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Avalanche Assign Jonas Johansson To AHL, Recall Justus Annunen

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Following last night’s victory over Winnipeg where he dressed as the backup goaltender, the Avalanche returned goaltender Jonas Johansson to AHL Colorado, per the AHL’s transactions log.  In a corresponding move, Justus Annunen has been recalled from the Eagles.

Johansson has spent the majority of the season in the minors, posting an impressive 2.50 GAA along with a .915 SV% in 23 games.  The 27-year-old also has made one appearance with the Avs, kicking aside all seven shots he faced in 23 minutes while extending his streak to four years of seeing NHL action.

Annunen, meanwhile, saw his first NHL action of the season last Saturday against St. Louis, stopping 19 of 20 shots for the victory.  The 22-year-old has put up similar numbers to Johansson with the Eagles with a 2.53 GAA and a .913 SV% in 29 contests.  Still a prospect, it has made sense for the Avs to keep him in the minors and the older Johansson up with the big club to serve as the backup so this move suggests that Annunen might get the start tonight against Calgary.

West Notes: Krug, Olofsson, Eller

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St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug is set to return to the lineup against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, head coach Craig Berube told reporters today. It ends a brief absence stemming from a lower-body injury.

It’s been a bumpy road for Krug in 2022-23, who’s missed significant portions of the season. This is the fifth separate occasion he’s missed time with a lower-body injury, including a 13-game-long absence through December and January. Krug’s ice time has dipped below 20 minutes this season, and his -28 rating is tied for the worst on the team. He’ll return to his usual spot alongside Justin Faulk.

  • After being sent down yesterday, the Dallas Stars have brought forward Fredrik Olofsson back up from the minors. The 26-year-old has been a frequent call-up as of late, and he’s recorded a goal and three assists in 15 games with Dallas on top of 14 points in 37 games with AHL Texas. Olofsson will draw back into the lineup tomorrow against the Vegas Golden Knights as Luke Glendening and Joel Kiviranta remain sidelined with injuries.
  • The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun covered the Washington Capitals’ trade deadline plans in his latest piece and listed pending unrestricted free agent center Lars Eller as a potential fit for the Colorado Avalanche. Eller’s offense has taken a step back this season, recording just seven goals and 16 points in 58 games, but he’d be good depth insurance for an Avalanche team that’s thin at center. As Colorado begins to string wins together ahead of the trade deadline, they hope some depth additions combined with healthy stars propel them back into the “contending” category of teams.

 

Trade Deadline Primer: Colorado Avalanche

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The trade deadline is inching closer and is now just over a week away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Colorado Avalanche.

Following a Stanley Cup win in 2021-22, expectations were high once again for the Colorado Avalanche this season. However, some key offseason departures headlined by Nazem Kadri and a plethora of injuries have the Avalanche further back in the standings than expected. They have been playing better lately, but are barely hanging on to a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

An 11-2-2 run in their past 15 games has put them back into a playoff spot, and as the defending Stanley Cup champions, they are sure to be looking to add to the roster before the deadline. Once healthy, they will have one of the most dangerous lineups in the Western Conference, giving them a chance to make another deep postseason run this spring.

Record

31-19-5

Deadline Status

Buyer

Deadline Cap Space

$6.45MM in LTIR relief, 0/3 retention slots used, 44/50 contracts used, per CapFriendly.

Upcoming Draft Picks

2023: COL 1st, Col 5th, COL 6th, COL 7th

2024: COL 1st, COL 4th, COL 6th, COL 7th

Trade Chips

The Avalanche have traded a lot of their draft pick capital in past seasons, but do still hold all of their own first-round picks. That will allow them to get in on some of the big names as we head toward the trade deadline on Mar. 3. The biggest obstacle in their way is the salary cap.

Gabriel Landeskog has not played a game yet this season and he sits on long-term injured reserve. If the Avalanche get news that he will remain there until the end of the regular season, they can replace his $7MM cap hit and really swing for the fences at the trade deadline in hopes of a repeat.

If they are going to make a big addition, their future first-round picks would need to be put in play. Having traded many of them in recent years, the Avalanche do not have the deepest prospect pool in the league, but they do have a few young players to offer as trade bait.

Alex Newhook would net the biggest return but he is already a full-time NHL player. If the Avalanche want to make a big trade, teams will be asking about the 2019 first-round pick. Newhook has 12 goals and 20 points in 55 games, but rebuilding teams would be interested in adding the 22-year-old center.

