Avs notebook: Bo Byram is back – again

As Bo Byram sheepishly admitted Saturday, “I feel like I’ve had this conversation with you six times.”

Here again is Byram, cleared to play for the Colorado Avalanche, and play he will on Sunday. Cleared to play, after an injury to his head, which the team did not call a concussion, but it’s a malady Byram had suffered multiple times before in his young NHL career.

Byram has skated with no inhibitions the last several days, and he both looked and sounded great on Saturday. So, he will get to resume his career again, against the Anaheim Ducks at 1 p.m. at Ball Arena.

“It’s been unfortunate, but, and I’ve said this before – I feel good,” Byram said. “I’m ready to play. It’s been a day-to-day thing at times. But I’ve just continued to progress and I’m ready to go. Hopefully I can stay in the lineup for a long time.”

Byram said he started feeling better again after the holidays, and he’s felt better every day since.

“I think there’s a lot of things that are tied to concussions. I’ve been having a lot of conversations with different people about it, but there’s a lot of things that are tied to it,” he said. “They can show themselves at any time. So, that happened to me a little bit after I was feeling better again. When you wake up every day asking, ‘How do I feel?’, I don’t know, there’s a lot of stuff that goes into that.”

Byram, 20, has nine points in 13 games this season.

NOTEBOOK: Jared Bednar said Valeri Nichushkin (upper body) will not play tomorrow and might miss a game or two after that. Bednar said Nichushkin “aggravated something” at a recent practice. … Bednar said “guys are refreshed, got lots of energy.” … Bednar said Kurtis MacDermid will play left wing on the fourth line against the Ducks. … Bednar said Pavel Francouz will be the backup to Darcy Kuemper in the game. … Bednar said the team will give Ryan Murray “a little more time” to recover and play, even though he is wearing a regular jersey in practice.