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Avalanche Place Miles Wood On IR, Valeri Nichushkin Cleared To Practice

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The Avalanche announced today that they’ve summoned forwards Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Nikita Prishchepov back up from AHL Colorado after papering them down yesterday. They only had two open spots on the active roster after activating Artturi Lehkonen from injured reserve, so winger Miles Wood was placed on IR retroactive to Oct. 28 in a corresponding transaction to open the extra spot. Additionally, the team confirmed that Valeri Nichushkin has been cleared to practice with the team as he enters the final few days of his participation in Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program and corresponding suspension.

Wood would be eligible to come off IR as soon as tomorrow’s game against the Kraken, but that won’t happen. Head coach Jared Bednar said on Oct. 30 that Wood was set to miss around seven to 10 days with the upper-body injury that’s kept him out of Colorado’s last two contests. That pushes his return to the lineup to Thursday against the Jets or the Hurricanes next weekend.

The 29-year-old’s absence adds to a laundry list of injuries at forward for the Avalanche, although they’ll certainly take a swap of him for Lehkonen coming off IR. The checking winger hadn’t been much of a factor for the Avs yet this season, limited to one goal on 19 shots and no assists through 10 games. He had averaged 13:40 per game, one second lower than last season, despite Colorado being without Lehkonen, Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog throughout the entire campaign to date.

With Lehkonen back and the aforementioned trio recalled, the Avs may be able to dress 12 forwards tomorrow for the first time since Wood’s injury. Defenseman Oliver Kylington had suited up on the wing in back-to-back games with Wood out and no roster flexibility for an additional recall from the AHL.

Ivan and Kovalenko each have four points through 12 games this season, both their first regular-season contests in the NHL. Ivan had no previous major-league experience, while Kovalenko suited up twice for the Avs in last year’s playoffs. Meanwhile, all signs point to Prishchepov playing his second NHL game tomorrow. The 20-year-old was selected 217th overall just a few months ago in the 2024 draft and logged 13:30 in his debut against the Predators on Saturday, registering two shots and three hits.

For Nichushkin, his being cleared to practice indicates that he’s fulfilled all the requirements of his Stage 3 placement so far. His corresponding six-month suspension was handed out on May 13, 2024, while the Avalanche were amid their Second Round series against the Stars. He’s eligible to return to the lineup on Nov. 13 against the Kings, and with a nine-day run-up to practice, it’s looking likelier than not that he’ll play.

While a separate stint in the Player Assistance Program limited Nichushkin to 54 games last season, he’s coming off the best campaign of his nine-year NHL career. The 6’4″, 210-lb Russian winger notched 28 goals and 53 points for a career-high 0.98 points per game, also averaging a career-high 21:21 per night. Despite the extended absence, he also led the club with 16 power-play goals.

Nichushkin has six years remaining on the eight-year, $49MM extension he signed in 2022 to keep him off the open market. Many speculated the Avs would try and move that contract given Nichushkin’s struggles to stay in the lineup since the deal began (he’s only played in 107 of 164 possible regular-season games). But given their bevy of injuries and correspondingly underwhelming 5-7-0 record, it makes little sense to part ways with a player who’s been an invaluable part of their top six when healthy.

Avalanche Activate Artturi Lehkonen From Injured Reserve

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12:00 PM: Colorado has assigned Prishchepov, Ivan Ivan, and Nikolai Kovalenko to the AHL for salary cap reasons, per Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports. Angley adds that more roster moves are expected before Colorado hosts Seattle on Tuesday, likely suggesting that some of these transactions are paper moves.

10:30 AM: The Avalanche announced today that they’ve activated winger Artturi Lehkonen from injured reserve. There’s no open spot for him on the active roster, so they’ve assumedly assigned a player to the minors in a corresponding transaction. That’s likely 2024 seventh-round pick Nikita Prishchepov, who made his NHL debut in yesterday’s loss to the Predators.

Lehkonen will likely make his season debut on Tuesday against the Kraken. The 29-year-old had missed Colorado’s first 12 games after undergoing a shoulder procedure early in the offseason. He wasn’t ready for training camp, but there was mild optimism that he could play by the beginning of the regular season. That was quashed when Lehkonen landed on IR when the Avalanche submitted their opening night roster, with head coach Jared Bednar quickly saying Lehkonen would be out through at least Oct. 28 – the date of his next evaluation by team doctors.

