The Avalanche will welcome back an important forward tonight as the team announced (Twitter link) that forward Ross Colton has been activated off LTIR. To make room for him on the active roster, winger Jonathan Drouin has been moved to injured reserve retroactive to November 23rd.
Colton will make his return versus Detroit tonight after missing the last 17 games. The 28-year-old was shifted to LTIR earlier this week but since it was retroactive to late October when he first sustained his foot injury, he has already missed the required 10 games and 24 days to return to the lineup.
Before being injured, Colton was off to a hot start with eight goals and an assist while logging 18:38 per game, more than five minutes higher than his career average ATOI. He’s expected to start on the second line but head coach Jared Bednar has indicated that he wants to move Colton onto the top line in the near future.
As for Drouin, he has missed the last two weeks due to an upper-body injury but has been skating in recent days. The retroactive placement for him means he’s already missed the required seven days to return to the lineup so as soon as he’s cleared by team doctors, he can be activated.
His second season with the Avs hasn’t gone as well as his first. After putting up 19 goals and 37 assists for a career-best 56 points in 2023-24, Drouin’s upper-body injury troubles have limited him to just five games so far. While he has been relatively productive in those with two goals and two assists, this certainly hasn’t been the start to the season he has wanted, especially with it being another contract year after inking a one-year, $2.5MM deal to return to the Avs in free agency back in the summer.