makes our team deeper and more dangerous offensively when he’s playing in the bottom six (forwards).”

    Considering where Brindley’s stock was just five months ago when the Avs traded for him, Tuesday’s announcement speaks to the strong impression he’s made in his short time in Colorado.

    The Avs sent forwards Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to the Blue Jackets on June 27 in a cap-clearing move, and got Brindley and two draft picks in return. Taken No. 34 overall by Columbus in 2023, Brindley was coming off a poor debut in his first full professional season for the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League. In 52 games, he tallied 17 points, including only six goals.

    That made him expendable in a trade that Brindley says “definitely put a chip on my shoulder.”

    “Coming off last year, not the best year for myself, I just got back to my game and got back to what I know works,” Brindley said. “I had a lot of different emotions after the trade. There’s positives and negatives to getting traded that young, but (in retrospect), it’s good to go through it early, experience that, experience the downs of last year, learn from it and get better and grow.”

    Brindley said extension talks between his agent and the Avs heated up over the last few weeks and came to a head on Monday. In 14 games entering Tuesday night’s showdown with Anaheim, Brindley had five points (three goals, two assists) while becoming a lineup regular. That’s in stark contrast to the previous two years, when he barely got a cup of coffee with Columbus (one game in 2023-24) in the NHL.

    Parker Kelly, who plays on the fourth line with Brindley, noted that Brindley “has done a great job of coming in and picking up what we’ve built here.”

    “Gavin’s been making plays and obviously we saw him get onto the top line (in Vancouver) and then he buries the game-winner in overtime,” Kelly said. “He was probably our best player throughout the majority of that game.

    “But where I’ve really seen his growth (on the fourth line) is his understanding of the game. … Sometimes he just needs to make the safe play, and he’s been doing a really good job of picking his spots, making plays when he can and being smart with the puck when he doesn’t have plays to make.”

    Brindley has also earned roles on both the penalty kill and the power play — he’s now on the second unit for the latter. That’s another indication of Bednar’s growing trust in the young forward, who would’ve entered restricted free agency this summer without an extension.

    “He’s a well-rounded player who is willing to learn and add to his toolbox to be able to get more minutes,” Bednar said.

    Kyle Newman

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  • Slow start dooms shorthanded Avalanche in loss to Lightning

    Slow start dooms shorthanded Avalanche in loss to Lightning

    For 54 minutes Wednesday night, the severely shorthanded Colorado Avalanche played about as well as expected, considering the circumstances.

    That, however, came after the first six minutes went about as poorly as someone could imagine. The big guns on the Tampa Bay Lightning had a huge night, and the Avs’ pushback was met by one of the best goalies in the world in a 5-2 loss at Ball Arena.

    Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel combined for three goals and seven points for the Lightning. After allowing three goals on the first five shots, new Colorado goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen did find his way and finished with 16 saves.

    “Against teams like that with that high-end skill, you expect them to make those plays, but it’s still not easy to make the saves on those plays,” Kahkonen said. “Especially early like that. But it’s … what are you going to do? You just play. You try to stop the next puck and you try to get into a rhythm.”

    The Avs have been without Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder), Valeri Nichushkin (suspension) and Gabe Landeskog (knee) all season and Jonathan Drouin (upper body) joined them after getting hurt in the opener against Vegas. The situation got worse for Colorado before this game.

    Ross Colton is out 6-to-8 weeks with a broken foot after blocking a shot Monday night against Chicago, Avs coach Jared Bednar said Wednesday morning. Miles Wood is also out for 7-to-10 days with an upper-body injury that he’s been trying to play through.

    “Our (missing) payroll is outrageous,” Nathan MacKinnon said. It’s not excuses. It’s just facts. I do like how we’re playing overall. When guys come back, I feel like if just keep with this, we’ll have better results, but that’s not the point right now.”

    While there were some positives to build from for a team missing six of its top-10 forwards, the Avs were down 3-0 before the first TV timeout.

    Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper gets an assist on each of the first two Lightning goals. Both times, the play began with his third line against Colorado’s makeshift third line, which included defenseman Oliver Kylington.

    The Lightning gained control of the puck and made an on-the-fly change to its top line, and then quickly scored in similar fashion. Point took the puck behind the Colorado net and found Kucherov wide open in the slot for a one-timer 61 seconds in.

    Kucherov collected the puck behind his own net at the start of his next shift and went coast-to-coast. He went behind the net like Point did, but sent a reverse pass back to where he came from. Guentzel was waiting near the right post for an easy one at 3:36 for a 2-0 lead.

    “It’s awareness mistakes,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Young players just not reading it quick enough and not getting in quite the right spots.

    “Overall, I thought we were engaged in the game. We played pretty hard, played pretty well. Definitely had a better second than the first, and the third was pretty good again. It didn’t come easy for us on the offensive side of it, either.”

    Sam Malinski fell near the offensive blue line and tried to swipe at the puck, but the end result was a 3-on-1 the other way and a highlight-reel goal for Tampa Bay. Conor Geekie started the passing play and then finished it at 5:32 of the first after all three forwards touched the puck in quick succession.

    The Avs did settle into the game after the opening flurry. Ivan Ivan scored his second career goal to cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 3-1 at at 14:56 of the first.

    Ivan tipped a point shot from Cale Makar past Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy from the high slot. He has been the replacement for Ross Colton in that spot, and both of his goals have come with PP1.

    Colorado’s first six minutes of the second period went very well, except the Avs couldn’t beat Vasilevskiy. Then, with a jumbled Avs line on the ice after a Colorado power play ended, Tampa Bay’s big guns feasted again.

    Corey Masisak

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  • As the Stanley Cup Playoffs beckon, Zach Parise is ready for his last dance

    As the Stanley Cup Playoffs beckon, Zach Parise is ready for his last dance

    When Ross Colton scored his 15th goal of the season last month, he turned and jumped into the arms of Zach Parise.

    It was a great moment for Colton, who grew up in New Jersey with Parise as one of his favorite players. Colton has a photo of that embrace, and he intends to find a frame for it. He might want to grab another photo with one of his teenage idols Thursday night.

    Colorado Avalanche center Ross Colton (20) celebrates his goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets with teammate Zach Parise (9) in the second period at Ball Arena in Denver on Friday, March 22, 2024. Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Johnny Gaudreau (13) watches the celebration. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

    Parise, who joined the Avalanche just before the All-Star break after taking the first half of the season off, confirmed Wednesday to the Denver Post that the contest against Edmonton at Ball Arena will be the last regular-season game of a long and distinguished career.

    “Yeah, I’ve decided,” Parise said. “I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. I was content coming back that this would be the last one.”

    It will be regular-season game No. 1,254 for Parise, who has also played for the Devils, his hometown Minnesota Wild and the New York Islanders. He’s eighth all time among American-born players with 433 goals. His goal with 25 seconds left in regulation helped the United States reach overtime in the gold medal game of the 2010 Olympics before Sidney Crosby scored one of the most famous goals in hockey history for Canada.

    Parise had 21 goals for the Islanders last season, but had decided he was ready to hang up his skates this past summer … until he wasn’t. Then he spent the first half of the season working himself back into playing shape before signing Jan. 26 with the Avalanche.

    “It’s been awesome to be a part of,” Parise said. “The experience itself. Playing with these guys and even just practicing with them, it makes you a better player — even at my age. It’s gone even better than I thought it would be.”

    Parise has four goals and nine points in 29 games for the Avs. He’s moved around quite a bit in the lineup with various injuries. The forwards he’s played the most with are Colton and Miles Wood, who also played for a long time with the Devils.

    The pace at which he can play, even as he approaches his 40th birthday, and his versatility was attractive to Colorado as the Avs searched for another depth forward.

