St. Louis – One day after saying the condition of its leading goal scorer had improved, the Avalanche sent right wing Marek Svatos back to Denver on for further tests on his ailing right shoulder.
Svatos, who leads Colorado with 32 goals and the NHL with nine game-winning goals, has an undisclosed shoulder injury, suffered in Saturday’s game in Dallas. He will be examined by team doctor, Andrew Parker.
Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said he did not know the extent of Svatos’ injury, but cautioned against jumping to conclusions.
“We feel he’s made some progress the last two days but want to make sure by having him seen,” Quenneville said before Tuesday’s game in St. Louis.
Quenneville said there is a possibility Svatos will remain in Denver through the week, which would keep him out of Thursday’s game in Chicago.
Svatos missed most of the 2003-04 season because of surgery on his left shoulder. He is believed to have suffered a prior injury to the right shoulder.
“It puts a little more pressure on some guys to step up,” left wing Alex Tanguay said. “We don’t have as many weapons as we used to. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious with (Svatos).”
Salary cap room
All was quiet on the trade front for the Avalanche. The NHL’s trade deadline is Thursday.
According to Jean Martineau, Avalanche vice president of media relations, the team has “between $1.5 million and $2 million” in salary cap room.
The Avs are likely to add a veteran forward and/or defenseman by the deadline. Avs general manager Pierre Lacroix spent a lot of time on his cellphone Tuesday night but did not comment on trade speculation.
Footnotes
Avs left wing Brad May returned to the lineup after injuring a finger on his left hand. He replaced Bob Boughner on the fourth line. … Several Avs players complained about the new ice sheet at the Savvis Center. Wingers Tanguay and Milan Hejduk said it was the worst ice they have skated on this season.
