The injury bug won’t quit the Colorado Avalanche.
On Wednesday, head coach Jared Bednar announced two key forwards will be missing from the lineup.
Ross Colton is expected to be out for six to eight weeks with a broken foot while Miles Wood will be out for the next 7-10 days with an upper-body injury.
These injuries add to Artturi Lehkonen and Gabriel Landeskog’s injuries on injured reserve since the start of the season. Jonathan Drouin has not returned since leaving the season opener with an injury.
“I feel like we’ve been through it a lot,” Bednar said. “Every year we seem to go through a stretch where we’re scrapping to get a lineup of 20. What makes this one unique is it’s kind of right out of the gate.”
There was some hope that Lehkonnen would be able to add to the lineup but this point, the Avs just need more bodies.
“Right around the time you are looking for some reinforcements back in the lineup, couple of other guys go down in Dru (Jonathan Drouin) and (Ross) Colton and Woody (Miles Wood),” Bednar said.
It’s not unusual for this many injuries to occur during an NHL season. What is unusual is that many of these people are at the start of the season.
“It happens to everyone at some point over the course of the season and you are just hoping too many don’t pile up at the same time,” Bednar said. “That’s the case for us right now and we’ll just have to battle through it.”
It has been key contributors to the lineup, to boot. The Avs will be missing over $24 million of the $88 million of salary cap on Wednesday night against the Lightning.
They go into the 2022 Stanley Cup rematch with a 5-5 record and sit in the middle of the Central Division.