Things appear to be on track for the Avalanche to return to the ice Thursday night in St. Louis. Wednesday they held their first team workout since last Friday when the NHL shut them down following 3 positive Covid tests for Defenseman Bo Byrum, Goalie Phillip Grubauer and Forward Joonas Donskoi. The "Covid-Pause" forced the postponement of 3 games, 2 against the Kings at Ball Arena, and 1 at St. Louis Tuesday. Byrum came off the Covid list on Monday. Winger Mikko Rantanen was added to the Covid list but according to Head Coach Jared Bednar the team's top scorer was put on the list as a result of "contact tracing" and not a positive test. Rantanen will still have to remain in Denver for the start of the road trip, but could the team before they return home.
The league reworked the Colorado schedule, so they will now play 3 straight games in St. Louis, Thursday, Saturday and Monday, then 1 game at Vegas, before returning home. They'll play their 2nd game that was supposed to take place in Vegas in the coming week, in May.
Following Wednesday's practice, Bednar, Forward Pierre Edouard-Bellmare and Defenseman Patrick Nemeth all met the media via zoom, which you can watch and listen to below:
,quality(10),blur(50))