The Colorado Avalanche: News from around the NHL - October 2nd, 2013

It will be Nathan MacKinnon's first regular season NHL game, naturally NHL.com has a feature on him.

Thanks to Avalanche backup goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, MacKinnon should be able to concentrate more on hockey and on adjusting to life as a professional without worrying so much about things like housing, meals and transportation. MacKinnon has been living with the Giguere family in a Denver suburb since training camp began and he expects to stay there through the season.

Giguere, whose wife Kristen is from Halifax, made the offer while his family was visiting her parents in the summer.

"We're very excited about it," said Giguere, who has three young sons: Maxime-Olivier, Luka and Felix. "My kids are thrilled to have him there and he's from my wife's hometown, so they have something in common. It was a natural fit. When you're a veteran, sometimes it's something you need to do."

Last night George Parros fought Colson Orr, twice.  The second time they fought Parros missed Orr, who had fallen onto the ice, and Parros went crumbling to the ice head first, he went off ice on a stretcher.  Video of the fight and injury. It's been reported that he has a concussion.

George Parros' fellow combatant Colton Orr signalled that something was wrong as the Montreal Canadiens forward lay motionless on the ice.

Parros had just finished a bout with the Leafs forward, but it was the ice that dealt the biggest blow and caused him to leave on a stretcher in what was a frightening and bloody scene.

Lastly, finally, the Colorado Avalanche take back to the ice in a regular season game.

The last time the Hall of Fame goaltender took the ice in the NHL, his Colorado Avalanche were bounced out of the 2003 playoffs in the first round after a 105-point campaign.

Now entering his first season as Colorado's coach, he's looking to get the franchise headed back toward elite status beginning with Wednesday night's season opener against the visiting Ducks, who are coming off a short postseason run despite capturing their first division title since winning the 2007 Stanley Cup.

Roy helped the Avalanche win the 2001 Cup and guided them to their ninth consecutive division title before retiring following the team's seven-game playoff loss to Minnesota in his final season.

Those glory years are far behind Colorado (16-25-7), which missed the postseason for the third straight year after finishing at the bottom of the Western Conference in the lockout-shortened 2013 season.