Soderberg On Verge Of 200th Straight Game

ST. PAUL, Minn.--Playing a full 82-game season in the National Hockey League is no easy feat. It takes a lot of determination and mental strength, a commitment to treating one's body the right way 365 days a year.
There are bumps, bruises, aches, pains and more over the course of a week, let alone a yearlong slate of contests. Blood, sweat and maybe even a few tears is the norm, but so is missing as little time as possible.
That's the way of a hockey player.

So the fact that Carl Soderberg is on the verge of skating in his 200th consecutive NHL game is not only incredible, but it's an accomplishment that rookie Mikko Rantanen is certainly impressed with.
"It tells that you're healthy most of the time, and you don't miss any games. That's good for any team," said Rantanen on Tuesday. "I think Carl is a really good player, and he likes to keep himself in a really good shape. That's a good thing, too. He doesn't want to miss any games… He just plays the game and tries to be healthy. That's how everyone should try and do it."
A veteran like Blake Comeau agrees that the feat is outstanding, as the work required doesn't stop when the campaign ends. It runs through the summer, through down time; it has to happen every day.

"I think there is obviously a commitment to taking care of your body off the ice. You know sometimes injuries are just fluke injuries that you get from blocking shots or whatever the case might be," the Comeau said. "But for the most part the guys that have long careers and play a lot of games consecutively do a really good job taking care of themselves off the ice during the season and do the right things in the summer for training."
Soderberg is in the midst of his fourth full season in the NHL and his second with the Avalanche, and although his accomplishment is something to be proud of, the 31-year-old Swede doesn't think it's that big of a deal.
"I guess I've been lucky. Tried to stay healthy. You can't think about it, just play hard and hopefully there are no problems," he said after morning skate in Minnesota. "It doesn't really mean that much. I've been lucky, and I'm thankful for that."
The thing is, it's about more than luck. It's about playing intelligent hockey, which is what Soderberg does.

"I feel like he has really good hockey sense. You know, he's a smart hockey player. He's in the right spots a lot of the time, and he doesn't put himself in any vulnerable positions for the most part," Comeau said o this linemate for much of the past two years. "I think that's been a key. Obviously, he's a big part of this team and for him to be able to play that many games consecutively [shows] that he takes care of himself off the ice. It's a good job by him."
The fact that Soderberg has been able to do just that, play smart while minimizing the potential for injury, is even more impressive when considering the center is skating with essentially half the vision of a typical forward. The Swede suffered a detached retina in his right eye after taking a stick to it as a 21-year-old. He had to retrain himself to be able to see and stickhandle and shoot, all with less than perfect sight.
"It is actually quite incredible how he can play and think the game the way he does with basically one eye," Comeau reflected. "I couldn't imagine being out there not having both my eyes and not knowing what is over your one shoulder. It's quite incredible that he can do what he does out there and plays as well as he does with his limited vision. I think it goes back to him being a really smart hockey player."
The ability to adapt, the determination to succeed no matter the challenge presented and the work ethic required to stay in top shape is something that Rantanen is certainly learning about during his first complete campaign in an Avalanche sweater.
"I try and learn every day because it's my first year in the NHL full time," Rantanen said. "Try and learn how they recover after, what they do, because guys like Soderberg and [Jarome] Iginla-Iggy is almost 40 and he's in good shape and is playing all the games. It's really good."
Though he is a man of few words, one who tries to downplay any individual accomplishment, what Soderberg has done and is still doing is certainly something to be proud of.

"I think it is really tough to accomplish in this day of age. I think you look at the demands of the schedule and the travel and it's a physical game still in a lot of areas," head coach Jared Bednar said. "Obviously, he takes care of himself. You look at him, he keeps himself in top condition. Obviously, he takes care of himself in the offseason and whatnot and his off-ice habits as far as the way he eats and trains and everything. Whatever he's been doing has been working for him. It looks good on him. It's a tough thing to do in this day of age, and he's managed to accomplish it."

VARLAMOV IS BACK

After one last solid practice at Xcel Energy Center on Monday, Colorado Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov has been given the green light to return to action as the club faces the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
"I don't think that injury was something that was going to keep him out long term, but we wanted to make sure that he is 100 percent, so when he comes back in he can just jump right into it," Jared Bednar said on Tuesday morning. "Obviously, you can't really wade him in from a minutes standpoint like you can a player, so we want to make sure he's perfect and ready to go, which he feels great. So he's going tonight, and hopefully he is going to play for us quite a bit here in the near future. Because we need him to be good, and he has been good for us in the recent past, especially the Toronto game. We're going to need him to be good, and give us the big save when we need it."

The Avalanche has conquered Minnesota twice thus far in the season, and that's a positive to build on when preparing for Tuesday's meeting.
"I think we know what we're facing here tonight. This is a top team. One of the top teams in our division," Bednar said. "For whatever reason, we've played well against them. It's not necessarily just a matchup thing. I think it's a mindset for our group. When we've played them, we've had some good outings against them. So hopefully that will continue here tonight."
"We had a good comeback last game here, and I think we played really well in that game," Carl Soderberg said. "I think if we can do that tonight too, it will be great for us."
Everyone knows it won't come easy, especially with the way Minnesota is playing.
"These guys don't give up a lot, especially at home," said Blake Comeau. "They've been playing really well, so whether we got to win 1-0 or whatever the case may be, we got to be coming in to defend tonight, take care of the puck and when we get our opportunities, make sure that we bear down."

Projected Lineup

Gabriel Landeskog--Nathan MacKinnon--Rene Bourque
Mikko Rantanen--Matt Duchene--Jarome Iginla
Mikhail Grigorenko--Carl Soderberg--Blake Comeau
Cody McLeod--John Mitchell--Joe Colborne
Nikita Zadorov--Tyson Barrie
Francois Beauchemin--Patrick Wiercioch
Fedor Tyutin--Cody Goloubef
Semyon Varlamov
Calvin Pickard