Colorado Avalanche
Jonathan Drouin is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will miss at least the next two games with the Avalanche.
The forward was injured in an 8-4 loss at the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. He finished the game -1 in 21:25 of ice time.
“He will not play tomorrow (Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets).” [or] “Monday (New York Islanders) for sure, and then he’ll continue to reevaluate it and see where it goes,” coach Jared Bednar said.
Drouin ranked fourth on the Avalanche with 56 points (19 goals, 37 assists) in 79 regular-season games last season and signed a one-year contract on July 1.
“Every missing player makes the task more difficult, but it forces our team to look into the details and commitment aspect of the match immediately,” Bednar said. “We’ve said that coming in, we have to expect that everyone in our lineup has to be at the top of their game, not just be in a role, but thrive in that role in order to have success. So there’s a little bit of pressure. Right out of the gate “
Nikolai Kovalenko could take his place up front alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.
Bednar said he would consider either calling up a forward from Colorado from the American Hockey League or using a lineup made up of 11 forwards and seven defensemen when the Avalanche host the Blue Jackets on Saturday (9 p.m. ET, ALT, BSOH). The team currently has eight defenders on the roster, with Oliver Killington and John Ludwig available to play.
The Avalanche claimed goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.
The 28-year-old was 7-24-3 with a 3.64 goals-against average and .898 save percentage in 37 games (33 starts) with the San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils last season.
“He has played well in some places before, he is free and we have space,” Bednar said. “If we can push our goalkeepers, it’s like we don’t know how it’s going to go, right? We’ve seen better from our goalkeepers than we’ve seen here recently, and if they can raise their level of play, that’s great and if Kahkonen can come in and play well, that’s amazing”. – Ryan Bolding
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