Avalanche Pregame Notes
Avalanche Game 42 vs Chicago Blackhawks: Drouin Out, Lines, Notes & How to Watch
The Colorado Avalanche (25-15-1, 51 points) face the NHL’s last-place team, the Chicago Blackhawks (13-25-2, 28 points), at the United Center on Wednesday night. The puck is scheduled to drop at 5:37 p.m. MT and will be nationally televised on TNT and locally on Altitude 2.
The big news of the matchup is Jonathan Drouin’s absence. Head coach Jared Bednar told the Denver Post’s Corey Masisak that the 29-year-old forward would not play. The team will roll with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, and goaltender Trent Miner will make his first NHL start between the pipes.
Bednar talked briefly about his maintenance day yesterday.
โItโs not an injury that you need to manage โ when he's good, heโs good โฆ I mean, if he can play, he can play. If he canโt, he can't โฆ his injury, thereโs no risk of it getting worse.โ https://t.co/ePffM7xXZ8
— Colleen Flynn (@CHNFlynn) January 8, 2025
As I pointed out in my tweet, Bednar spoke a little about how Drouin is maintaining his health and conditioning around his lingering injury, but he did not elaborate any further on it.
The Avalanche beat the reigning Stanely Cup Champion Florida Panthers 3-1 at Ball Arena on Monday night and look to keep the winning momentum going.
Colorado has only lost one in its last seven while Chicago has only won one in the same stint. Most recently, the Blackhawks lost 6-2 to the New York Rangers on Sunday but shouldn’t be taken as an easy win.
โWe got to be on our toes right away and play like itโs very important game at this time of the year,โ Mikko Rantanen said.
The matchup with the Blackhawks is the first of a back-to-back for the Avs who have three games in four days on the road.
Read More: Why Wins are More Important on Avs 3-Game Road Trip
Season Series
- Oct. 28 vs. Chicago (L, 5-2)
- Jan. 8 at Chicago
- March 10 vs. Chicago
- April 2 at Chicago
Avalanche Injuries
- Jonathan Drouin (upper body, day-to-day)
- Scott Wedgewood (lower body, week-to-week)
- Valeri Nichushkin (lower body, day-to-day)
- Ivan Ivan (upper body, week-to-week)
- Oliver Kylington (upper body, IR)
- Miles Wood (upper body, LTIR)
- Gabriel Landeskog (knee, no timetable)
Projected Avalanche Lines (subject to change)
Artturi Lehkonen โ Nathan MacKinnon โ Mikko Rantanen
Joel Kiviranta โ Parker Kelly โ Logan OโConnor
Tye Felhaber โ Juuso Parssinen โ Jere Innala
Ross Colton โ Casey Mittelstadt
Devon Toews โ Cale Makar
Samuel Girard โ Josh Manson
Keaton Middleton โ Sam Malinski
Calvin de Haan
Trent Miner
Mackenzie Blackwood
Projected Starters (subject to change)
- Confirmed: Trent Miner (COL)
- Unconfirmed: Petr Mrazek (CHI)
Upcoming Milestones
- Cale Makar โ needs 1 goal for 100
- Nathan MacKinnon โ needs 4 PPG for 100
- Casey Mittelstadt โ needs 3 games for 400
- Devon Toews โ needs 3 assists for 200
Good & Bad: Blackwood Shines, Avalanche Look Unimpressive in OT Win
Opposing Fans at Ball Arena Make Game More Competitive
TVA Reports Avalanche Will Trade Rantanen, Proposes Rangers Deal
Avalanche Game 45 vs New York Rangers, Homestand Begin, Lines, Notes & How to Watch
Deen’s Daily: Colton’s Hilarious Goal Celebration; Rookie Goalie Shines in Ottawa; New Standard in Detroit
Notebook: Is Gabriel Landeskog Actually Nearing a Return?
10 Observations: Blackwood Still Canโt Believe He Plays for the Avalanche
Deenโs Daily: Wedgewood Injury Isnโt Severe; Avs Offense Runs Dry; Ovechkin Scores Again
Good & Bad: Devon Toews Scores Twice, Avalanche Win Goalie Battle vs Florida
Good & Bad: Juuso Parssinen Scores First Goal in Loss to Blackhawks
As much as I like Drouin as a person and a player, you can’t count on him to be healthy for even half a season. And as he ages, his recovery time takes longer. It is what it is and the Avs know this by now. I do like the fact that we are seeing a lot of younger players get a chance to show what they have. Yes, Eagleville, but hey, that’s how you find out who has the goods.
Drouin was hurt in the season opener vs VGK and it’s plagued him since. 41 games played to date of which Drouin has started 8. Let’s hope he gets back to 100% soon.
If you read between the lines, it sounds like a pain tolerance thing. Being on a 1 year deal you’d think there’d be more of a sense of urgency to stay in the lineup. This is why I have such an internal battle as to how much I can buy into this version of the Avs beating Vegas or Dallas in a 7 game series. You can’t trust Nuke, Drouin has played tremendously in all of the 8 whole games he’s played. And Mittelstadt is playing as if he’s still in Buffalo going through the motions. Too many question marks… Read more »
Yesterday you and I had an exchange about Eagles players who might be useful to the Avs. Corey Masisak tweeted this out. Kinda says it all:
Jared Bednar has praised the AHL guys, but the forwards who have played for the Eagles this year have combined for 1 goal and 1 assist in 69 games with the #Avs.
Juuso Parssinen has 1 goal and 1 assist in 4.25 games.
Mitts is on your theoretical fourth forward line Colleen? In the last game vs FLA Juuso was effectively the fourth line C with ~4min TOI. Mitts and Parker both had about ~8M TOI. Mac had the rest of the C TOI. Mitts played heavily on the PP which is a great fit for his game.
guessing they will more likely have a rotating winger with Mitts & Colton getting between 14-18 minutes depending on how special teams shake out
So Drouin is going to be game to game for the considerable future, and we didn’t take an extra forward on the trip. I would go so far to say that none of our D are really built to play up. This means we are going to burn our forwards out against the Hawks. Not a very well managed situation, coaches and management need to pull it together, this is Bush league stuff.
Sounds like more of a maintenance day for Drouin, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s on the ice against Minnesota tomorrow. I think Malinski could potentially play as a forward, but it’s more likely they just have a rotating forward on that line. I actually thought maybe O’Connor would play on the 2nd, with Innala on the 3rd, but this could work as well.