Nichushkin Skates, Lineup Against Jets (+)

I will start with the really good news, Val Nichushkin was seen today at Family Sports Center skating for the first time since his surgery. Bednar had updated us on November 8th saying that he would be out about a month. We are about a week shy of the one month mark. I have some video of him on the ice below.

Now, for the Jets game tonight. The Avalanche come into the game third in the Central Division, two points behind Winnipeg. The last time these two met, it ended in an overtime disappointment on October 19th. This will be a flat out goalie duel, as the expected goalies tonight are Connor Hellebuyck and Alexandar Georgiev. Both rank in the top-six for goals saved above expected (10.6 and 9.6 respectively). The Jets have won their last two games and the Avalanche have won their last four of five games.

Two players will be making their Avalanche debut tonight. Alex Galchenyuk, who was signed to a one-year contract yesterday will be playing on the left wing next to Newhook. Also, Jean-Luc Foudy will make his NHL debut as confirmed by coach Bednar earlier today. Foudy was a third-round pick (75th overall) in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft and has been playing most of that time with the Colorado Eagles since. In 117 AHL games he has 54 points (17g/37a) and really started to heat up this year. He has a lot of of speed, can skate well and is a hard forechecker. We can expect him to be on the right wing next to Newhook tonight.

As always this game will be a hard hitting, fast game. Keep an eye on that new third line, with a new signing and a prospect on both wings of Newhook.

Expected Lines

Forwards

Lehkonen-MacKinnon-Rantanen

Cogliano-Compher-O’Connor

Galchenyuk-Newhook-Foudy

Hunt-Megna-Blidh

Defense

Makar-Toews

MacDonald-Manson

Girard-Johnson

Goalies

Georgiev

Francouz

The video of Nuke: Don’t forget to hit the subscribe button on these YouTube videos. We are on a drive to get to 1,000 subscribers so we can start making a little money on these. We’ll have a postgame show on our YouTube channel coming soon too. Hit the free subscribe button here: