Makar Returns to Practice on Final Day of Camp

It appears as the Colorado Avalanche will travel to Edmonton with 31 healthy players.
Defenseman Cale Makar returned to the practice ice on Saturday for the Avs' final skate at Pepsi Center before traveling to their hub city in Edmonton, Alberta. Makar had missed each of the past four team sessions after leaving midway through last Saturday's skate.
The Calder Memorial Trophy finalist as the NHL's rookie of the year skated for the first time on Thursday, taking the ice on his own before leaving prior to the start of the formal team session. On Saturday, Makar wore a red, non-contact jersey during 5-on-5 drills and the scrimmage to close camp but didn't look hampered on the ice, even receiving an accidental trip during the game. The rear guard donned a regular practice uniform during special-teams work.

"He's a pretty decent player, as I'm sure you know. So yeah, it's definitely good to have him back," said fellow defenseman Ian Cole of the freshman. "No one in our room was concerned that it was a long-term thing or that he wasn't going to get back. So everyone knew, [we wanted him to] take your time, make sure he gets right, get whatever it is fixed, and then go from there. Like I said, he's a great player and we're certainly a better team with him than without him."
Forward Nathan MacKinnon also returned to practice after not participating in Thursday's session and reverted back to his spot on the top line during 5-on-5 play with Andre Burakovsky and Mikko Rantanen, a trio that has been together since Day 2 of the Phase 3 Training Camp.

Both MacKinnon and Makar led the Avs' first power-play group during pre-scrimmage drills, but they had a bit of a different supporting cast than in prior practices. J.T. Compher and Andre Burakovsky switched spots between the first and second units, with Compher joining MacKinnon, Makar, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen. Burakovsky joined a man advantage that was also comprised of Joonas Donskoi, Samuel Girard, Nazem Kadri and Valeri Nichushkin.
During the scrimmage however, the power plays were mixed up again as some of those players were on opposing teams.

Saturday marked the 10th and final day of practice in Phase 3 for the Avs, as the squad now begins Phase 4 of the NHL's Return to Play Plan, which means playing games while living in the Western Conference "bubble."
"I liked our camp a lot," said head coach Jared Bednar of the summer practices. "I think as a group we worked hard. There was some good attention to detail, and I think that although it wasn't sustained through the whole camp, I thought like when we needed to play with a certain amount of intensity that [we did as the camp] moved along. We still have some time to get to exactly where we need to be, tactically and with the intensity and competitiveness in the first game, but I think guys are really excited. I really liked our energy out there today."

SCRIMMAGE NO. 5

Colorado wrapped up its final day of Phase 3 practices at Pepsi Center with its fifth and final scrimmage. The 30-minute, running-clock game featured several prospects that didn't take part in team drills prior to the matchup and saw several of the line combinations mixed up from what were used earlier in the practice.
Team Burgundy won 2-0 over Team White to earn its second victory of the simulated series at the Pepsi Center-based camp. Tyson Jost scored in the opening minutes for Burgundy, and Matt Calvert buried a long shot into an empty net in the final seconds to wrap up the outing.
Goaltender Pavel Francouz did not take part in the scrimmage, but he did participate in the prior drills portion of the practice. Michael Hutchinson took Francouz's spot in net for Team White and saw his first scrimmage action of camp. Philipp Grubauer was the netminder for Team Burgundy.
Team Burgundy went 0-for-2 on its power-play chances, while Team White couldn't convert on its lone man-advantage situation.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Avalanche heads to Edmonton on Sunday, and the team could stay in the Western Conference hub city for up to 10 weeks. That would be a good thing for Colorado as it would mean the squad is the Stanley Cup Final.
The Avs' lone exhibition contest before the restart is set for Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. MT against the Minnesota Wild before opening round-robin play of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers on Sunday, Aug. 2 against the St. Louis Blues at 4:30 p.m. MT. Colorado will likely have several practices in Edmonton next week.
Bednar said that the league will announce final rosters on Sunday. Each team participating in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers can bring a maximum of 31 players to the hub city.

GROUP 1 COMBINATIONS

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
Vladislav Kamenev - Tyson Jost
Ryan Graves - Cale Makar *
Samuel Girard - Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov - Ian Cole
Mark Barberio - Kevin Connauton
Conor Timmins
Philipp Grubauer & Pavel Francouz & Michael Hutchinson
* - non-contact participant

SCRIMMAGE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Team Burgundy
Andre Burakovsky - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
Gabriel Landeskog - Tyson Jost - Matt Calvert
Matt Nieto - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Logan O'Connor
Ryan Graves - Cale Makar *
Nikita Zadorov - Ian Cole
Bowen Byram - Kevin Connauton
Philipp Grubauer
Team White
Nazem Kadri - Valeri Nichushkin - Joonas Donskoi
Vladislav Namestnikov - J.T. Compher - T.J. Tynan
Vladislav Kamenev - Shane Bowers - Sheldon Dries
Samuel Girard - Erik Johnson
Mark Barberio - Conor Timmins
Anton Lindholm - Jacob MacDonald
Michael Hutchinson