Losses of Calvert and Francouz forcing Avs to adjust on the fly

After what is likely their most impressive win of the year to date, Jared Bednar delivered some unfortunate news to the media.

Matt Calvert, who was originally listed as day to day, is now being listed as “out indefinitely”. The 31-year-old winger was sitting fifth on the Avs in ice time among forwards, but now will be out for an undetermined amount of time due to an upper-body injury.

To go along with that, Bednar once again reiterated that they don’t know when Francouz is going to be back, forcing them to adjust from their initial plan of a 60/40 split in net with Grubauer. With the taxi squad allowing them to carry an extra goaltender, they’re using practice days to give Grubauer some rest so that he can be ready to carry the bulk of the starts until Francouz gets back. For most of practice, Grubauer stood on the boards, only taking shots occasionally after warming up.

While the Francouz injury is worrisome in the sense that the Avs are now one play away from having to run with a Miska/Werner combination, the Calvert diagnosis leaves you wondering long term. Calvert has missed time in the past due to concussion problems and started the year wearing a pink visor, which helps with sunlight sensitivity. We don’t have an official word on what his injury is, but you just hope it doesn’t have anything to do with concussions.

In the meantime, Kiefer Sherwood will stay in the lineup. Bednar was happy with his debut against San Jose, where he picked up an assist and played well. Logan O’Connor was recalled to join the taxi squad, and Bednar announced they’ll send Martin Kaut back to the Eagles, which I will get into a little bit more below.

For now, the Avs prepare for another matchup against San Jose on Thursday evening. The game starts at 7 PM MST.

OTHER NEWS AND NOTES FROM PRACTICE

• Shawn Allard continues to be a tremendous find for the organization. After practice was done, youngsters Bowen Byram, Conor Timmins, and Logan O’Connor hung around and worked with him on different things. Players in the past have credited Allard with them being able to step back into the lineup seamlessly after missing time.
• It was a very upbeat practice with lots of celebrating and pace. After a 7-3 win, I can imagine why, but this is how a lot of their practices were last year. The team being in a good mood is a good thing.
• Okay, so the Martin Kaut situation. A lot of people are a little upset that he was sent down and isn’t sticking around with the club. I get it. I certainly hope this isn’t the case where he is sent down and forgotten about because we saw last season that he has the ability to play in the NHL if given a chance. In my opinion, with Calvert out, he should be playing full time right now…but he’s not. In camp, Bednar indicated that this was likely to happen, as he didn’t want young guys sitting around for too long without playing. After getting my eyes on an actual practice for the team, I understand it a little bit more if they just aren’t going to play the guy. With only two extra forwards (Kaut and O’Connor), when the Avs ran line drills, those guys sat around and did nothing. This was for about 15 minutes. In a 30 minute practice, that’s kind of a long time. Since they’re carrying two extra defensemen, it’s easier to get them into the rotation but doesn’t seem like that’s the case with the forwards. It’s hard to develop when you aren’t playing games, and the practice time you are getting involves a lot of sitting around. On that end, I get why they sent him down. It’s important to remember he’s only 21 years old. This isn’t the end of the line, but you hope they have a plan moving forward with him because the talent and skillset is there. Don’t be surprised if Timmins isn’t far behind him if he keeps sitting. Also, for this development plan to work, the Eagles need to actually play games. They’re slated to start their season next week, but who knows how this whole thing plays out. I hope we see Kaut again soon.
• On a similar note, it’s wild to me that the Avs have now transitioned three 19/20-year-old defensemen into the NHL seamlessly in the last four seasons, but can’t seem to find space in the bottom six for a young forward to graduate full time. It seems like that shouldn’t be nearly as hard.