    “Knowing how he is, you knew he was going to come here in shape and ready to go. I had no doubt in my mind that he could step in and play,” said Avs defenseman Jack Johnson, who played with Parise at the 2010 Olympics. “He’s just a great guy to have around. He’s a great pro. Does everything right. Has a great attitude every day. Works hard, works on his craft — just a great human being on and off the ice and a great example for the younger guys.”

    Parise didn’t come back to play with the Avs to pad his regular-season resume. He’s here because there’s one big thing missing — a Stanley Cup championship. He got close with the Devils in 2012, losing to the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Final.

    The Avs have a lot of players who won the Cup in 2022. Colton won with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021. Jared Bednar said recently that helping Parise get his first is one of the reasons he wants to win again this season.

    Bednar isn’t alone.

    “Everybody wants to win, obviously. I think it would be even more special for him and to help him win,” Colton said. “I think when the time comes, it will be something we can rally around.

    Corey Masisak

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  • Brandon Duhaime’s journey from Alligator Alley to the Avalanche included integral help from Colorado College’s Kris Mayotte

    Brandon Duhaime’s journey from Alligator Alley to the Avalanche included integral help from Colorado College’s Kris Mayotte

    Locke Mayotte will be one of the unexpected winners after the Colorado Avalanche’s flurry of moves before the NHL trade deadline earlier this month.

    Brandon Duhaime was one of four new additions to the Avs roster. The importance of his acquisition gained more clarity a few days later when the club announced Logan O’Connor needed season-ending hip surgery.

    Duhaime arrived in Colorado to help bolster the Avalanche’s depth at forward and on the penalty kill. He’s one of those guys who embraces playing one of the more thankless roles on an NHL team.

    How did he evolve into that type of player? Locke’s dad, Kris Mayotte, who is now the head coach at Colorado College, played an integral role in Duhaime’s development when he was an assistant at Providence.

    “I love Dewey,” Kris Mayotte said. “Such a great kid, such a hard worker, very dedicated, doesn’t leave a stone unturned in terms of him trying to become the best player he can become.

    “I was so excited to see that he got traded to Colorado. I sent him a text right away. I have a 2-year-old and I was like, ‘I can’t wait to get him a Duhaime jersey.’ We’re so excited that he’s here.”

    Duhaime grew up in Parkland, Fla., near the Florida Panthers’ practice facility. He played on a youth team with Ottawa’s Jakob Chychrun and Boston’s Andrew Peeke. As they got older and sought better competition, Duhaime and Chychrun played for the Junior Everblades in Estero, Fla., which meant a nearly 150-mile commute across Alligator Alley every weekend.

    Eventually, Duhaime moved to British Columbia and began a journey that included two years at a B.C. prep school, one year in the BCHL and one year split between two teams in the USHL. Originally committed to Brown, Duhaime re-opened his recruitment, and that’s where Mayotte comes in.

    Duhaime had interest from Boston College and Michigan, but ultimately chose Providence over the University of Denver.

    “(Mayotte) was huge in the recruiting process,” Duhaime said. “He was calling me all the time. When I got to Providence, he did the exact thing he said he was going to do. He helped develop me into the player I am. A huge shout out to those guys for kind of taking care of me and doing the right things for me.”

    The pitch that helped lead him to Rhode Island centered around Duhaime’s style of play and what type of player he wanted to, or needed to become. Duhaime was a fourth-round pick in the 2016 NHL draft by the Minnesota Wild, but the chances of him developing into a frontline player at the highest level were slim.

    The raw materials to mold a high-level role player were there, though. Duhaime has good size and above-average skating ability. But not every player who is always one of the best on every team he plays on as a kid can make that transition.

    “He was always a sponge,” Mayotte said. “Wanted to watch the video, wanted any tip that you could possibly give him, whether it was diet, whether it was skills, whether it didn’t matter — he wanted it.

    “A big part of what we were able to do was build that belief that you don’t have to be Macklin Celebrini or Connor McDavid to play in the NHL. They need guys that can kill penalties and be F1 on the forecheck and do those hard things. If you can become one of the best in the world at that, you get to play in the NHL. So it’s developing the skills that are required to play at this level, but also building in an understanding of what it means to find a role, embrace a role and excel at it.”

