Avalanche make roster changes with injuries mounting

The Colorado Avalanche returned to the ice on Tuesday following what appeared to be a pretty fun Halloween party on Sunday night. The off days after their loss to the Minnesota Wild allowed them to get a little rest, which was important for one Avalanche player in particular.

Tyson Jost returned to the ice today after missing Saturday night’s game against the Minnesota Wild and skated in a non-contact jersey. His day was good enough that according to head coach Jared Bednar, he should be a full participant for practice tomorrow and is expected to be available on the two-game road trip this weekend.

Jost’s apparently imminent return to the lineup was the highlight of the good news today as the rest of the rundown was not nearly as positive. J.T. Compher, who has been sidelined with a concussion for the last seven games, skated before the session but had what Bednar called a “bad day” and left the ice before the full session was completed.

While there remains no timeline for a Compher return, Sven Andrighetto’s name was added to the list of the wounded when Bednar announced he got hurt with a lower-body injury in their loss against the Wild and he will be week-to-week.

As a result of the injury issues, the Avalanche called up forwards Sheldon Dries and A.J. Greer from the Colorado Eagles. Dries has already appeared in four games for the Avalanche, recording no points but registering four penalty minutes. In his five AHL games, Dries has scored two points (1g, 1a). Greer has yet to appear in a game for the Avalanche this season but in eight contests with the Eagles, he’s recorded eight points (2g, 6a). Greer has previously played in 22 NHL games, scoring just four assists.

For the guys actually on the ice, the majority of the work was spent working on the team’s lackluster power play. There were some unit changes as Matt Calvert took Andrighetto’s place on the top power-play unit and Vladislav Kamenev set up shop along the half wall on PP2. We’ve seen Kamenev in that role before and he spent his post-practice time working on shooting pucks from that location. The switch to Calvert is an interesting change but one that most likely is temporary with Jost expected to return to the lineup.

While there was some speculation Patrik Nemeth was injured and that’s why he did not play against Minnesota over the weekend, Nemeth was a full participant in practice and no mention of any injury came about today.

The Avs were uncharacteristically sluggish throughout practice today as Bednar had to frequently stop play and tell the guys to pick up the pace. Captain Gabriel Landeskog also got on a few of the players today for a more lackadaisical approach than they were looking for.