Evidently, the evaluation went well, and Lehkonen was cleared to play. He’s been skating in a non-contact jersey for much of the past month, so he won’t be coming into the lineup completely cold. With most of Colorado’s top-nine forward group ravaged by injuries, he’ll be relied upon heavily from the get-go. Lehkonen, Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin were unavailable since the start of the season, and he’s the first to return from that group. Since the season opener, Ross Colton and Jonathan Drouin have joined them on IR, while Miles Wood has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury and won’t be back until late this week at the soonest.

Lehkonen has become a fixture in Colorado’s top six since the Avs acquired him from the Canadiens before the 2022 trade deadline. He had 14 points in 20 playoff games en route to the Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup in 2022. While he’s missed 55 games over the following two seasons due to injuries, he’s churned out legitimate top-six offensive production while retaining the excellent defensive and physical game that made him a standout depth piece in Montreal. A neck injury cost him nearly half of last season, but he still managed 16 goals and 34 points in 45 games, a 62-point pace, while averaging 18:28 per game. The Avs controlled 56.9% of shot attempts with Lehkonen on the ice at even strength compared to 52.4% without him.

Whether Lehkonen lines up alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen on the Avalanche’s first line or is deployed in second-line minutes to give Casey Mittelstadt some help remains to be seen, but he’ll indeed be deployed in that same top-six role against Seattle next week. His return couldn’t have come soon enough – the Avalanche have lost three in a row and have fallen to 5-7-0 on the season, placing sixth in the Central Division.

Lehkonen was on IR, not LTIR, so his activation has no negative cap impacts. They’ll actually gain cap space with the move by opening up a roster spot for him.

Avalanche Looking To Add Forward Help

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Goaltending has been an issue for Colorado this season, to put it lightly.  The Avs have a combined save percentage of just .837 and they already made one move to try to shore up that position when they added Kaapo Kahkonen off waivers last month.

But that isn’t the only position they’re looking to improve.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman relayed in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link) that the Avalanche are also looking to add up front.

Offensively, Colorado has fared relatively well out of the gate this season, averaging 3.45 goals per game through the first month of the year while having four players averaging more than a point per outing.  However, they’ve been dealing with a rash of injuries, further compounded by Ross Colton’s broken foot which will keep him out until at least mid-December.  Colton is known for being a checker but he happened to be their team leader in goals with eight already.

On top of that, the Avalanche are still without Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder), Gabriel Landeskog (knee), and Valeri Nichushkin (Player Assistance Program).  None of them have played yet this season although Lehkonen is due back soon.  They’re also without Jonathan Drouin who was injured in the season opener while Miles Wood is out for another week or so; both have upper-body injuries.

With a healthy forward lineup, Colorado didn’t have the deepest of groups to begin with.  Now that they’re down several regulars, they’ve been rotating in several low-cost rookies and veterans at the league minimum with varying degrees of success in largely limited roles.

As things stand, the Avs are well into LTIR by nearly $2.6MM, per PuckPedia with an LTIR pool of nearly $9MM.  However, that’s with Nichushkin’s $6.125MM not counting against the books.  As soon as he’s cleared, that comes back onto the books which will wipe out most of the rest of the pool.  They’re also expecting Landeskog to play at some point this season; his $7MM comprises the bulk of their LTIR pool.  With that in mind, it’s not as if GM Chris MacFarland has a lot of financial flexibility to work with at the moment.

Knowing that, it stands to reason that he is shopping more for depth upgrades over trying to bring in an impactful piece he can’t afford for much longer.  In particular, those depth pieces likely need to be at or below $1.15MM, the maximum amount that can be buried in the AHL when a player is sent down while the ideal candidate likely makes closer to the league minimum of $775K, making it possible he sticks around even as others return.

Despite their struggles between the pipes, Colorado has a 5-6-0 record to start the season, putting them only a point out of a tie for a playoff spot.  But with limited cap space and several question marks remaining in goal, it will be interesting to see if MacFarland can find a swap that gives them a low-cost upgrade up front without taking away from any trade chips of note that might be needed make a bigger splash in goal.

