Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar practiced Saturday, the Avalanche’s final practice at the Pepsi Center before they leave Sunday for Edmonton, the Western Conference hub city for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
MacKinnon, who didn’t practice Thursday – the Avalanche were off Friday – took part in all the drills and scrimmaged.
Makar practiced while wearing a non-contact jersey, though he put on a regular jersey for a power play drill. He skated before practice Thursday after missing the three previous practices.
We'll just start things off with this.#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/AirbKrV7Th
— x-Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) July 25, 2020
As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, teams aren’t permitted to disclose player injury or illness information.
“It’s definitely good to have him back,… defenseman Ian Cole said of Makar. “No one in our room was concerned that it was a long term thing or (that) he wasn’t going to get back. Everyone knew it takes time (to) make sure that he gets right, gets whatever it is fixed and then go from there. He’s a great player and we’re certainly a better team with him than without him.…
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Teams are limited to 31 players, so the Avalanche will need to make three roster moves. The NHL will release all the rosters on Sunday.
“I liked our camp a lot,… coach Jared Bednar said. “As a group we worked hard. There was some good attention to detail. It wasn’t sustained for the whole camp, but when we needed to play with a certain amount of intensity, we started to ramp that up as the camp goes along, which is good.
"We still have some time to get to where we exactly need to be, both tactically and especially with the sort of intensity and competitiveness that we’re going to need going into the first game.…
The Avalanche play Minnesota on Wednesday in an exhibition game and open round-robin play Aug. 2 against St. Louis. They’ll also play Dallas and Vegas to determine the top four playoff seeds in the West.
“I think guys are really excited,… Bednar said. “I really liked their energy out there today, guys knowing that it’s our last skate before we get on the plane and head to Edmonton. So a pretty successful camp, No. 1 just because of the hard work the guys put in; I think they did a nice job getting ready and being ready to start the training camp and get ready to play in Edmonton.…