It was a pretty quiet night as far as Colorado Avalanche news goes. The team is in Nashville ‘bonding’ before a game against the Predators tonight and nothing really newsworthy to talk about - aside from Tyson’s Jost’s return to the lineup.
Then came a rather ominous tweet:
Hearing Colorado is about to get a whole lot smarter
— Ryan Stimson (@RK_Stimp) October 17, 2017
Ryan is a pretty well-known person in the hockey analytics community. His mention of the Avs getting smarter led to a ton of speculation. Thanks to all the drama in the summer, fans in Toronto leaped right to Kyle Dubas. Avs ownership tried to hire the Maple Leafs assistant GM back in the summer, only to have Toronto block the move. He is seen as a bit of a role model in the analytics world and would definitely make the Avalanche a whole lot smarter.
It’s not Kyle Dubas. In fact, it’s not going to be anyone that moves the needle much. After doing a little digging, we’ve been told an announcement is coming - likely later today about an addition to the organization.
Last season the Avs employed a young man from Toronto that worked as an analytics data consultant for the team. He moved on to another NHL club in the summer and was not replaced. That is what we are likely to see today. Nothing groundbreaking.
In other - more fun - news, our own Cat Silverman had a chance to sit down with Avs prospect Cale Makar when he was in Arizona last week. Both she and Cale give some great insight on the mentality the #4 overall pick brings to the game of hockey. Give it a read.
Even hockey players need to run errands on their off day. It looks like a couple of the rookies decided it’s time to head to the tailor and up their suit game.
Kerfy and Josty were fitted for suits this afternoon.
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 16, 2017
You can watch it on Avs 360, coming soon! #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/RBdeUJDTNj
Around the hockey world
Last night, the city of Calgary held their mayoral election - but what does that have to do with hockey?
Incumbent Naheed Nenshi won the election and will hold on to his seat as the mayor of the city. This has huge implications for the Calgary Flames and their quest for a new arena. The Flames and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman have been very outspoken about their belief that Nenshi is standing in the way of a new arena - to the point that they were openly endorsing his opponent.
The team wants a new arena to be funded by a significant amount of public money. That is not something Nenshi is a fan of. He wants to negotiate with the hockey team, but expect to hear a lot of nonsense about relocation in the next few days after this election result. It won’t happen, but the Flames are definitely going to threaten it as a negotiating ploy.