Morning Flurries: Mike Condon and the Senators implode against the Coyotes

The Avs

The Colorado Avalanche have made some roster moves ahead of their quick two-game road trip this week. First, they placed Sven Andrighetto on the injured reserve. He is out “week-to-week” with a lower-body injury and will remain in Colorado while the rest of the team heads to Canada.

The Avalanche have also called up forwards Sheldon Dries and A.J. Greer from the AHL Colorado Eagles. The two will be on the roadtrip this week and until Andrighetto returns to full health and forces the team to send one of them back to the AHL.

[Mile High Hockey]

Greer leads the Eagles in points with eight (2g, 6a) in eight games. Dries is still trying to find his footing in the AHL, notching only two points (1g, 1a) in five games so far. Fans shouldn’t be too worried about Dries’ production, especially considering how impressive he was in the pre-season and in four games with the Avalanche.

Samuel Girard came into Colorado as one of the many pieces back in the Matt Duchene trade. People saw a small player who hadn’t proven anything in the NHL yet, so naturally people were hesitant to predict much from the new face. Now, it’s been a year and I think it’s time we put Girard in the echelon he belongs in. [Mile High Hockey]

At 20-years old, Samuel Girard already has 85 NHL games under his belt. Jakob Chychrun (118) and Mikhail Sergachev (93) are the only defenders drafted in 2016 or later that have played more games. What’s more impressive than the game total is that Girard is doing it as a member of Colorado’s top pair.

Anyone else really love the idea behind this drill? I think it’s brilliant.

The Avalanche are running on a bit of a high right now. They’ll need to be careful to not let it carry them all the way to the bottom of the PDO scales again.

The Prospects

We own the Ottawa Senators first-round pick this year, so that pick is essentially our prospect in waiting. As a result, I feel obligated to share how bafflingly, embarassingly, and hilariously bad they are as a team this year.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Condon:

He then did this minutes later.

He ended his night after only 15:30 playing time, surrendering three goals on 11 shots to the Arizona Coyotes. The Yotes went on to a comfortable 5-1 win, out-shooting the Senators a baffling 35-26 despite leading the entire game.

Teams that tend to be this high on Micah’s “Most Likely to Pick at #1 in the Draft” chart tend to be the really bad ones, but the Avs have (say it with me) the Ottawa Senators’ first-round pick!

And here’s some more on the team’s prospect pool. It’s a few days old so I assume Cat has already shared it, but I’m too lazy to check and it doesn’t hurt to share good writing more than once. [The Athletic]

Connor Timmins, RD, Colorado (NHL): No one knows for certain when Timmins will return. The Avalanche’s primary concern is the 20-year-old can take the time needed to fully recover from concussion-like symptoms before determining the next course of action. Both the Avalanche and Timmins’ agent agreed it would be a good idea for him to extend his rehab back home in Ontario while the team was on a four-game East Coast trip. Timmins returned last week to Denver and will continue his recovery efforts.

The Game

Oh, boy, stuff HAPPENED around the NHL yesterday. First, some Halloween fun. Take a bow, Nashville.

Carolina keeps on keeping on with their fun new attitude.

Justin Williams, best captain in the NHL?

Josh Ho-Sang is back talking to the media...It went about as you thought it would. [New York Post]

“I felt like they had their minds made up on what was going to happen and what the team was going to look like,” Ho-Sang said. “It’s OK. They had the whole summer to plan that. I don’t know if you watched any of the games, but I didn’t play a lot. It’s OK. It is what it is.”

CNN (yes, you read that right) did a feature on Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and his journey to the Stanley Cup Finals. [CNN]

Since those early days of running wild on the ice with his siblings, Bellemare has achieved incredible accomplishments: getting signed by the Philadelphia Flyers after a stint in Sweden, playing in the Stanley Cup Finals as part of the Vegas Golden Knights and representing his native France at multiple World Championships.

The Hershey Bears will be holding a Hockey Fights Cancer night on Sunday. Special jerseys, charity work. The works. If you’re able and willing, please help kill cancer in our lifetime. [Hershey Bears]

Don’t hurt, hate, or let yourself believe that other people’s lives are yours to control. Leave them be. Love your neighbor. Help the poor. It’s not hard.

Highlight of the Night: Which was better? The move, or the save? Let me know in the comments!