When Joe Sakic and Bill Guerin spoke on Tuesday afternoon about switching third-quarter defenders Ian Cole and Greg Pateryn, the switch made sense to each general manager in part because the Colorado Avalanche was in Los Angeles and the Wild in Anaheim .
There are pages and pages of COVID-19 protocols this season, and any commercial air travel after an operation would require quarantine.
But with the Avs right in the middle of the road, transporting private cars would technically make Pateryn available to the Avs if they wanted to play him against the Kings on Tuesday night and Cole available to make his Wild Wednesday debut against the Ducks. .
“Ian is a guy I know well from my days in Pittsburgh and someone I trust on the ice. I like the way he behaves, ”said Guerin. “And when Joe told me it would be available, we worked on it quickly and completed something. I think the fact that they were right down the street in LA, and we …