The NHL trading deadline is March 1 and , and even all understand their names will continue to be tossed into much speculation as it approaches.
“It’s part of the game,” Duchene said after the Avalanche morning skate Friday. “It’s part of the business. When you’re in the position we’re in, you expect things like that.”
Said Landeskog: “That’s the way it should be when you’re not winning.” He added, “(When) you’re a last place team, especially when you’re not supposed to be, and in our opinion, we’re not supposed to be last, things are going to change. Rumors are going to be flying around, but whether things change or not, we have to show up and play and make sure we’re responsible for the way our team finishes up this year.”
Does the Avalanche captain want to stay?
“Absolutely,” Landeskog said. “I mean, I would not want to go anywhere. This is my home, this is where I want to be and I love being here and I want to figure this thing out with the guys we have in here. Whether changes are made or not, I want to be here.”
MacKinnon noted, “When you lose, nothing stays the same, obviously. That can’t happen. I’m sure things will change for better or worse. We have a lot of good guys in this locker room and it’s tough that we’re losing because it would be really fun to win together. I’ve seen so many things about myself and other guys, I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but whatever it is, I’m sure Joe (Sakic) and the staff will do a great job.”
Nieto’s contract. Matt Nieto Friday played his first game for the Avalanche in the 2-1 overtime win over the New York Islanders after being claimed on waivers from San Jose. He is on a one-year, $735,000 contract and could be a restricted free agent July 1, if the Avalanche makes him a qualifying offer.
Sakic said of claiming Nieto: “We need more team speed. Our entire staff thought he could help, especially in the bottom six. Our penalty killing has been really struggling and he’s going to help with that. He’s going to add to our team speed and he’s 24 years old. So we’ll see what he can bring here for the next three months.”
Nieto first played roller hockey at age 3 in the Long Beach, Calif, area, then switched to ice hockey at age 5.
“My grandpa just randomly got me a mini-stick,” he said. “I used to play with it for hours and my parents finally signed me up at the YMCA, started out there and just fell in love with it.”
Playing on a line with Carl Soderberg and Jarome Iginla against the Islanders, Nieto was awarded a penalty shot when New York defenseman Calvin de Haan hooked him on a breakway in the first period. But Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss stymied him with a glove save. Nieto logged 17:29 of ice time and had four of Colorado’s 39 shots on Greiss.
“I thought he was great,” said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar. “First period, I thought he was exceptional, skating, making plays, he’s got his head up all the time,. We gave him the Cliffs Notes version of the structure. There’s a lot of similarities, I think between the way we play and San Jose plays, especially on the penalty kill. He was really good there. I just thought for the most part he did everything right and he made some plays both on the offensive side of the puck and the defensive side. I like his speed and his energy, it helps push the pace of that line or whatever line he’s playing on, and of our team. It’s contagious when you see a guy playing like that, then other guys want to follow suit.”
Picks. Making his seventh consecutive start, this time with Semyon Varlamov returning to the lineup to suit up as his backup, Calvin Pickard had a strong game against the Islanders and even sprung Rene Bourque for a breakaway in overtime with an aggressive pass after making a save on Thomas Hickey. But Bourque didn’t score.
“It was definitely a relief,” Pickard said of the Avalanche’s first win at home since November 15. “We had a lot of bad bounces going our way and we haven’t played our best at home. To get the win before our little (bye) break is good. We know we have to build off this. We’re obviously in a huge hole still and we just have to string some wins together.”
Bednar said of Pickard: “I think that was his best game in quite some time. He looked more poised in the net, maybe a bit more controlled than in some of his previous games and made some big saves when we needed it.”
Roster. The Avalanche now has two extra forwards and and were the healthy scratches. Defenseman Francois Beauchemin missed the game because of illness. With Beauchemin out, both MacKinnon and Matt Duchene wore A’s as alternate captains.
O.T. Magic. In an otherwise miserable season, the Avalanche is 5-0 in games that have ended in overtime. Colorado lost its only shootout.
