News of the Colorado Avalanche - Links from around the NHL - April 19th, 2013

Votes will be held for the cover of the NHL 14. It could be Yip!

Which means forward Brandon Yip has at least a shot at making the cover of the most popular hockey video game series of all-time.

The Predators announced the center Mike Fisher and Yip were their representatives in the NHL 14 Cover Vote. There will be a field of 60 NHL players, whose eliminations begin in head-to-head matchups for individual teams. Fisher and Yip square off on April 28 in an online vote. If Yip can overcome the power of that fully armed and operational Carrie Underwood fan base, he would move on to the Round of 32 and so on.

Which is really kinda hilarious.

NHL.com has the Top Five Reasons that the Avalanche will not make the playoffs.

Instead, the Avalanche have spent a good chunk of the season trying to avoid finishing last in the Western Conference and the worst record in the League, a far cry from the team's glory days when it was a perennial Stanley Cup contender. Giguere was so frustrated in April with teammates' effort and attitude that he criticized them in public, saying, "Some guys are more worried about their Vegas trip at the end of the season than playing the games."

Here are five reasons the Avalanche will miss the playoffs:

An article on Mitchell Heard.

Forward Mitchell Heard has been a monster addition for the Plymouth Whalers since being sent back from the American Hockey League.

Heard, drafted in the second round of the 2012 NHL draft by the Colorado Avalanche, played 23 games for the Lake Erie Monsters this season, compiling 72 penalty minutes, one goal and three assists.

Heard was reassigned to the Whalers in January and had 17 goals and 19 assists in 32 games. In the first two rounds of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs, he ranks third in scoring for the Whalers with seven goals and five assists in 10 games.