Landeskog In Tight Timeline To Return For Olympics
Already missing Leo Carlsson and Jonas Brodin, Sweden’s Olympic team could be missing another key piece with Gabriel Landeskog’s availability also in question. Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told reporters including Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link) that the veteran is getting better as he works his way back from an upper-body injury that has held him out for the last three weeks. He added that Landeskog is targeting a return in time for the Olympics but that it’s going to be tight in terms of reaching that timeline. In his first regular season action since the 2021-22 campaign, Landeskog has done alright, picking up seven goals and 15 assists in 41 games while averaging 15:51 per night of playing time.
Avalanche Activate Scott Wedgewood; Reassign Jack Ahcan, Isak Posch
Goaltender Scott Wedgewood is back with the Colorado Avalanche after welcoming the birth of his second child. He has been activataed from the non-roster list, while defenseman Jack Ahcan and goaltender Isak Posch have been reassigned to the minor-leagues.
Ahcan has played three games since being recalled before Wednesday’s shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks. He recorded one assist, three shots on goal, and a minus-one in the trio of appearances. Those marks bring Ahcan up to two points in nine NHL games this season. He also leads the AHL’s Colorado Eagles defense in scoring with 24 points in 29 games. The 28 year old has proven a reliable utility-knife down Colorado’s depth chart. He will return to a minor-league role and stay a top call-up option for the next time the Avalanche are in need.
Posch did not play with the Avalanche on what was the first call-up of his pro career. He has recorded a 12-5-5 record and .902 save percentage in 20 games as an AHL rookie this season.
Wedgewood missed Colorado’s last two games on his personal leave. Top goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood took over the net and posted a 1-1 record, while allowing eight goals. Wedgewood has earned the lion’s share of Colorado’s starts this season, while Blackwood recovered from injury. He has recorded a dazzling 20-3-5 record and .918 save percentage in 30 games, both just better than Blackwood’s 14-3-1 record and .911 Sv%. The two will continue to operate as one of the best one-two-punches in the league now that Wedgewood is back with the team.
Avalanche Recall Isak Posch, Move Scott Wedgewood To Non-Roster Status
The Avalanche have made a pair of roster moves as they get set to embark on a road trip beginning Sunday in Toronto. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled goaltender Isak Posch from AHL Colorado. To make room on the roster, netminder Scott Wedgewood has been designated to non-roster status.
Posch is in his first full professional season after signing an entry-level deal with the Avs last March following two seasons at St. Cloud State University. His first taste of the pros has been successful as the 23-year-old has a 2.45 GAA along with a .902 SV% in 20 games with the Eagles and he’ll now be rewarded with a few days of NHL pay for his efforts. He’ll serve as Mackenzie Blackwood’s backup until Wedgewood is able to return.
As for Wedgewood, this is expected to be a short-term absence. His wife just gave birth and the team is granting him a bit of extra time with his family. He’s expected to rejoin the Avalanche on their road trip. It has been a breakout year for the 33-year-old who has a 2.14 GAA with a .918 SV% in 30 starts this season, earning himself a two-year, $5MM extension for his efforts.
Ross Colton Out Day-To-Day With Lower-Body Injury
- The Colorado Avalanche had a slight change to their forward core in last night’s blowout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Before the game, Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now reported that Ross Colton would miss the contest with a lower-body injury (day-to-day) and that Joel Kiviranta would take his place in the lineup. Kiviranta recently missed nearly a month with his own injury, and went scoreless in last night’s contest.
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Colorado Avalanche Recall Jack Ahcan, Taylor Makar
The Colorado Avalanche announced today that defenseman Jack Ahcan and forward Taylor Makar have been recalled from the club’s AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles.
The Avalanche had just 20 players on their 23-man active roster, so these recalls were able to be made without any corresponding moves. With the recent trade of Ilya Solovyov to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Colorado was left without a seventh defenseman on their roster. Today’s recall of Ahcan rectifies that. The 28-year-old undrafted blueliner is undersized at 5’8″, but has nonetheless emerged as a valuable go-to depth option for the Avalanche.
Ahcan spent two consecutive years as a full-time AHL player (2022-23 and 2023-24) but his solid production in 2024-25 (41 points in 69 games) earned him his first NHL recall in a few years. He got into two NHL games in 2024-25, and already has six NHL games played in 2025-26. He’s also scoring at a career-best rate in the AHL with 24 points in 29 games. With Devon Toews still sidelined (but getting closer, relays the Denver Gazette’s Evan Rawal) it appears the Avalanche will keep Ahcan on their NHL roster so that Bednar has an extra defenseman at his disposal.
