The Colorado Avalanche were missing six regular players in last night’s game. However, they’re slowly getting healthy.
Some nasty viruses are going around these days, and the Colorado Avalanche players haven’t been immune. Forward Colin Wilson has been out since the January 20 game against the New York Rangers, making for a total of four missed games in a week so far. Maybe he has the 21st-century version of the Spanish flu. (I hope not, but that’s a lot of games for an athlete in the prime of health to miss.)
Anyway, whatever Wilson has, he may have spread it to J.T. Compher. The rookie forward missed last night’s game due to illness.
Concerning injuries, goalie Semyon Varlamov continues to be “day-to-day” win a groin injury. He left the January 2nd game against the Winnipeg Jets and hasn’t played since, making it a total of nine missed games and three weeks already of recovery time. He’s hopefully going to be good to go after the All Star break, but maybe not right away.
Defenseman Tyson Barrie has been out even longer, having broken a bone in his hand in the December 23 game against the Arizona Coyotes. He’s missed 13 games and a total of five weeks, putting him in the four to six week range he’s already missed. He’s been skating and participating in practices, though, so he may be available right after the break.
Forward Sven Andrighetto’s injury has proven to be surprisingly lingering. He got injured in the New Year’s Eve game against the New York Islanders when he slid awkwardly into the boards. He finished the game, but he’s been out since. He’s missed a total of 10 games in four weeks. He’s listed as day-to-day, and he’s been skating in practices, but they’ve been no-contact drills.
A new addition to the walking wounded is defenseman Mark Barberio. He missed last night’s game because of a “lower body injury.” There were no apparent injuries that occurred in the Montral Canadiens game — his being scratched for the St. Louis game was the first we heard of his injury.
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With the injuries and illnesses, some new players have been getting their chances. Forward A. J. Greer has been back with the team since the beginning of the calendar year. He played five games then was a healthy scratch until last night’s game against the Blues.
Defenseman David Warsofsky has also been with the team since the beginning of the year, but he didn’t get to play until last night’s game. That marked his debut with the Avalanche.
Goalie Andrew Hammond has been with the team a like amount of time. He dressed in three games in late November and has dressed for an additional nine games in January. However, he has not received any ice time as yet.
Rookie forward Dominic Toninato rejoined the Colorado Avalanche in mid-January. He’s been seeing game action since January 18 against the San Jose Sharks for a total of five games this stretch. He’s played in a total of 13 NHL games so far and is still looking for his first goal, though he did earn a point, an assist on defenseman Erik Johnson’s goal against the Detroit Red Wings on November 19.
Toninato, Greer and Warsofsky have been sent down to the AHL. The San Antonio Rampage have a game on Saturday, and all three are expected to suit up.
With the revolving door of forwards, the Colorado Avalanche’s bottom six has been inconsistent in lines, especially the fourth line. On Thursday against the Blues, Greer and Toninato skated with Gabriel Bourque — none of them have consistently been in the lineup. Hopefully with the All Star Break, key players can get well.