The injured Colorado Avalanche will be missing another forward, Jonathan Drouin, because of an upper-body injury.
Drouin is expected to be out for at least two games while his injury is checked again. The 29-year-old left winger didn’t have a shot on goal in over 21 minutes of play during a season-opening 8-4 loss at Vegas on Wednesday.
His absence is a significant hit to the team’s offense, which is already missing forwards Gabriel Landeskog (knee) and Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder). Another forward, Valeri Nichushkin, is currently serving a suspension that will last until at least mid-November.
“Obviously, every guy that’s missing makes the job more difficult,” coach Jared Bednar said after practice on Friday as his team gets ready for its home opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. “But it forces our team to dig in on the details and the commitment side of the game right away.
“We said it going in — we have to expect that everyone in our lineup has to be on top of their game, not just be in a role, but driving that role in order to have success. That’s a little bit of pressure right out of the gate.”
The Avalanche also added a goaltender on Friday by claiming Kaapo Kahkonen off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets. This comes after a tough performance from Alexandar Georgiev, who allowed five goals on 16 shots against the Golden Knights, and Justus Annunen, who gave up two goals on four shots.
Kahkonen, who is 28 years old, played last season with the San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils, finishing with a record of 7-24-3. He will join the Avalanche once he clears immigration.
Since entering the NHL in 2019-20, Kahkonen has a record of 49-67-15 with a 3.33 goals-against average.
“We’ve seen better from our goalies than we’ve seen here recently, and if they can elevate their game, great,” Bednar said. “And if Kahkonen can come in and play well, great. It’s about winning hockey games. If we can get incrementally better in any position, we’ll try and do it, especially when there’s low risk involved.”
Mikko Rantanen, who just had a hat trick to start the season, was happy to see the team add Kahkonen, another player from Finland.
