Definitely some positive news from the Avalanche’s Zoom media briefing in Edmonton on Monday.

Defenseman Cale Makar said he practiced earlier in the day and pronounced himself ready to go.

“I’m feeling perfect now,” he said while sitting with Gabriel Landeskog and Erik Johnson at a long dais, several feet between each player. “I should be back fully going here. Had a really good practice today, just feeling really good now.”

Makar had missed three practices in a row before taking part at the Pepsi Center on Saturday while wearing a non-contact jersey, though he did wear a regular jersey for some power play drills.

Coach Jared Bednar said the lines at practice were the same as they were the past few sessions in Denver, and that he was still sorting out a few things before he comes up with a lineup for Wednesday.

The lines:
Andre Burakovsky -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nazem Kadri -- Valeri Nichushkin
Vladislav Namestnikov -- J.T. Compher -- Joonas Donskoi
Matt Nieto -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Matt Calvert

✈ Edmonton, Alberta

Roster: https://t.co/MmFku0QpO3#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/WzaMST208o

— x-Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) July 26, 2020

“Normally you’d get six exhibition games to evaluate your team,” Bednar said. “You’re trying to get your starters a certain number of reps in different situations. It’s a different situation (now) because it’s not a new team coming together, it’s a team that’s played together the whole year.

“We’ve tried to replicate certain situations in camp as much as we can, but (the game against the Wild) is the only opportunity to play against another opponent before we go through the seeding round, the round robin that we have to face. We want our guys to do things right, to do things hard, to push our intensity level, our competitiveness, up another notch from where it was in training camp when we were competing against one another.

“We’ll evaluate it a little bit and move on to the round robin, but I think it’s certainly more important than it would be in a regular training camp, but not the be all to end all.

Johnson also said the game against the Wild will be more important than the usual preseason game.

"You still have to go out and perform, and show that you're worthy of your ice time,” he said. “I think the game's important for that, and we don't have that much time before the playoffs actually start. Yes, it's an exhibition, but guys are still trying to get roster spots.

“There's only so much time before we actually start the real thing. It's an important step in where we're trying to go."

The Avalanche play St. Louis on Sunday in their first round-robin game.

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Landeskog has been nominated by the team for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which is presented to the player who “best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.”

The three finalists will be announced in early August. The winner will receive a $25,000 donation to the charity or charities of his choice. The runners-up will each receive a $5,000 donation.



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