Avalanche Recall Nikita Prishchepov

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The Avalanche announced that they’ve recalled forward prospect Nikita Prishchepov from AHL Colorado ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Predators. Veteran depth piece T.J. Tynan is also back up on the NHL roster after being papered down yesterday to accrue cap space and delay his temporary waiver exemption.

With Matthew Stienburg suspended for two games for charging Lightning defenseman Erik Černák in Wednesday night’s loss, the injury-plagued Avalanche didn’t have the roster flexibility to replace him in-house. He was sent down to AHL Colorado yesterday, freeing up his roster spot but delaying the commencement of his suspension until he returns to the NHL roster. That meant two recalls were coming today – Tynan plus a new face from their minor-league affiliate.

That new face is Prishchepov, who’s now poised to make his NHL debut tomorrow, months after the Avs took him in the seventh round of the 2024 draft. The 20-year-old was an overage pick who’d been passed over in the 2022 and 2023 drafts but worked his way into consideration with 22 goals and 67 points in 63 games for QMJHL Victoriaville in his third and final season of junior hockey. Colorado inked the Russian center/left-winger to an entry-level contract early last month after a decent training camp, which proved prudent in hindsight.

Prishchepov is off to a decent start to his professional career, scoring once and adding three assists in six AHL games with 8 PIMs and a +3 rating. It’s good production early on from the 6’1″ forward, but it’s clear he’s a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option this early on in his development.

Unfortunately for the Avs, their injury situation up front constitutes an emergency. They were already without top-six forwards Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin to begin the season. Ross Colton and Jonathan Drouin have since joined them on injured reserve, although the latter is close to returning. Miles Wood is also day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. However, he won’t be out long enough to warrant an IR placement, meaning the Avalanche only had 11 healthy forwards available against Tampa. Oliver Kylington, one of their two extra defenders on the roster, slotted in as their third-line left wing.

Prishchepov still has two seasons left after this one on his ELC. He costs $806.7K against the cap while on the NHL roster, although that’s somewhat irrelevant for the Avs right now with so much money stashed on long-term injured reserve. He’ll be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2027.

Colorado’s Matthew Stienburg Suspended Two Games, Reassigned

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The Colorado Avalanche are losing another player up front, although this time it won’t be for an injury. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced they have suspended Avalanche rookie forward Matthew Stienburg for two games for charging Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Černák in last night’s contest. Shortly after the suspension was issued, the Avalanche announced they had reassigned Stienburg to their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles.

The news came roughly seven hours after the Department of Player Safety shared that Stienburg was scheduled for a hearing regarding the incident. The discipline served by the Department of Player Safety is in addition to the on-ice referees giving Stienburg a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct.

In the video shared by the Department of Player Safety, the contributing factor to the suspension was that Stienburg turned his back on the hit and lifted himself off the ice causing the focal point of the hit to be Černák’s head. They also noted that Stienburg’s NHL experience of eight games played a part in the length of the suspension.

He’s been one of Colorado’s most physical players since being recalled from AHL Colorado on October 16th. He’s seventh on the team in hits with 16 despite only being 16th in games played with eight. Consequently, thanks to the illegal hit on Černák yesterday evening, he now sits first on the team in PIMs with 22. According to Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette, Stienburg must wait to serve his suspension until he’s recalled back to the NHL.

The biggest implication of this suspension and subsequent demotion is that the Avalanche only have 10 healthy forwards and an upcoming game on Saturday against the Nashville Predators. Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen, Valeri Nichushkin, Ross Colton, and Jonathan Drouin are all on the shelf for one reason or another, and Colorado will now have to pull from their organizational depth even further with Stienburg being sent down.

Avalanche Reassign T.J. Tynan

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Oct. 31: The Avs papered Tynan back down to the AHL after he posted a -1 rating in 8:36 of ice time in yesterday’s 5-2 loss to the Lightning, per a team announcement. He’ll likely come back up to the roster ahead of Saturday’s game against the Predators.

Oct. 30: The Avalanche announced Wednesday that they’ve recalled center T.J. Tynan from AHL Colorado. It’s the corresponding transaction for Ross Colton, who landed on injured reserve yesterday.

