When the Avalanche opens a three-game road trip at Vancouver against the Canucks on Wednesday night, they will be without captain Joe Sakic.
Because of a sore back, Sakic didn’t practice today or join the team on its chartered flight to his hometown. Coach Tony Granato said he still hoped Sakic might be able to join the Avs at some point on the trip, which also includes games at Edmonton Saturday and Calgary Tuesday.
“He’ll continue his treatment here,” Granato said after practice at Family Sports Center. “He won’t be on the ice until he starts to feel a little better, hopefully in the next couple of days.”
Sakic, who missed one game last week with the back problem and then played only in the first period against Nashville Saturday, wasn’t made available to the media, in line with the team policy on injured players.
“I don’t think it’s anything long-term,” Granato said. Since it’s happened a second time after he came back, I think we’ll be a little more conservative … Let’s let him progress and get back to 100 percent.”
Granato said that with Sakic out, Tyler Arnason, a healthy scratch against Nashville, would be back in the lineup in Vancouver.
