Deen’s Daily: An Avalanche of News in Colorado; Trouble in Boston; Positive Celebrini News

What an eventful week it’s been for the Colorado Avalanche.

Coming off a quiet 3-0-0 road trip where Justus Annunen had settled in as the starting goalie, the Avs have had a somewhat crazy four-day stretch. On Sunday they defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-4 despite Annunen surrendering all four goals in 10 minutes in the third period. The following night, they lost 5-2 to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks and lost two more forwards to injury. Alexandar Georgiev was in goal for that one. And on Wednesday, Kaapo Kahkonen made his debut with Colorado, which was without six of its top 10 forwards, in a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Somewhere in the middle of all of that, a laundry list of news made its way through the organization. First, head coach Jared Bednar announced that Artturi Lehkonen is targeting a return against the Seatle Kraken at Ball Arena on Tuesday. Then, an update on Ross Colton, who broke his foot and will be out 6-8 weeks.

The following day at Thursday’s practice, Bednar also said that he’s expecting to have Valeri Nichushkin back with the team to practice in early November. If all goes well, Nichushkin will debut on either Nov. 13 or. 15. That means it’ll only be five or six more games without him.

Bednar also said the team will make a call-up following the suspension of Matt Stienburg. The rookie forward will sit for two games. And in the midst of all of this, Bednar also said Miles Wood will be out for 7-10 days while Jonathan Drouin, who has not yet started taking contact in practice, is day to day.

Did you get all that?

One more thing: The Avalanche are scouring the trade market for forward help.

Around The NHL

Boston Hockey Now: What a brutal start to the season it’s been for the Bruins. Coming off big commitments to Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, and the drama around Jeremy Swayman which ended with a whopping eight-year, $66 million contract, Boston is struggling to find its game so far. They were blown out by the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, suffering their fifth loss in six games.

Speaking of Lindholm, the centerman hasn’t quite made the impact he or the team had hoped. At least not yet.

San Jose Hockey Now: Macklin Celebrini skated on his own Thursday morning before participating in morning skate and staying on extra afterward. San Jose sure could use its No. 1 draft pick.

Buffalo Hockey Now: Part of the reason why general manager Kevyn Adams was fine with trading Casey Mittelstadt last March was because he had Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson already locked up as the top two centers. Thompson has had a great start to the season but Cozens is struggling. And now he’s playing on the wing.

Detroit Hockey Now: The Red Wings are 4-5-1, Derek Lalonde is on the hot seat, and now the coach is calling out the captain. Something needs to change in Detroit.

Montreal Hockey Now: The Habs have a ton of exciting young defensemen in their lineup this year. But developing them all at the same time has proven to be quite the challenge for head coach Martin St. Louis. The Habs lost 6-3 to the Washington Capitals on Thursday, falling to 4-6-1 on the season.

Also, Alex Ovechkin scored again. He’s at five goals in nine games.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The Penguins are finally back in the winning column and Sidney Crosby has his first two-goal game of the season.