While Colorado added some goalie depth a little more than a week ago with the claiming of Kaapo Kahkonen off waivers from Winnipeg, he wasn’t available to them as he went through the work visa process. However, the team announced (Twitter link) that he has joined the team and will take part in practice with them today, meaning he has cleared that process.
Goaltending has been an issue for the Avs early on this season with Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen combining to allow 24 goals on just 123 shots for a combined save percentage of .805. While this is certainly a case of a small sample size, it’s also an area of concern with Georgiev struggling at times in the second half of last season.
While Kahkonen is coming off somewhat of a rough year himself that saw him post a 3.64 GAA and a .898 SV% in 37 games between San Jose and New Jersey, he will at least give them another option with some NHL experience with Annunen having just 20 career appearances under his belt. Kahkonen will likely need a few practices before he’s game-ready with how long he had to sit but he should be a playable option for them before too long.
With Kahkonen joining the active roster, a corresponding move was needed to formally activate him as they were already at the maximum of 23 players. That was made with the team moving Devon Toews to injured reserve. His presence there might be short-lived, however, as Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette notes (Twitter link) that Toews took part in practice for the Avs today.
Meanwhile, the team also revealed that winger Valeri Nichushkin has arrived in Denver and will begin to work out and skate on his own. He remains in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program and isn’t eligible to return to NHL action until November 13th. However, the fact that he is coming to the city several weeks in advance to start working out suggests that he’s on track to return at that time.
For the time being, Nichushkin’s $6.125MM AAV is not counting against Colorado’s cap number. Assuming he gets the green light next month, he’ll come back on their books. That said, with Gabriel Landeskog and Tucker Poolman presently on LTIR, they will have enough cap flexibility to activate him without any issues at that time.