It’ll be the first NHL action since 2021-22 for the 32-year-old Tynan, who will almost certainly enter the lineup tonight against the Lightning with no other healthy forwards available to take Colton’s spot. He’s a former third-round pick of the Blue Jackets who’s had an extremely lengthy professional career but managed only 21 NHL appearances, coming in parts of three separate campaigns with Columbus, Colorado and Los Angeles. He has just one assist and a -2 rating and is still looking for his first NHL goal.

That doesn’t take away too much from Tynan’s illustrious AHL career. The undersized pivot (5’8″, 161 lbs) has long since established himself as arguably the minor league’s top playmaker of the last decade. A two-time All-Star and two-time MVP, Tynan’s 495 assists in 647 games are tied for 12th in league history and are second among active players behind Cal O’Reilly (573 assists in 961 games). He’s led the league in assists outright on four occasions, including the last three seasons while in the Kings organization with AHL Ontario. In 2023-24, he scored just nine goals in 71 games but added 57 assists for 66 points.

Tynan previously played for the Avs organization from 2019 to 2021, playing a career-high 16 NHL games for Colorado in 2019-20. During those two years, he posted 13 goals and 69 assists for 82 points in 69 games with their AHL club. Through six games this season in his return to the Eagles, he has four assists and a -2 rating.

Avalanche Place Ross Colton On Injured Reserve

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Oct. 30, 12:39 p.m.: Colton sustained a broken foot and will miss six to eight weeks, head coach Jared Bednar said (via Ryan Boulding of NHL.com). He’ll look to make his return in mid-December.

Oct. 30, 8:38 a.m.: The Avalanche placed Colton on injured reserve yesterday, per the NHL’s media portal. He’ll miss Colorado’s next two games at least before being eligible for activation on Nov. 4, but will likely miss more action than that. The Avalanche now have only 11 forwards on the active roster ahead of tonight’s contest against the Lightning, so expect them to either dress seven defensemen or make a corresponding recall later today.

Oct. 29: Avalanche forward Ross Colton is “going to miss some time” after blocking a shot with his foot in yesterday’s loss to the Blackhawks, head coach Jared Bednar told reporters postgame, including Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette. He was mobile after the game but left Ball Arena in a walking boot.

It’s another tough break for a Colorado forward corps without Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin for the entire season and Jonathan Drouin for every game except for the season opener. The latter is getting close to returning, with Rawal reporting over the weekend that Drouin has been upgraded to day-to-day with his upper-body injury. But for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations, missing its top four wingers simultaneously, especially for the better part of a month, rightfully feels like an unending and insurmountable challenge.

Colton, 28, had stepped up to fill those voids as best he could. Expected to be their No. 3 center behind Nathan MacKinnon and Casey Mittelstadt, Colton has shifted to first-line left-wing duties alongside MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. He’s responded with a team-leading eight goals and a league-leading four power-play goals, averaging 18:38 per game while maintaining his physical standard of play. He leads the team with 28 hits and leads Avs forwards with nine blocks, a tendency that’s unfortunately led to what looks to be a multi-week absence.

While Drouin is nearing a return, there’s no indication of whether he’s an option for tomorrow’s game against the Lightning. If he can, it’ll be a one-for-one swap in the lineup, with Drouin replacing Colton on the top line. The Avalanche also have a full 23-man roster, meaning Colton must take Drouin’s spot on injured reserve. If Drouin can’t return, the Avalanche will likely dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen. They have eight defensemen and three goaltenders on the active roster, so they aren’t carrying an extra forward.

Colton scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal for Tampa Bay as a rookie in 2021 and had a career-high 40 points in 80 games for the Avs in 2023-24. It was his first season in Colorado after they picked up his signing rights from the Bolts for a 2023 second-round pick. After weeks of negotiations, the restricted free agent inked a four-year, $16MM pact to stick around in Denver. He’s in the second season of that deal and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2027.

Miles Wood Out Day-To-Day With Undisclosed Injury

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Even after recalling T.J. Tynan from AHL Colorado earlier today, the Avalanche won’t have a full complement of healthy forwards for tonight’s game against the Lightning. That’s because winger Miles Wood has been ruled out with the undisclosed injury he’s been playing through for the past few days, head coach Jared Bednar said on Altitude Sports Radio this morning (via Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet).

