LOS ANGELES — With both the Avalanche and Nuggets now certain to miss the playoffs in the same season for the first time since the hockey team arrived in Denver in 1995, it leaves vacant dates that would have been used for postseason games at the Pepsi Center in coming weeks.
The Avalanche and Nuggets close out their home seasons next weekend — against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday and Sacramento Kings on Sunday, respectively. After that, the only event listed on the Pepsi Center calendar in the remainder of April is the Mammoth’s lacrosse game against Rochester on April 17.
This might not have had as much to do with possible playoff dates and the teams’ fates, but there are only three events listed on the Pepsi Center website for May — the Mammoth vs. Edmonton on May 2, Bette Midler on May 20 and Neil Diamond on May 31.
Haunting deal. In a bizarre twist, two players connected to the Avalanche’s ill-fated 1999 acquisition of winger Theo Fleury from Calgary were on the ice Saturday night at the Staples Center.
Both of them — defenseman Robyn Regehr, 34, and center Jarret Stoll, 32 — play for the Kings.
On February 28, 1999, the Avalanche got Fleury and winger Chris Dingman from the Flames for defenseman Wade Belak, winger Rene Corbet, a second-round pick the Flames used to take Stoll in 2000 (he didn’t sign and re-entered the draft in 2002), and the right to select an Avalanche prospect off a list within 30 days.
The Flames ended up claiming Regehr, one of Colorado’s four 1998 first-round picks who still was with major junior’s Kamloops Blazers at the time, four weeks later to complete the trade. (The Avs’ other three first-rounders were Alex Tanguay, Martin Skoula and Scott Parker.)
In the summer of 1999, Fleury — who had disenchanted Avalanche management for several reasons during a playoff run that ended with a Game 7 loss to Dallas in the Western Conference finals — signed with the New York Rangers, and it turned out to be a costly “rental” deal.
Lach dies. Elmer Lach, the NHL’s Hart Trophy winner in 1945 and the center of Montreal’s famous “Punch Line” with Toe Blake and Maurice “Rocket” Richard, died at age 97 in Montreal on Saturday. Former Avalanche center Mike Ricci portrayed him in “The Rocket,” the 2005 movie about Richard.
