Avalanche Notebook: Infirmary update

The Colorado Avalanche returned to practice after a day off yesterday following the conclusion of their six-game road trip Saturday night in Winnipeg. While it was a full-contact practice with various elements being worked on, from set plays off the faceoff to standard breakout work, the real name of the game was injuries and lineup uncertainty.

Despite playing well in his return against the Jets, goaltender Semyon Varlamov apparently did not do enough to convince head coach Jared Bednar he should take over the starter reins right away. Jonathan Bernier will be the starter against the San Jose Sharks tomorrow night.

The real news of the day came with forward Mikko Rantanen missing practice. While the team initially told BSN Denver it was simply a maintenance day, Bednar followed up after practice with a bit of a different tune.

“He’s banged up a little bit so we’ll see how he feels tomorrow,” Bednar said of his star right winger. “Questionable for tomorrow.”

The other part of the top line missing in action, Nathan MacKinnon, skated before practice in a non-contact jersey but given his injury was upper-body, it’s not abnormal for him to be skating. It remains too soon to tell if he will be closer to two weeks or four weeks on his estimated timetable.

Facing the prospect of two-thirds of its prolific top line being out, the forwards were shuffled quite a bit today as Nail Yakupov moved from his spot on the fourth line up next to Tyson Jost and J.T. Compher. The hope is to spark a player who has been dangerous in recent games but has just one goal in his last 15 games.

“We need [Yakupov] to help us produce offense. He has been another guy who has been pretty competitive here in the last few games. He’s had a few chances and we just want to see that consistency out of him in the lineup where he’s a dangerous player offensively and he keeps working hard on the defensive side of the puck. I’ve liked what I’ve seen of him the last handful of games. If there’s a chance [Rantanen] is out, he’s a good guy to fill in that spot.”

When it comes to actually taking Rantanen’s lineup spot, Colin Wilson got the promotion from the Jost-Compher line up next to Gabe Landeskog and Alexander Kerfoot, kind of an odd promotion for a player with just 12 points (4 g, 8 a) in 38 games played.

“Wilson is a real competitive guy, plays hard, plays the right way, both sides of the puck all the time,” Bednar explained. “I think the more opportunity he gets with skilled players, the more plays he makes and the more dangerous he is offensively. He goes to the net hard and again, lacks a little bit of finish here lately around the net but you’ve got to keep creating chances and eventually, it goes in.”

Finally, the updates on injured players Sven Andrighetto and Mark Barberio were not good as neither player has a timetable for their return to action.

“I don’t have a timetable on those guys either,” Bednar admitted. “They’re not skating with the team yet and [Barberio] isn’t even on the ice so they’re still going to be a little ways.”

Should Rantanen miss tomorrow’s game, the forward lines are expected to be:

Landeskog – Kerfoot – Wilson
Nieto – Soderberg – Comeau
Jost – Compher – Yakupov
Bourque – Toninato – Greer

With seven defensemen all rotating consistently, there were no pairings to decipher from practice today. For now, I’ll assume the lineup looks the same as it has since Barrie’s return:

Zadorov – Johnson
Nemeth – Barrie
Girard – Lindholm

And as stated above, Bernier is the man in the net with Varlamov backing him up.