With Wood out but not headed for injured reserve, the Avalanche don’t have a roster spot for another recall. They’ll dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen tonight, but not in the traditional sense. Instead of rotating in on different defense pairs, Oliver Kylington will pinch-hit as a winger in his first appearance since Oct. 16. He’ll skate on the fourth line with Matthew Stienburg and Chris Wagner while Tynan makes his season debut as a third-line left wing with Parker Kelly and Joel Kiviranta, Daily Faceoff projects. Meanwhile, rookie Nikolai Kovalenko slides up to play top-line duties alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen in relief of the injured Ross Colton, who himself had been playing top-six minutes in place of the injured Jonathan Drouin.

Avalanche Recall Kaapo Kähkönen From Conditioning Loan

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Oct. 29: Kähkönen is back up from his conditioning loan, reports Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports. He made two appearances for their farm club over the past few days, recording a .919 SV% and a 2.57 GAA in a pair of losses.

Oct. 24: The Avalanche announced today that they have assigned goaltender Kaapo Kähkönen to AHL Colorado on a conditioning loan. While on the minor-league stint, Kähönen will still count against the salary cap and the 23-man roster.

It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for Kähkönen, who’s yet to suit up anywhere in the regular season. He made a few exhibition appearances for the Jets after signing a one-year, $1MM deal in Winnipeg during the offseason. However, he lost the backup job to Eric Comrie and landed on waivers shortly after the season started. Colorado claimed him, but visa issues relegated him to the non-roster list for a few days. He was reinstated ahead of this week’s contests, but he was a healthy scratch in their last two games while Justus Annunen started and Alexandar Georgiev backed up.

The loan can last up to 14 days, after which Kähkönen would need to be placed on waivers again if the Avalanche want to keep him in the minors. The move is good news for Kähkönen, who now gets the chance to get his feet wet after sitting on the shelf entirely for the past few weeks despite being medically available to play. The 28-year-old last played in the AHL with the Iowa Wild in 2019-20 while a part of the Minnesota organization, posting a .927 SV% in 34 games en route to being named the league’s best goaltender.

Kähkönen began last season in San Jose, posting a 6-20-3 record, .895 SV%, 3.81 GAA, and -8.7 GSAA in 31 appearances for the Sharks. He was dealt to the Devils at the trade deadline, where he closed out the season with a strong .923 SV% and 2.51 GAA in six appearances despite a 1-4-0 record. The Finland native has an .899 SV% and 3.33 GAA in 139 career NHL appearances over the past five seasons.

Snapshots: Drouin, Rempe, Lazar

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Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette is reporting that injured Colorado Avalanche forward Jonathan Drouin is being upgraded to day-to-day, an indication that he could return to action soon. Drouin hasn’t dressed for a game since he suffered a lower-body injury in the first game of the season back on October 8th. The 29-year-old is reportedly still dealing with some pain but should be able to return when he is cleared to do so.

Colorado has not had issues putting the puck in the net this season. However, they are still without the services of several forwards and will be happy to have Drouin’s services when he gets back into the lineup.

In other notes from around the league:

  • The New York Rangers have reportedly recalled forward Matt Rempe from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL (as per AHL Transactions). The 22-year-old was assigned to the AHL on Friday and dressed in two games with Hartford, where he was held without a point and went -3. New York had lent Rempe to Hartford to try and get him more playing time, but with a matchup this week against the Washington Capitals, and more specifically, Tom Wilson, the Rangers opted to bring the big man back to the NHL.
  • New Jersey Devils forward Curtis Lazar left tonight’s game against the Anaheim Ducks and did not return (as per Mike Morreale of NHL.com). The 29-year-old collided with Ducks captain Radko Gudas when Gudas tried to execute an ill-timed hip check on Lazar, which resulted in an awkward-looking collision. Lazar appeared unable to put any weight on his left leg as he exited the game and did not return for the third period. He played just 4:40. In a post-game interview, Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporter Gabriel Trevino that Lazar will miss some time.

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