He was limited to just 12 games this year in his sophomore season with Boston College due to required quarantine protocols, but he still produced 16 points (seven goals, nine assists), averaging over a point per outing and finished his collegiate career with a seven-game point streak.
With Newhook on a trio with Kadri and Burakovsky, Joonas Donskoi will move back to a line with Tyson Jost and Valeri Nichushkin.
Kiefer Sherwood will be the healthy scratch among the forwards while Dan Renouf will be the extra defenseman. MacDonald will be back in after missing seven games with a lower-body injury that he suffered during at-home workouts while the team was paused from action from April 16-21.
Philipp Grubauer is expected to appear in his 37th game of the year, tying his career high set in 2018-19. He ranks second in the NHL in wins (27) and shutouts (six), setting personal bests in both categories.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup, with Carl Soderberg in Sherwood's previous spot on the fourth line and MacDonald slotted into Renouf's position from the beginning of Monday's outing in San Jose. They are subject to change.
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 17 Tyson Jost - 72 Joonas Donskoi
91 Nazem Kadri - 18 Alex Newhook - 95 Andre Burakovsky
34 Carl Soderberg - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 37 J.T. Compher
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
27 Ryan Graves - 22 Conor Timmins
26 Jacob MacDonald - 24 Patrik Nemeth
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
35 Jonas Johansson
Scratches: Liam O'Brien, Dan Renouf, Kiefer Sherwood
Taxi Squad:Kyle Burroughs, Dennis Gilbert, Jayson Megna, Hunter Miska
Injury Report: Bowen Byram (upper body), Matt Calvert (upper body), Devan Dubnyk (COVID protocol), Pavel Francouz (lower body), Samuel Girard (lower body), Erik Johnson (upper body), Logan O'Connor (lower body), Brandon Saad (lower body)
