Avalanche optional skate raises some questions

Could Scott Wedgewood get the start in Game 1 against Dallas?

CENTENNIAL — The Colorado Avalanche are officially gearing up for the playoffs.

Nearly every player on the roster participated in Tuesday morning’s optional skate at Family Sports Center. Nathan MacKinnon was the first on the ice, followed by Valeri Nichushkin. Then, everyone else joined the fray. Erik Johnson was the only player we did not see take the ice.

Takeaways

Avalanche players occupied both the Avalanche rink and the Fix-it rink, formerly known as Hamilton. On the Fix-it side, the goaltenders, Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood, got their respective workouts in.

In the initial goaltender drill that we witnessed, Wedgewood looked incredible, only allowing one goal to Joel Kiviranta, who beat him with a beautiful wrister top shelf from the right circle. Blackwood, while good, was not as successful as Wedgewood, as he allowed in a couple of goals at close range, which has been a common theme down the stretch of the regular season.

What stood out to us at this optional skate was that Wedgewood took drills first before Blackwood. It’s abnormal for your #2 goaltender to take drills before your starter unless there’s a plan for Wedgewood to start in Game 1. Could that be the case? Who knows? Wedgewood played for Dallas and knows their style of play better than anyone else. Wedgewood also has an aggressive style that would mix well against Dallas’ offensive unit.

Gabriel Landeskog, who was officially recalled from his conditioning loan to the Colorado Eagles, was on the ice and spent a majority of the roughly one-hour and 15 minute session doing drills with Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin, who looked sharp as he continues to recover from injury.

Josh Manson was also present. The 33-year-old defenseman has struggled with injuries all season. He missed 12 games from November 30 to December 22 with an upper-body injury, seven games from February 6 to March 4 due to a lower-body injury, and has been out of the lineup since March 19 due to an upper-body injury. Manson took drills and looked solid, but is perhaps not quite game ready. He didn’t have the same twitch as, let’s say, a Girard or a Makar. However, there’s still time as the Stanley Cup Playoffs don’t officially begin until April 19.

Bednar Speaks

Head Coach Jared Bednar entered the Avalanche media room at approximately 12:22 p.m. He stated the team is hopeful they’ll be able to enter Game 1 with a fully healthy lineup, and that includes Landeskog.

On March 31, the Avalanche signed Taylor Makar to a one-year, entry-level contract through the 2025-26 season. He is currently playing for Colorado Eagles on an Amateur Tryout for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign. His older brother, Cale, is excited for his future.

“[It’s the] first time I’ve seen him play live since midgets. They have a really great setup there, and it was my first time down there, so it’s really cool to kind of get a feel for that, and I know he’s really excited,” Makar said.

A lot of questions remain, but we have no bad news to report from the rink.

Round One

The Avalanche will likely face the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Saturday, April 19, to kick off the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.