Makar, 24, is the younger brother of Avalanche star Cale Makar and has emerged as a call-up option in 2025-26. This is Makar’s first full year as a professional after spending four years playing college hockey, and he has scored seven goals and 13 points in 32 AHL games. He’s skated in Bednar’s NHL lineup for five games this season, averaging just 5:29 time on ice per game. He’s still awaiting his first NHL point.
Recalling Makar gives the Avalanche extra cover at forward with as several of the team’s regular players recover from injury. Gabriel Landeskog, Joel Kiviranta, Valeri Nichushkin, and Logan O’Connor are all sidelined at this time, with recovery timelines that vary significantly.
Latest On Valeri Nichushkin
The Dallas Stars are the latest team struck by the flu, as Mikko Rantanen will not play tonight as a result of the illness, as first reported by Tim Cowlishaw of The Dallas News. In a skid of late where they’ve dropped six of their last 10, including three in a row, the Stars will host the surging Bruins without their leading scorer, who has 63 points in 48 games.
Rantanen will look ahead to later in the week, as his Stars are in action Thursday and Friday, but do not play in the upcoming weekend. For now, Nathan Bastian will slot into the lineup, the 28-year-old posting three goals in 22 games this season in limited fourth line duty.
Elsewhere across the division:
- Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin also missed action for abnormal reasons; he was involved in a car accident while heading to the rink before last night’s contest, Head Coach Jared Bednar told reporters including Corey Masisak of The Denver Post. Unfortunately, Nichushkin came away with minor injuries, and is considered questionable for tomorrow against Anaheim. The Russian has continued to be a valuable secondary scorer for the Avs with 27 points in 38 games, and could return as soon as tomorrow against Anaheim. Even without him, Colorado handled business last night, defeating Washington 5-2.
- Nashville Predators GM Barry Trotz told reporters, including Nick Kieser of Lower Broad Pucks, that he has yet to speak to pending unrestricted free agents Michael Bunting, Michael McCarron, and Cole Smith. All aged 30 as the Predators build for the future, Bunting especially could bring intrigue to contenders, although he has a $4.5MM cap hit. The agitating winger has continued his steady offensive output this season, on pace for 20 goals. Bunting has also stayed out of the penalty box, an improvement from previous seasons. On the other hand, McCarron and Smith are both pillars on Nashville’s fourth line, and could be candidates for reasonable extensions rather than Trotz taking limited trade returns for his towering role players.
Avalanche, Penguins Swap Ilya Solovyov, Valtteri Puustinen
The Colorado Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins have rearranged some of their depth pieces. According to an announcement from the Penguins, the Avalanche have traded defenseman Ilya Solovyov to Pittsburgh for forward Valtteri Puustinen and a 2026 seventh-round pick.
Solovyov, 26, will see his tenure in Colorado end after half a season. He was claimed off waivers before the regular season from the Calgary Flames to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman. The Mogilev, Belarus native was coming off a promising season in the AHL, scoring six goals and 28 points in 59 games for the Calgary Wranglers.
As the team’s seventh defenseman, and without any significant injuries to Colorado’s defensive core, Solovyov didn’t earn much playing time through his first few months with the team. At the end of November, Solovyov had only appeared in nine games for the Avalanche, going scoreless with a -4 rating while averaging 12:33 of ice time.
The Avalanche briefly sent Solovyov back to the AHL on a conditioning loan, simply to allow him more ice time. Since the calendar flipped to 2026, and likely to showcase his playing style to interested teams, Solovyov played in seven games with Colorado, scoring one goal and three points, with a +3 rating.
Meanwhile, Puustinen will move to Colorado after nearly five years with the Penguins organization. He, like Solovyov, was drafted in the seventh round of the NHL Draft, albeit a year earlier. He’s been a remarkably consistent scorer at the AHL level, tallying 72 goals and 175 points in 252 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Unlike Solovyov, Puustinen has already had a fairly promising NHL campaign under his belt. During the 2023-24 season, Puustinen earned an extended look in the sport’s highest league, scoring five goals and 20 points in 52 games with the Penguins, averaging 11:45 of ice time per game. Additionally, his possession metrics were solid, finishing with a 52.3% CorsiFor% and 91.9% on-ice SV% at even strength.
Given his offensive talent, Pittsburgh’s treatment of Puustinen the last few years has been perplexing. The team has had a top-down mandate to get younger, but apparently were not willing to give Puustinen another opportunity at the NHL level. The Penguins went as far as to place Puustinen on waivers last season, though he went unclaimed at the time.
