We’ve been asking for some toughness to replace Ian Laperriere and, finally, they’ve listened. Today the Avalanche recalled forward Cody McCormick from the AHL. McCormick is a fiery, 6′3″ spark plug - a physical presence the Avs desperately need. In 13 games with Lake Erie this year, McCormick has 6 points and, more importantly, 16 penalty minutes.
To make room for McCormick, Jeff Jillson was reassigned to Cleveland. With Karlis Skrastins due to come back, Jillson’s services were no longer needed. Look for Skrastins to play tonight, with Kyle Cumiskey the odd-man out on defense. Personally, I’m disappointed that Jillson didn’t get an opportunity to get into a game during his recent call up. However, I’d rather see him play down in the AHL than rot Sauer-Style in the press box.
I think Cody being up is a good thing. He definitely hits, he’s a good light-heavyweight if called upon to fight, and he doesn’t kill you when he’s on the ice. He and Guite and Richardson would make a pretty decent line, I think.
Make no mistake, Calgary is physical, just ask Ales Hemsky. Pretty interesting stuff last Saturday night on the late game on HNIC when Edmonton put Stortini on the ice for the opening shift, trying to send a message to the Flames and Robyn Regher, who seems to have a long-standing feud with Hemsky and has put some pretty big/cheap hits on him in the past. (The fact that it didn’t work out too well isn’t really the point - Keenan instantly pulled Iginla off the ice after the opening faceoff and brought on Eric Godard to make sure Stortini didn’t take liberties. Stortini didn’t get too involved and ended up getting a 10-minute misconduct later in the game, and the sorry Oilers lost the game. But the point is that the Oilers recognized what they were lacking and they did something to address it by getting Stortini out there.)
Anyway, back to this game, I’d put McCormick in the lineup and scratch Wyatt Smith, although I don’t think Quenneville will do that. From the last game he’ll probably scratch…Svatos? Or Hlinka? Make no mistake, Cody will finish his checks. That’ll be a refreshing change.
BTW, the Nuggets are bumping the Avs from Altitude tonight, so if anyone’s taping it in the Denver area make sure your DVR is set to the right channel. For Comcast it looks like it’s on CET, which I guess is basically their Altitude 2.
if it’s me, I scratch Smith and Svatos, put Hlinka with Arnason and Richardson, and dress both Parker and McCormick on the 4th line.
It isn’t me, though, so your guess is as good as mine. 9 times out of 10, when a guy gets called up he sits the first game (Richardson being the latest in a string of these). I suspect, though, that Q’s frustration over the last 2 games will prod him to put McCormick in tonight.