A few hours ago, the Colorado Avalanche made a pair of trades, sending Ryan Johansen to the Philadelphia Flyers as a part of a trade to land Sean Walker in the Mile High City, as well as sending Bowen Byram to the Buffalo Sabres for Casey Mittelstadt. In doing so, with both Walker and Mittelstadt unavailable to the team tonight, two roster spots opened up in the active lineup before the team’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.
To solve the issue, the Avalanche have recalled forwards Jean-Luc Foudy and Ondrej Pavel from their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. Both players should feature in the team’s bottom six, with Foudy taking over as the center of the third line, and Pavel joining Chris Wagner and Andrew Cogliano on the team’s fourth line.
Both players have primarily played on the Eagles this season, with Pavel registering one game with the Avalanche back in November. At the AHL level, Pavel has suited up in 48 games for the Eagles, scoring three goals and seven points in total. Foudy, however, has had his season severely limited by injury, only registering 12 games in the AHL, scoring two goals and six points up to this point.
Other notes:
- Making his way back from the NHLPA Player Assistance Program, the Avalanche are hoping that forward Valeri Nichushkin will be able to make his way back to the lineup on Friday against the Minnesota Wild (X Link). Although not playing since early January, Nichushkin is still sitting fourth on the team in scoring, putting up 22 goals and 42 points in his first 40 games this year.
- Another player who will not be in the lineup for Colorado tonight will be forward Logan O’Connor, who is out with a lower-body injury according to Ryan Boulding of the NHL. Previously missing time in mid-February with a similar injury, O’Connor has still put together a quality season for the Avalanche. Suiting up in 57 games for Colorado this season, O’Connor has scored 13 goals and 25 points overall, with three of those goals coming on the penalty kill.