Avalanche give PERFECT Update... This is HUGE

The Avalanche just got the best news they could have heard this morning. Cale Makar, after a full availability at morning skate, will be available tonight against the Maple Leafs. Welcome to Avalanche Digest. I'm Copeland Jones, and as always, don't forget to subscribe. It's completely free, and you get daily updates on the Colorado Avalanche. Alrighty, so Kale McCarr will be ready for tonight. It is absolutely fantastic news. It was reported to us this morning from Corey Massone for the Avalanche. He's one of the writers for them. Cale Makar says he is feeling really good and ready to go tonight. So the best news we could have heard after what was pretty scary news yesterday and the fact that the Avs even went through the hassle of calling up Alex Gagne Now, here's the thing about Alex Gagne, I do think I would like to see him at least make an appearance on this road trip. If Noah Juleson even slips a little bit, I think give him a night off for the next game and let Alex Gagne make his NHL debut at some point on this road trip. I would like to see that, especially if the third pair defense gets abused like it does every now and then. Noah Juleson and Brent Burns can only hang on together for so long. So if you put a bigger guy like Juleson on that left defense with Burns, even though that may not be his exact position, I think he could do a good job there with him, considering they're both big guys and they both. Uh, we'll lay some hits, uh, morning skate. So this was Makar. He, yet he skated this morning and he said he is ready tonight. This season has been a great season for Cale Makar so far. 21 points in the 18 games. We play just over a point per game. So far, he's keeping up with the top defenseman in the league. As far as points scored goes, Evan Bouchard is a lot higher as of right now, just because McDavid is already closing in on 50 points, not even at the 20 game mark yet. Fantastic by McDavid there. It's incredible. But MacKinnon is at 30 points as of right now, so Makar is getting a few of those helpers on those. Five goals this season, top 14% as of right now. Top 2% in assists with 16. He is only a plus four. We'd like to see that a little higher. The defense hasn't been as great this year, but I am hoping that we can get better defense down the stretch. 46 shots on goal, seven power play points. The power play points have also been fantastic as of late. Alrighty, so what changes tonight? Makar says he's ready to go and Colorado keeps its top offensive defenseman available and watch his movement and deployment from opening shift. So Cale Makar is going to be facing a familiar Toronto test. Cale Makar has played a lot of games against Toronto in his career, a handful dating back to 2023, I believe. Maybe even, or I think 2024 is what this list goes to, but he averages 0.7 more shots on goal per game against Toronto in his career over the last six, seven meetings. That is, he had five in that first one, three in the two after that, went under a little bit too after that, but had six in this last January and three in the last meeting we had against them. Hopefully we can see that again. Whenever we lost to Nashville in overtime the other day, it was pretty disappointing to see that Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon combined for only one shot on goal. I believe Makar had about four or five shot attempts, but none of them made it on net. So I'd like to see his production on net improve. But recently he has been playing a lot better, but that shots on goal has not gone up at all. It is down 0.4 shots on goal per game, but his time on ice has gone up by a minute and a half. I don't know exactly if we're going to be seeing that increase in time right after we had an injury scare with him after he left morning skate yesterday morning. But the assists are up to 1.6 assists per game. That's pretty impressive. 0.4 goals per game. So averaging about a goal every other game or so and two. Points per game over the last five. So he has 10 points in his last five. And in the first 12, he was only averaging just under a point a game. So he's definitely starting to get back into that superstar form. Exactly what we have expected to see from him this season. So watch Makar with the puck. Does he join the rush comfortably? We'll see if that lower body injury is going to be bothering him at all. Does he create shooting lanes from the blue line? And how does Colorado use him on the power play? We'll see if he's still part of that main unit. Still quarterbacking that unit like he usually does, or if we're going to let MacKinnon take over a little bit until he's a little more comfortable on that lower body. Maybe it's a complete non-issue and things will just be business as usual, and that's exactly what we can hope. Alrighty, so... So... Avalanche Open in Toronto. We are looking at our standings as of right now. The Avs are currently in third place in the Central. We are half a game back from Dallas. They have one less regulation loss than us, but they haven't played another game. Minnesota is absolutely dominating. So is Edmonton over in the Pacific. The Pacific is actually looking a lot stronger this year. Last season, the Pacific was a lot weaker than the Central division. But. Yet again, Vegas is the one that made it to the championship after beating us in the four in the conference finals. But let's not talk about that because that is hard feelings for all of us. But the Avs are