Scarlett Wedgewood isn’t quite ready to help her dad break down the Dallas Stars’ power play, but she chips in where she can.
The Colorado Avalanche swept the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, earning some time off before the next round begins.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Avs still didn’t know who they will play next or when. They had Monday and Tuesday off, then practices on Wednesday and Thursday before another rest day on Friday. It will either be the Minnesota Wild or the Stars, with the former leading the best-of-seven series 3-2 with Game 6 happening Thursday night in the Twin Cities.
“Itap weird not knowing the next game,” Avs center Brock Nelson said. “I mean, you’re programmed to kind of have the next one for what has it been, 86 games? To have a little break is nice at the same time, just given the nature of our last couple months and how tight it was post-Olympics.”
Colorado played 27 games after the 2026 Winter Olympics concluded — only San Jose and Tampa Bay also played that many. The Avs are one of the older teams in the tournament, so this little respite could be quite helpful if the club can make a deep run.
It’s rare to get this much time off — it could end up being eight or nine days between games, but the 2022 team had two similar breaks after rolling through Nashville in the opening round and Edmonton in the Western Conference Final.
What are the players up to this week? For the guys with kids, it’s a chance to lock in on ‘Dad Mode’ for a few extra days than normal.
“Just integrate with the home life. The wife’s usually running operations so try to help,” Wedgewood said. “Woke up with the kids, had breakfast, went on a walk with the dogs, did a bike ride, did a little routine at home and then played with my kids more. Always gonna take advantage of that.”
Youth hockey games and practices, swim lessons, gymnastics classes, even just picking up and dropping off the kids at school can be an added bonus.
“Get to a couple of the kids’ activities, a nice date night with my wife,” Nelson said. “Just doing a couple things that we’ve haven’t been able to do the past couple of weeks. Itap nice to get away and recharge. I think everyone is still in a good mindset and we’ll try to prepare and be feeling as good as you can for Game 1, whenever that may be.”
A few players went to the Nuggets game on Monday night. There was some golfing earlier in the week as well.
Nazem Kadri saw the Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5, but otherwise just enjoyed his first extended downtime in Denver for a while after returning to the Avs before the trade deadline.
“I think the first couple days, you just try to enjoy the work you put in and reflect on the series a little bit, rest your body up and kind of detach your mind away from the bubble that you’re in during the playoffs,” Kadri said. “I think the closer we get to Game 1, you start to lock in and refocus. But first couple days, a whole lot of nothing – just enjoy some time with the family.”
Kadri said he’s been watching as much of the Minnesota-Dallas series as he can to do his own pre-series scouting. Jack Drury said he was watching Game 5 at dinner, but may watch more intently Thursday night.
Avs coach Jared Bednar is certainly watching, but is agnostic about how much his players are keeping up.
“We have guys that can tell you every play that happened in last nightap games and then other guys probably didn’t watch at all,” Bednar said. “For some guys, it helps. For other guys, itap not important to them … I’m not going to tell them what to do, as long as they know what they’re doing when it comes to game time and they’re playing at their best.”
For Wedgewood, the window for watching other NHL playoff games has at times conflicted with bedtime for his two young daughters.
“My daughter will let me know there is a goalie on the TV every two seconds,” Wedgewood said. “Itap ‘daddy, daddy, daddy.’ No matter what goalie it is, thatap daddy.
“I would like to maybe watch a little more of it, but at the same time, when I have time off, I don’t want to be to sitting on my couch doing nothing when I’ve got time that I don’t normally get with my family.”
