Recently acquired goaltender Jose Theodore is expected to join the Avalanche in the next few days to begin working with the team’s medical staff and shoot to be able to play before the end of the regular season.
Theodore’s girlfriend, Stephanie Cloutier, gave birth to a daughter Wednesday in Montreal. Theodore made a quick trip to Denver to meet with his new teammates March 17, but returned to Montreal to be with Cloutier and continue rehabilitation for his fractured heel.
With David Aebischer sent to Montreal in the trade and Theodore unavailable, Colorado coach Joel Quenneville gave Peter Budaj his eighth consecutive start Sunday night against Edmonton. Vitaly Kolesnik was brought up from Lowell (Mass.) of the American Hockey League after the deal, but has yet to get a start.
Hejduk recovered
Winger Milan Hejduk, who missed the Avalanche game Saturday at St. Louis with the flu, was back in the lineup against the Oilers. Bob Boughner was Colorado’s only healthy scratch.
Coach backs Blues
Quenneville established himself as one of the most respected NHL coaches in his seven-year tenure as head coach of the Blues before being fired in 2004, and now he is saying he hopes the team’s looming ownership change gets it back on the right track.
“I think it’s good they have another strong group coming in here,” Quenneville said after the Avalanche’s overtime victory over the Blues at the Savvis Center on Saturday. “I wish them all the best. It’s a great place to play and it’s a great place to work. The tradition of the Blues franchise is tremendous. The fans are great, too.
“Who knows how long it’s going to take to, I don’t want to say rebuild, but I think their mind-set is they’re going forward. They’ve got a lot of great people in place.”
One of those men in place is Quenneville’s former Colorado Rockies teammate and Blues assistant coach, Mike Kitchen, whose contract as head coach is up after this season.
Checketts and Nuggets
The prospective Blues ownership group’s major figure, Dave Checketts, spent a brief stint in the Nuggets’ front office in 1989, but that fact seems to have been omitted from his biographical information. He was the Nuggets’ president under new owners Peter Bynoe and Bertram Lee. Foreseeing problems for the team under the ownership, Checketts bailed out quickly – and ended up as the head of the Madison Square Garden sports empire.
