Avalanche right wing Milan Hejduk did not play Saturday because of a neck injury he suffered Thursday against Nashville. The Avs say Hejduk might play Tuesday against Edmonton.
Defenseman Ossi Vaananen had surgery Friday for a broken ankle suffered Thursday. The team said Vaananen will be out indefinitely, most likely the rest of the season. The Avs will be able to use Vaananen’s prorated $950,000 salary toward a new player . The NHL’s trade deadline is March 9.
With between $2 million and $3 million in cap room, the Avs are likely to make a deal by the deadline.
Their most pressing needs are a left wing to replace the injured Steve Konowalchuk and perhaps another defenseman to replace Vaananen – although Kurt Sauer played in Saturday’s game and performed well.
The team recalled winger Paul Healey in Hejduk’s absence. Healey was a healthy scratch against Detroit.
Lappy unhappy
Avs veteran Ian Laperriere, who has one goal in his past 10 games and none in the past six, called Saturday’s game one of the more frustrating of the season, particularly on the power play.
“They’re No. 1 in the league (in penalty killing) for a reason,” Laperriere said. “They just put pressure. We have to give these guys credit. We have a heck of a lineup to score goals. I don’t think we got dominated out there, but they took advantage of their breaks and played a patient game, like we wanted to play.”
Footnotes
The shutout for Wings goalie Manny Legace was the 10th of his career. … Avs forward Brett McLean had perhaps the best chance at scoring on Legace, getting a point-blank chance and a couple of follow-up attempts, but Legace made sprawling saves. … The Avs will take today off. Captain Joe Sakic, a big Seattle Seahawks fan, was entertaining notions of going to Detroit for the Super Bowl.