Nonetheless, the trade won’t significantly alter the complexity of either team for now. Solovyov will take Joona Koppanen‘s spot on the roster for the time being, who the Penguins reassigned earlier today. Meanwhile, the Avalanche are expected to make another recall on the blue line, given that they are down to five healthy defensemen.
Avalanche Reassign Alex Barre-Boulet To AHL
8:28 PM: Today’s recalls were short-lived as following the game, the Avs announced that both Barre-Boulet and Ivan were sent back to the Eagles.
3:07 PM: The Colorado Avalanche made one more recall before Monday’s home contest against the Washington Capitals. Depth forward Alex Barre-Boulet was called up to the NHL roster after it was announced that winger Valeri Nichushkin would miss Monday’s game with an upper-body injury. Fellow recall Ivan Ivan will also appear in the lineup.
This will be Barre-Boulet’s first NHL contest since playing in the first two games of the Montreal Canadiens’ 2024-25 season. He posted no scoring, one penalty, and a minus-two in those contests – prompting the Canadiens to send Barre-Boulet to the AHL’s Laval Rocket for the season. The veteran forward proved a tremendous boost to Laval’s roster. He led the team in scoring with 63 points in 64 regular season games and 11 points in 13 playoff games.
That strong year prompted another change of scenery this summer. Barre-Boulet moved from Laval to the Colorado Eagles, where he has held onto his touch. He leads the Eagles in points in 37 in 36 games this season. Now, the Avalanche will reward that scoring in a time of need, and bring Barre-Boulet back into the NHL fold. He played in 68 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning between 2020 and 2024, scoring 12 goals and 18 points. Much of Barre-Boulet’s time in the NHL has come on the fourth-line, a trend that should continue in Colorado.
The depth addition won’t quite help the Avalanche make up for Nichushkin’s absence. The toolsy, Russian winger has 11 goals and 27 points in 38 games this season. He snapped a six-game scoring drought with a point on Friday – but racked up a lofty 14 points in as many games during December. Even after a recent dry spell, Nichushkin remains cemented in Colorado’s top-nine, and leaves multiple holes in the lineup. The Avalanche will lean on Barre-Boulet, Ross Colton, and Gavin Brindley to collectively make up for Nichushkin’s absence.
Ivan Sent Back To AHL Colorado
1/19: With another game looming, the Avalanche have once again recalled Ivan to the NHL roster. This is already Ivan’s fourth recall of 2026.
- The Avalanche announced last night (Twitter link) that they have once again assigned forward Ivan Ivan back to AHL Colorado. It’s the third time in barely a week that he has been recalled and subsequently reassigned. The 23-year-old did suit up against Nashville on Friday, his sixth NHL contest of the season. In those outings, Ivan has one assist while in 31 games with the Eagles, he has two goals and six helpers.
Avalanche Recall Ivan Ivan, Zakhar Bardakov
Jan. 16th: According to a team announcement, the Avalanche have also brought Ivan back to the NHL roster. Colorado now has a full 23-man roster for their return to action today.
Jan. 15th: As expected, the Avalanche announced that they’ve recalled Bardakov ahead of tomorrow’s contest against the Nashville Predators.
Jan. 13th: The Colorado Avalanche have shedded a few depth forwards from their active roster. According to a team announcement, the Avalanche have reassigned Ivan Ivan and Zakhar Bardakov to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.
Despite the new rules that stipulate a player must play at least one game with their respective AHL team before being eligible for recall, Colorado is in a brief window to make a “paper transaction” to accrue cap space. The Avalanche don’t play again until January 16th, and the Eagles play tonight and tomorrow at home, giving each player more than enough time to meet the requirements. Additionally, as their name alludes to, Colorado’s AHL affiliate plays approximately an hour north of Denver, making for a brief trip back to the NHL roster.
Ivan, 23, hasn’t spent as much time in the NHL as he did last season. Particularly due to multiple injuries, Ivan spent half the season with the Avalanche last year, scoring five goals and eight points throughout his rookie season, averaging 10:02 of ice time per night. Fortunately, Colorado hasn’t needed him as much this season, as he’s featured in only five contests.
Given his youth, it’s more beneficial for Ivan to play in the AHL, where he has access to more ice time. He has not exhibited the same scoring ability as in previous years, tallying only two goals and eight points in 30 games this season. Two years ago, his first with the Eagles, Ivan scored 12 goals and 31 points in 67 games.
Meanwhile, Bardakov, 24, has spent much more time in the NHL this year. Much like Ivan, he’s been used in a depth role, scoring one goal and eight points in 32 games, averaging 7:17 of ice time per night. However, unlike Ivan, the former standout for the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg has yet to appear in an AHL contest, meaning he’ll make his debut for the Eagles either today or tomorrow.