    Duhaime thrived at Providence, helping the Friars to back-to-back berths in the Frozen Four. He signed with the Wild after his junior season and put in two more years of development time in the AHL.

    This is his third season in the NHL, and it didn’t take long for Duhaime to become a fan favorite in the Twin Cities. The guy on the Avs whose style might resemble his the best is Miles Wood — big, fast and enjoys creating high-speed collisions with players in different-colored jerseys.

    Duhaime had to play his old mates in his first game with the Avalanche, which is always a weird day but especially so when it happens so soon. Since then, it’s been a pretty seamless transition.

    He’s made the penalty kill deeper. He’s helped make the fastest team in the league look even faster. And both he and Yakov Trenin look like the type of additions that pay big dividends when the games really start to matter in late April and beyond.

    Corey Masisak

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  • Nathan MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin set new career highs as Avalanche blasts Blue Jackets

    Nathan MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin set new career highs as Avalanche blasts Blue Jackets

    The only drama left in the final period Friday night at Ball Arena was whether Nathan MacKinnon could continue his pursuit of NHL history and extend his home scoring streak to 33 games.

    MacKinnon took care of it with 13:59 to spare, then added another on a surgical power-play goal barely more than a minute later to help the Colorado Avalanche crush the Columbus Blue Jackets, 6-1. It was Colorado’s eighth straight victory, and moved the Avalanche to the top of the Central Division with 95 points.

    “The streak is a result of all the hard work and dedication that he brings to the game on a nightly basis,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “There’s not a guy on that bench that didn’t know he hadn’t had a point yet, and when he got it everyone was pretty happy. You can see he wants it. He was a little ornery on the bench when he hadn’t got a point yet. That’s the pressure he puts on himself.”

    Cale Makar casually broke up a 2-on-2 rush for the Blue Jackets and set MacKinnon loose on a breakaway. MacKinnon had seven shots on goal before this, but didn’t miss with No. 8 and set a new career high with 43 goals in a season. Toss in the primary assist on Mikko Rantanen’s second goal of the night 73 seconds later, and MacKinnon has 119 points, one shy of Joe Sakic’s Denver-based record.

    The overall franchise record, 139 for Peter Stastny in 1981-82, remains very much in play. MacKinnon’s home scoring streak is now tied with one Wayne Gretzky run for the second-longest in league history. He’s chasing Gretzky’s 1988-89 season, when he had a point in all 40 home games.

    Makar had Colorado’s first goal after a nifty rush sequence. Jonathan Drouin gained the offensive zone and left a drop pass for Artturi Lehkonen. He immediately found Makar in some open space near the right circle for his 18th goal of the season. That ties Nashville’s Roman Josi for the league lead among defensemen and left him three points shy of Quinn Hughes for tops in that category.

    Jared Bednar reunited Ross Colton and Miles Wood on the team’s third line along with Zach Parise, and that trio created the second goal. Parise pulled up along the right wing, saw his linemates both loitering near the net and sent the puck in that direction. Both guys were there hunting for the rebound, and Colton shoveled it across the line for his 15th of the season.

    “I feel like they should be playing together,” Bednar said. “They get along off the ice. We’ve seen them play some great stretches of games. … I know that they have it in them. They just had to work through some issues. Great conscious on the defensive side tonight, physical, went to the net hard, drew penalties, banged in a rebound goal. I liked that line a lot tonight.”

    Bednar did some in-game tinkering as well, flipping MacKinnon and Casey Mittelstadt’s on the top two lines. Rantanen scored on Mittelstadt’s first shift with him and Valeri Nichushkin, deflecting a point shot from Josh Manson past Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins.

    Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (8) handles the puck against Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Bean (22) in the first period at Ball Arena in Denver on Friday, March 22, 2024. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

    Corey Masisak

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