Sean Behrens was the Avalanche’s second-round pick in 2021. The two-way defenceman is having a second strong season for the University of Denver. He has three goals and 20 points in 27 games this season after putting up three goals and 29 points in 37 games as a Freshman in 2021-22. Behrens represented USA at the past two World Junior Championships, scoring a combined three points in eight games. Justin Barron was moved in a trade last season that brought back Artturi Lehkonen and helped put the Avs over the top. Behrens would have similar value on the open market right now.

Jean-Luc Foudy is one of the few young players having an impact season for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. He was a third-round pick of Colorado in the 2020 NHL Draft and has 11 goals and 31 points in 36 AHL games this season. He is a 20-year-old right-shot center who would have plenty of interest from rebuilding teams.

Other Potential Trade Chips: Oskar Olausson, Matthew Stienburg, Ryan Merkley

Team Needs

1) Second-Line Center: The Avalanche were hopeful that Newhook would step into the second-line center role that was vacated by Kadri when he signed with the Calgary Flames. While Newhook is a skilled young player, he isn’t the ideal fit as a second center on a contending team right now. If Landeskog can eventually return from his injury, he joins Mikko Rantanen, Valeri Nichushkin and Lehkonen as a dangerous group of top-six wingers. Nathan MacKinnon is obviously the team’s number one center, but they could use an upgrade in the middle of the second unit.

2) Defensive Depth: A team with Cale Makar, Bowen Byram, Devon Toews, Samuel Girard, Josh Manson and Erik Johnson should not need help on the back end. However, injuries have sabotaged what should be the best group of blueliners in the league. Makar is currently out with concussion symptoms, Byram has been limited to 17 games this season, Manson has suited up for just 23 contests and Johnson is on injured reserve. A big name defender is not likely to be on the shopping list, but some depth to fill in for the injured players would be a nice addition.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Latest On Gabriel Landeskog

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  • On TSN’s Insider Trading program, LeBrun reported that Colorado Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog’s true timeline in his return from injury remains “unclear.” The Avalanche do not yet have a firm sense of when he’ll be ready to return to the lineup, and that uncertainty has major trade deadline implications. As long as there remains the possibility of Landeskog returning in this regular season, the Avalanche cannot use Landeskog’s salary on long-term injured reserve to add to their roster, since they would not have the cap space to activate Landeskog once healthy. If nothing else, the Avalanche will be hoping for some more clarity on Landeskog’s timeline in these next few days so they can really shore up their deadline plans.

Colorado Avalanche Recall Brad Hunt, Jonas Johansson

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The Colorado Avalanche, heading out of town to play the Winnipeg Jets tomorrow, have recalled a couple of extra bodies. Brad Hunt and Jonas Johansson will join the group, giving them options at defense and in net.

Johansson’s recall is the most significant, given Pavel Francouz is out for a few weeks. The minor league netminder has found something in the Colorado organization, performing better there than any of his other professional stops. Johansson has a .915 in 23 games with the Colorado Eagles, and stopped all seven shots he faced in a relief appearance with the Avalanche earlier this year.

While Aleksandar Georgiev will certainly be carrying the load, the team is headed into a back-to-back situation with a game against the Calgary Flames on Saturday, and have another back-to-back next weekend just after the trade deadline. Johansson may actually get some play unless he’s swapped for Justus Annunen at some point.

Hunt, meanwhile, just continues to show he’s too good for the minor leagues, with 21 points in 24 games for the Eagles. The veteran defenseman has filled the role of extra defensemen well for several organizations, and has 29 appearances for the Avalanche this year. He’ll likely keep bouncing back and forth whenever needed.

Cale Makar Enters Concussion Protocol

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For the second time in less than two weeks, Colorado Avalanche superstar Cale Makar has entered the concussion protocol. Head coach Jared Bednar confirmed on Denver radio that Makar experienced delayed symptoms, just like he did earlier this month. He is out for now as the team continues to monitor the effects of this latest issue.

Makar had just returned to the Avalanche lineup but collided with Alexey Toropchenko in the third period of Saturday’s game against the St. Louis Blues. As Peter Baugh of The Athletic reported, it wasn’t the concussion spotter who pulled him from the game initially; Makar believed his nose was cut by his visor and went to the room on his own before eventually returning.

