The Colorado Avalanche has hit a snag on its potential climb to the top of the Central Division, and the most surprising part is what’s currently the biggest issue. When the Avs stumbled to a 14-13 start,

Some of the issues that looked fixed two days ago in a decisive win against the Dallas Stars were again troubling for the Colorado Avalanche in a loss to the Minnesota Wild.

This affiliate content is not influenced by our advertising relationships, but AP and Data Skrive might earn commissions from our partners’ links in this content.

With veteran defensemen Brock Faber, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon all missing with various ailments and newcomer David Jiricek making his Wild debut, the back end was sure to be at least part

Yakov Trenin scored against his former team early in the third period, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Monday.

This is the obvious one. Nathan MacKinnon leads the NHL with 68 points, seven more than Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl in second place. Also of note, he’s first in points per game at 1.58, narrowly ahead of the Art Ross winner last season, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov at 1.57.

The Minnesota Wild will be without their best player for the seventh game in a row when they face off against the Colorado Avalanche ... they cannot replace Kirill Kaprizov with one single player.

It's time to worry about Minnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek's health. Eriksson Ek is on pace for 43 points in 68 games. He plays a demanding role as the team's garbage man in grueling matchups. Opponents constantly cross-check him in the back when he's in front of their net.

In the hockey-crazed city of Toronto, where anything that the Toronto Maple Leafs do becomes a much-discussed focus of social media, many stories have the tendency to get covered and discussed to death.

When they woke up on Monday, the Utah Hockey Club was 7-11-4 at home. Their Monday opponents, the Winnipeg Jets, were 13-8-0 on the road. Naturally, the second-place Jets were the heavy favorites in the game at the Delta Center.

It has been two months since we did a Wild mailbag and several months since we did an ‘Ask Russo and Smith’ mailbag, but with Joe back on the clock, there’s no better time to answer many of your questions.