After missing five games with a jaw injury, Avalanche captain Adam Foote will return to the lineup tonight against the Minnesota Wild at the Pepsi Center.
“I feel like I’m ready to go,” Foote said after the morning skate. “When you come back off an injury, you don’t want to … you have to come back with no excuses, you want to be ready. I feel like I’m at that point.”
Forward Matt Hendricks also was activated from the injured list and will be available after missing six games with a groin injury.
Winger Milan Hedjuk will not play because of a knee injury suffered in the loss to the Wild at St. Paul Friday afternoon. The injury is not believed to be serious, though, and Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said Hejduk is considered day-to-day and will travel with the Avalanche to Tampa, where Colorado opens a five-game trip Monday night against the Lightning.
Also, the Avalanche placed defenseman Kyle Cumiskey, who has a foot injury and has missed two games, on injured reserve, retroactive to Monday.
Craig Anderson again will get the start in goal against the Wild, meaning backup Peter Budaj still will have started only two games this season. “You always give thought on the goaltending situation, but I just felt that Craig has been playing well, I felt that playing a game yesterday in the afternoon made my decision easier, and he should be rested for tonight,” Sacco said. “Like I’ve said before, he’s been doing a good job for us and he’s giving us a chance to win.”
Finally, defenseman Tom Preissing was placed on waivers today. If unclaimed, as is likely, he will clear waivers on Monday morning and be assigned to the Lake Erie Monsters. He has played only four games this season after undergoing minor knee surgery in September, but had been in the lineup Wednesday against Nashville and Friday at St. Paul. He also played two games for Lake Erie on a conditioning assignment three weeks ago.
“In fairness to Tommy, he missed training camp,” Sacco said. “He needed to play games. He needed to go down and he needed to be used in situations, he needs to play minutes, he needs to play games. That’s in the best interests of Tommy and the best interests of the club. That made the most sense for us, and hopefully, he can get his game in order and get his confidence back in his game.”
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
