Devon Toews Out Tonight Against Seattle

One of the top two defensemen of the Avalanche, Devon Toews, will not be in the lineup tonight for a game against Andre Burakovsky, Philipp Grubauer and the Seattle Kraken at Ball Arena (7 p.m.).

Toews, who missed some time in Wednesday’s game against Winnipeg, has an undisclosed injury, Jared Bednar said.

Toews may not play tomorrow night against Vegas either, Bednar said. But there’s good news: Bednar said it’s not a serious injury. The fact that he may play tomorrow is evidence of that.

It’s expected that Kurtis MacDermid will play in the spot vacated by Toews. Not as a pairing with Cale Makar, but just in the lineup in general.

Jacob MacDonald was the lone regular who stayed late after the morning skate, so it doesn’t appear that he’ll play tonight.

Losing Devon Toews obviously isn’t good. He’s just such a good player. But that’s hockey. Injuries happen, all the time.

Based on the morning skate, it looks like Bo Byram could be paired with Makar. Newcomer Dryden Hunt will play at fourth line on the left wing. Pavel Francouz will start in goal for the Avalanche.

Here’s Hunt, talking about coming to a new team:

“Super thrilled,” he said. “(Bednar) kind of gave me the rundown, how things work. There’s so much skill here, so happy to be here.”

Hunt’s flight was delayed about three hours, so he didn’t arrive into Denver until about 2:30 a.m. today, so there hasn’t been a lot of time for much.

“Just go out and play,” is what Hunt said Bednar mostly just told him.