Steve Downie News

Lauded offensive defensemen Stefan Elliott, the WHL's all-time leading scorer among defensemen, finally made his NHL debut this past season when he was called up from the Lake Erie Monsters about a month into the season.

We're about a month prior to the 2012 NHL Entry Draft in Pittsburgh. The entry draft marks the last event of the hockey year that shouldn't be affected in any way by labor negotiations between the NHL and NHLPA .

Daniel Winnik made a big splash as soon as he joined the Avalanche, getting in a tussle with Kyle Quincey within days of joining the team on the ice for the first time.

The Colorado Avalanche missed the playoffs for the third time in the last four seasons but, thanks to development of young players, there is reason to be optimistic.

Steve Downie came to be an Avalanche when Colorado traded Kyle Quincey to Tampa.

The Colorado Avalanche fell a little bit short of a playoff berth for the second straight season, but they made some nice tweaks to their lineup when they traded for Jamie McGinn and Steve Downie .