Colorado Avalanche Injury Update: Jost, Compher, Andrighetto

The injury bug has bitten the Colorado Avalanche as they place Sven Andrighetto on IR. Updates on JT Compher and Tyson Jost.

As I noted in a previous post, the injury bug has started to bite the Colorado Avalanche most cruelly. Two of our youngsters are out with head injuries, and a new member has been added to the injured reserve list.

Colorado Avalanche forward J.T. Compher was injured in the October 13 game against the Calgary Flames. While Compher didn’t leave the game with the injury, Mile High Hockey thinks this is the hit that did it, perpetrated by Sam Bennett:

Well, it doesn’t really matter when it happened. Compher sustained what the team has labeled a “head injury” and has missed since then, which is seven games so far.

Apparently with these types of head injuries, it’s all about having what coach Jared Bednar calls good days and bad days. It’s not like a break or even a sprain that you can see tangible evidence of how the athlete is improving. The Colorado Avalanche adhere strictly to the concussion protocol — though they’re not calling the injury a concussion, so neither will I. In any case, the team doctor bases the athlete’s progress according to a baseline reading.

Unfortunately, today was a “bad day” for Compher, according to Bednar. Here’s what the coach actually said:

"“He didn’t have such a great day. So he won’t be an option for us on the road.”"

Compher didn’t skate with the team. As you see from Bednar’s quote that rules him out from going on the road trip to Canada. Hopefully the rest from the two-day trip followed by the weird four-day hiatus will do Compher good.

Another spot of bad news — Sven Andrighetto has been placed on injured reserve. I don’t remember anything happening in the game against the Minnesota Wild. Indeed, Andrighetto skated over 16 minutes in that game, including 6:21 on the power play. However, the team has placed him on a “week-to-week” basis because of a “lower body injury.”

That’s a little worrisome. He was out for the first six games of the season due to a lower body injury. He also missed some significant time last year with a lower body injury. I don’t know if he keeps injuring the same part of his lower body or if he’s just unlucky. However, he’s a no-go for the trip as well.

What’s weird is he was able to do this:

I mean, what kind of lower body injury keeps you out of hockey but lets you do a bridge?

We do have some good news. According to Bednar, Tyson Jost had a “good day” (direct quote). He skated with the team in their one-hour practice. Granted, he was wearing the red no-contact jersey:

However, he participated in drills, and that’s a good sign.

Jost was injured in the game against the Ottawa Senators. I have no idea what happened. I was watching him specifically because of the heat he’s been taking recently, and I didn’t notice any particularly big hits. I just noticed he stopped getting shifts late in the second period and didn’t even appear on the bench in the third period.

He’s also listed as having a “head injury.” Indeed, look at the kid’s face:

It kind of looks like his helmet got smashed up on his cheek and nose. Anyway, the coach says that everything went well at practice today and the hope is that he can join the team in full-contact practice tomorrow. If so, he might be a possibility for the road trip that starts this Thursday.

Jost certainly appears to be feeling pretty good. The picture above is from a community activity:

I’ll write more about that in an upcoming post — it’s really a fantastic program.

Anyway, with the Colorado Avalanche down two forwards in the form of Andrighetto and Compher, they made two recalls from the Colorado Eagles, Sheldon Dries and A.J. Greer. Dries, of course, started the season with the Avs and played in four games. This is Greer’s first appearance in the NHL this season, though he’s been rocking the Eagles. He leads the team with eight points (2 goals, 6 assists).

We’ll see how the lines play out tomorrow — hopefully with Jost in the mix (as long as he’s truly feeling better). However, if I had to venture to say, Jost will likely line up with Alexander Kerfoot and Colin Wilson again. Truthfully, the fourth line of Marko Dano, Vladislav Kamenev and Gabriel Bourque can stay intact. That said, one of the call-ups might replace a skater on that line, probably Bourque if the Avs are committed to the youth movement.

The Colorado Avalanche will be heading to Canada to face the Flames in Calgary on November 1 and the Vancouver Canucks on November 2. Bednar has already announced that Semyon Varlamov will play against the Flames and Philipp Grubauer against the Canucks.