The Colorado Avalanche has come a long way from that surreal Saturday afternoon in Boston six weeks ago.
Martin Necas and Jack Drury have settled in nicely, both on and off the ice, with the club. The short-term return on the NHL’s biggest in-season trade in two decades has been nothing but positive. The raw emotions of losing a core player and beloved teammate, Mikko Rantanen, have subsided, because life in the NHL goes on.
The day after Rantanen went to the Carolina Hurricanes in the blockbuster deal, the Avalanche locker room was still shell-shocked.