On the heels of the Jonathan Drouin injury, Colorado was down to just 11 healthy forwards on their active roster, making a pending roster move quite likely. That move was made today as the team announced (Twitter link) that Chris Wagner has been recalled from AHL Colorado.
The 33-year-old passed through waivers unclaimed last weekend but technically made the Avalanche’s season-opening roster. His presence there was primarily for salary cap optimization purposes, however, and he was sent to the Eagles on Wednesday.
Last season, Wagner primarily played at the AHL level, notching eight goals and six assists in 21 games. He also got into 13 games with the big club, picking up a goal and an assist along with 30 hits but averaged just 7:27 in playing time. For his career, Wagner has 38 goals and 27 assists in 373 NHL appearances over parts of ten seasons.
Colorado has a full 23-player roster so a corresponding move needs to be made. That will likely be Drouin landing on IR as he has already been ruled out for the next two games and is expected to be re-evaluated early next week. Cap-wise, this won’t be an issue for the Avs who are well into LTIR with Gabriel Landeskog and Tucker Poolman currently on there.