The Colorado Avalanche will be playing shorthanded tomorrow night, as Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar have both been ruled out. Makar is listed as day-to-day according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic while he deals with an upper-body injury. Andre Burakovsky meanwhile is also doubtful for the game, and Jonas Johansson will start in net.
Perhaps luckily, the Avalanche have a relatively light schedule over the next little while. After tomorrow’s game they will not play again until Saturday, then they have another four days off before next Thursday’s match against the Vancouver Canucks. Some of these minor issues will hopefully get time to heal as they try to get back on the path of a real contender, not struggling in the middle of the Central Division table.
- The Vegas Golden Knights confirmed today that William Karlsson will be out for four to six weeks with a lower-body injury, one that was reported to be a broken foot yesterday. Brett Howden will get the first chance to skate between Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault as the Golden Knights take on the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening.
- Those Maple Leafs received an encouraging sight this morning as Ilya Mikheyev took the ice for some solo practice, but head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters including David Alter of The Hockey News that there is not yet any update on the injured forward. Mikheyev underwent surgery last month on a broken thumb and was expected to miss a minimum of eight weeks. It hasn’t even been three weeks yet, meaning there’s likely a long way to go for Mikheyev before he joins the main group.