half a game back from Dallas. Nashville has caught up. They're on a four-game win streak. They are up to eight, four, and five. Utah lost one, and their goaltending situation has been dire. I have heard some rustlings about possibly Utah. Might make a move for Scott Wedgwood considering the Melka is not playing too hot for them right now and their backup doesn't seem ready to take over the reins as the starter. So Utah may be one of those teams that we hear a call from for Scott Wedgwood. Who knows what the abs will do with that. I think I like Scott Wedgwood in the abs right now, but this season has not been a great season for him. So maybe we sell why he is still valued high. If he doesn't return back to last season's form, Minnesota has absolutely been dominating. I'm excited to see our first matchup against them this year. I don't exactly remember when that is just yet, but it should be coming up fairly soon. So here's Toronto. Toronto has taken a drop a bit in their standings. They're all the way down there below the playoff line, 8-9-2 at 18 points. That's only four points behind the Avs as of right now. But it seems like the Eastern Conference playoff picture is a little bit more competitive over there. All their teams in a playoff spot are at 10 plus wins, except for the Florida Panthers. But they are still over that 20 point line still early in the season. But Toronto, I'm sure, is definitely going to be fighting to get back in a playoff spot. So here are our goalies and how they've rested through. The last 10 days of Blackwood is most likely going to be getting the start tonight as he has been absolutely fantastic. And we've had a few days off since we played Detroit on the seventh. So he has a 9-15 save percentage right after that shutout against Detroit. It was an absolutely beautiful game from Blackwood. He's been playing fantastic. Wedgwood still has only the one start in the last seven days. I think we're probably going to be pushing that off a little bit longer, too. I'm sure he will see some time on ice, maybe against the Senators, give a game off for Blackwood so he can be up and ready to go off against the Canadians that next tour at the end of the week. Then we will have a back-to-back with the Utah game, and we will go back home and face Anaheim. Wedgwood will probably also get a start there, despite any, of course, injuries that may show up. So, as special teams has definitely taken a jump up in both sides, the penalty kill has gotten a lot better. Last time we played Toronto, we actually had a perfect penalty kill, and then after our game was over against them, the penalty kill gave up, I believe, two power play goals, So it was absolutely. Devastating to see that 100% drop down, and it has only dropped down since. We have finally started coming back up, 78.2% on the penalty kill, 14th in the league, top half. That's good news for that. Power play has taken a big jump. We are 11th in the league now on the power play. I would love to see if that continues, jump up into the top 10, maybe even the top 5 eventually. Power play has been looking fantastic, but like I said, Blackwood will be in net tonight. He will lead the team out against Toronto, hoping to get revenge after our game against them in the first half of the season. So, against Toronto, we are going to want to start with pace and protect the middle, make Toronto defend sustained possessions, and turn power play entries into chances. So keep that power play rolling. The Avs begin a Canadian swing, so we've got a road trip in Canada lined up for us today, or for this next week. We have the Maple Leafs today, we have the Senators in two days, and the Canadians two days after that. All of them are 5 o'clock Mountain Time starts. Then we have a four-day break before we play the Mammoth at 8 p.m. Mountain Time on the 18th, and we'll play a back-to-back to the Ducks, and then face off against the Canadians again. After a five-day break on that one, six-day break, big gaps between a lot of games over there, so it's going to be a little bit of a rough one, and then our first matchup against the Wild is going to be on the road on the 27th. I am looking forward to that one, big time. I think that'll be a good one to watch, absolutely. Alrighty, so here is the Toronto Maple Leafs roster. For their expected roster for tonight, we got Marchenko, Matthews, Roslevic, Cowan, Tavares, Nylander, McKenna, Nick, Paul, Colton, Sissons, Duhame, Bluger, Grohl. I don't know how to pronounce that name. There's an X after an L. That sounds impossible. McCabe, Radish for the first pair, Riley, Stetcher for the second, and Ekman, Larson, and Blankenberg. Blankenberg with that one goal. Of course, it was against us the last time they played us. Anthony Stolarz and Bobrovsky, we'll see who gets the start tonight for Toronto. I don't exactly know who it is. Expect their best, I'm sure. All right, so carry it on the road. Makar's availability is the immediate boost. Toronto is the first checkpoint. Watch for consistent team execution across the trip. Do we think the Avs are going to win the opener of this four-game road stand? It is our longest road trip of the entire season. Or do we think Toronto is going to take the first one and the Avs are going to have to regroup? And recheck before taking on the Ottawa Senators. Thank you very much for watching. Good update on Kel McCarr. He will be in tonight, so we're excited to hear that. Thank you very much. Don't forget to subscribe. See you next time.