The 24-year-old has logged an incredible amount of ice time for Colorado this season, averaging close to 27 minutes a night in his 46 appearances. Those appearances have unfortunately been limited in recent weeks and are now unclear moving forward.

The Avalanche can’t really afford to lose him for very long. The team is in third place in the Central but has a very tenuous grasp on that position, with the Minnesota Wild behind them. Sure, the rest of the defending champions are good enough to keep them in a playoff spot, but Makar is the engine that makes everything run, playing nearly half the game and contributing a ton at both ends of the rink.

Two concussions in such a short period is a scary thought and one that should keep Makar out for a little while as they make sure he won’t have any lingering effects.

Colorado Assigns Ben Meyers To The AHL

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Ben Meyers has been shuffled back and forth between the NHL and AHL in recent weeks and on this transaction, he’s going back down as the Avalanche announced (Twitter link) that the winger has been sent back to AHL Colorado.  It’s his third assignment to the minors over the past three weeks.

Meyers has played in 31 games this season, including suiting up earlier this afternoon in a comeback overtime victory over Anaheim.  However, he hasn’t had much offensive success at the top level, managing just a single goal without any assists while averaging around ten minutes a night.  He has fared better at the minor league level, collecting six goals and three assists in 15 games with the Eagles.

The 23-year-old signed with Colorado as an undrafted college free agent last season, burning the first year of his contract right away as he got into a handful of games with the Avs down the stretch.  He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer owed a qualifying offer of just over $874K but at this point, it seems likely that the team will be pushing for him to take less than that in exchange for either a one-way deal or a two-way pact with a higher AHL salary as his lack of NHL production will make it tough to justify paying more than the minimum.

Gabriel Landeskog Nearing Return, Cale Makar Out With Upper-Body Injury

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The Colorado Avalanche could be getting a significant player back from a long-term injury. The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando reports that Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has arrived in Denver and plans to skate individually tomorrow, indicating that a return from the knee injury that has kept him off the ice all season is getting closer. Landeskog has not played this season, and in his absence the Avalanche have struggled to return to the level of dominance they often displayed last season.

  • Just as the Avalanche prepare to get a difference-maker back into the lineup, they lose one. As relayed by The Athletic’s Peter Baugh, franchise defenseman Cale Makar is out with an upper-body injury. While it’s not known whether this is a head-related injury, Baugh did note that there is the possibility that this injury is related to contact made with his head/face area, and concussion-related symptoms, but that is not confirmed at this time.

Pavel Francouz To Miss Around Three Weeks

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It will pretty much strictly be Alexandar Georgiev’s net for the time being in Colorado as Peter Baugh of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that netminder Pavel Francouz will be out for the next three weeks due to a lower-body injury.  The 32-year-old is no stranger to missing time as his NHL career high in games played in a single season is only 34.  However, Francouz has done rather well this season, posting a 2.53 GAA with a .919 SV% in 15 starts, numbers that are actually a little better than Georgiev.  The Avalanche recalled Justus Annunen earlier today and it’s worth noting that their next four games are a pair of back-to-backs but with the youngster having just two career NHL appearances and Colorado only being two points up on a playoff spot, it’s possible that Georgiev will need to play both ends of those contests.

Colorado Avalanche Recall Ben Meyers, Justus Annunen

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With Pavel Francouz still out with a lower-body injury, the Colorado Avalanche have recalled Justus Annunen from the minor leagues to serve as the team’s second goaltender. It’s the young netminder’s first call-up this season, and he’ll come along with Ben Meyers, who is back up after a few days in the minor leagues.

Annunen, 22, is Colorado’s top goaltending prospect and has been excellent in his second AHL season. With a 16-8-4 record and .912 save percentage, he has taken a big step forward from last year and now looks on track to push for some NHL playing time in the near future. He received that chance last year, when he appeared in two games and posted an .863.

Given that Francouz is scheduled for unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2024 and Alexandar Georgiev the year following, all eyes will be on Annunen to see if he can grow into an NHL starter. The third-round pick may get his chance to play this weekend, as the Avalanche are headed for a back-to-back before their CBA-mandated bye week.

It certainly won’t be easy. Unless the team puts him in tomorrow’s afternoon tilt against the St. Louis Blues, it means Annunen is likely to face Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in his season debut on Sunday. Welcome back to the NHL, kid.

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