Injured Avalanche captain Adam Foote, who is considered likely to retire after this season, said Monday his goal is to be on the ice for one or both of Colorado’s two remaining home games.
“I’m going to try to play before the end of the year,” Foote said after the Avalanche’s practice at the Family Sports Center.
Colorado finishes the 2010-11 season with home games against Dallas on Friday and Edmonton on Sunday.
Foote, who suffered a leg injury against Vancouver on March 16 and hasn’t played since, again didn’t practice with the team Monday and thus wasn’t officially available for comment. But he was at the rink, and in a brief conversation he confirmed that he wouldn’t be on the road trip that features games at St. Louis tonight and Dallas on Thursday.
After the practice, coach Joe Sacco said another veteran defenseman — John-Michael Liles — had suffered a concussion in the Sunday loss to Calgary and wouldn’t make the trip, either. Liles played 18:40 against the Flames and was in the dressing room after the game.
With three defensemen on the active roster all out — Cameron Gaunce (hand), Foote and Liles — Sacco indicated that the Avalanche wouldn’t recall blue-line help from Lake Erie and that winger David Koci, as he did at Phoenix last Friday, would play defense against the Blues tonight.
Foote, who turns 40 in July, hasn’t confirmed retirement plans, but he already has signed on to coach a local youth team next season. If his career is about to end, it seems that he’s hoping to make at least one Pepsi Center farewell appearance in a game next weekend.
“We’ll know more later this week, at the end of the week, (about) if he’s going to be available Friday or Sunday,” Sacco said. “I’m hoping that he can come back. I’m hoping that he can make at least one of those last two games.”
Foote, the only remaining active member of the team that shifted from Quebec and became the Avalanche in 1995, has served two stints with Colorado. He joined the Columbus Blue Jackets as an unrestricted free agent after the end of the lockout in 2005 when Colorado scrambled to get under the newly imposed salary cap. He rejoined the Avalanche in a Feb. 26, 2008, trade.
This season, he has no goals and eight assists in 52 games, averaging nearly 18 minutes of ice time. His situation now is reminiscent of what Joe Sakic went through two years ago. The longtime Avs captain underwent surgery to repair a herniated disc during the 2008-09 season and didn’t play in a game after Nov. 28.
Sakic, who also suffered finger injuries in a snowblower accident while out of the lineup, practiced in an attempt to play down the stretch of the regular season, but ultimately decided it wouldn’t be possible. He announced his retirement shortly after the season ended.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
Colorado at St. Louis
6 p.m. tonight, ALT2, 950 AM
Spotlight on Kevin Shattenkirk: The former Avalanche defenseman has one goal and 13 assists, and is a plus-7, in 23 games since the mid-February trade sent him and Chris Stewart to St. Louis for Erik Johnson and Jay McClement.
Avalanche: Colorado’s practice Monday at the Family Sports Center was optional, with a handful of players not skating. . . . Coach Joe Sacco indicated he had decided on a goalie for tonight but didn’t reveal the choice because he hadn’t yet told the players. . . . In anticipation of his deployment on defense tonight, David Koci was on the back line in the scrimmage work. . . . In the previous meeting between the teams since the major deal, Colorado won 4-3 in St. Louis on Feb. 22.
Blues: St. Louis is coming off a 6-1 victory Sunday at Columbus. . . . Chris Stewart has 14 goals in 23 games for the Blues since the trade. . . . Strangely, the Blues have sandwiched big road wins — they also won 10-3 at Detroit last week — around a home loss to Calgary. But the Blues, who won’t make the playoffs, are a decent 21-13-5 at home.
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
