Colorado Avalanche: News from around the NHL August 13th, 2014

The Colorado Eagles signed a former Colorado Avalanche Draft pick.

The Colorado Eagles, ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Calgary Flames and the American Hockey League's Adirondack Flames, announced that they have signed forward Darryl Bootland for the 2014-15 season.*

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound forward was an eighth-round selection (252nd overall) of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. The Toronto, Ontario native played 32 games in the NHL with both the Detroit Red Wings and the New York Islanders, netting one goal, two assists and 85 penalty minutes during that time. In addition, Bootland has amassed 168 points (82g-86a) and 1,480 penalty minutes in 382 games in the AHL with Grand Rapids, Bridgeport, Portland and Manitoba . Most recently, Bootland was instrumental in guiding the Allen Americans to back-to-back championships in the Central Hockey League in 2013 and 2014.

CBS Sports takes a look at the Avs and their core.

The Colorado Avalanche stunned the hockey world last year by starting hot and staying hot for much of the season. A year after finishing with the second-worst record in the NHL, the Avs posted the NHL's third-best record in 2013-14 and won the tough Central Division. It was dramatic and at times almost felt too good to be true. The team often seemed to teeter on the brink, but proved doubters wrong by putting together a simply remarkable regular season.

Alas, the Avs' season ended rather unceremoniously in the first round of the playoffs at the hands of divisional foe Minnesota Wild in seven games. Brighter days should be expected, but the offseason the Avalanche just had won't exactly build on the optimism of last season.

SBN NHL takes a look back at the Montreal Maroons.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Montreal Canadiens were not only competing to be the top team in the NHL, but also the top team in their own city.

It was the 1924-25 season when the Montreal Maroons joined the league -- along with the Boston Bruins -- and were geared toward the anglophone fan base in Montreal. The Maroons filled a void that had been created when the old Montreal Wanderers, an amateur team from the early 1900s and brief entrant into the NHL for six games in 1917, folded after their arena burned down.

Paul Bissonnette doesn't back down from a challenge! (Videos included, but don't start automatically)

But Paul Bissonnette has taken it to a new level. The NHL free agent and social-media star's spin on the challenge goes way beyond the buddy-holding-up-an-iPhone-camera quality of the others. It involves a mountain and a helicopter. And it's shot in HD. And there's a soundtrack. And he calls out LeBron James, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson:

A French article about the Avs, and how they are not enjoying the long summer off.