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Now, Pavel Francouz is out too *(Updated)

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Pavel Francouz

EDMONTON, Alberta – Just pulling into Edmonton, where the Avalanche will play Game No. 2 of their five-game road show Thursday night. Thank you to United Airlines for probably the smoothest flight I’ve ever been on into Calgary. Usually a few bumps along the way. And, their in-flight entertainment system is fantastic. Tons of good movies for free. I watched a lot of an Aretha Franklin documentary on a 1971 gospel show she did in Los Angeles.

OK, so Avalanche medical updates: Pavel Francouz is now officially out with a head injury, a team source tells Colorado Hockey Now. The Avs’ goalie was run into last night by Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele, who got a two-minute penalty for it.

All I was told is “head” when it came to the injury. Is it a concussion? A bruised neck? I don’t know. Head injury is the official word I have, that’s it.

The Avs, I’m also told, will add a goalie to the roster later in the day. The Colorado Eagles currently have two other goalies on their roster – Hunter Miska and Antoine Bibeau. But, Bibeau has been hurt lately. So, I don’t know how this will be handled. Normally, Adam Werner is part of the mix here, but he’s with the big club right now, and as we all know, he had quite the NHL debut last night.

Here are the season totals for all Eagles goalies to this point, including Werner:

As you can see, Miska would have the numbers that presumably would earn him the call-up, over Bibeau. But if he’s the only healthy goalie the Eagles have – as appears the case – then the Avs wouldn’t want to leave their AHL affiliate with no goalie. We’ll have to see how this shakes out.

Philipp Grubauer did practice today in Edmonton, but his status remains uncertain as I write this. If the Avs are saying they will call up a goalie later, then it’s an obvious tell that Grubauer isn’t quite ready to be activated yet. It would also appear, therefore, that Werner might get his first NHL start tomorrow now.

I was told there was nothing to report on Nazem Kadri, who left the game a bit early last night and appeared to be limping down the tunnel. So, it seems like he is OK.

More info. as I get it…

UPDATE: Bibeau got the call. I’ll get more of the low-down on his situation at the rink tomorrow.

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