GLENDALE, Ariz. — Update on injured forward Alex Tanguay, Jarome Iginla skipping the first of many morning skates, line combinations and Reto Berra starting in net on Tuesday night against the renamed Arizona Coyotes at the renamed Gila River Arena is .
As for a major future question with the Avalanche — which currently has just $891,145 of spending under the cap, second lowest in the 30-team NHL — defenseman Ryan Wilson (shoulder, out for season) has been placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) and, given his $2.25 million cap hit, cap relief from his injury is possible. Coach Patrick Roy likes to carry eight D, and he has just six on the active roster right now, with Brad Stuart on IR with a troubling groin issue.
The LTIR doesn’t completely wipe Wilson’s salary off the cap books, but it does help. Here is .
Given the LTIR, Stuart’s nagging injury and Roy’s choice of carrying eight D, the Avs could reinforce their back end at some point this season by packaging a current player in a trade for a $3-$4 million defenseman — particularly after goalie Calvin Pickard and forwards Paul Carey, Tomas Vincour and Ben Street are sent back to the AHL, once Jamie McGinn, John Mitchell, Jesse Winchester and Patrick Bordeleau are healthy.
The LTIR and actual cap space with all these big-league injuries are extremely complicated, and assistant GM Greg Sherman is probably the only guy giving Roy and GM Joe Sakic the right information.
“For a trade, Joe will have to (talk) about that but on my side right now I’m comfortable with the six D,” Roy told me this morning. “Stuart is day-to-day — I thought he would be close to back right now but unfortunately his injury is taking a little more time than expected — but right now our D is playing well. We’re very happy. (Zach) Redmond scored two goals last game and (Nick) Holden is playing better and better. I don’t have to say much about (Erik) Johnson and (Tyson) Barrie, I mean, they’re outstanding. And (Nate) Guenin is a great partner with Tyson and Jan (Hejda) has really been clicking with EJ. So right now, unless something happens tonight, I’m not planning on calling (up) anyone as we speak. But down the road things could change.”
The top D for the Lake Erie Monsters are Stefan Elliott, Maxim Noreau and Karl Stollery, who have each played all 16 games. Bruno Gervais is pointless in 13 games and Duncan Siemens has just three assists in 14 games.
“We’re not going to think about Chicago. We’re going to focus on tonight’s game, and that’s what I told the players. We can’t think about what’s going to happen in two days, or one day, and focus on today. We’ve won three of our last four games and now we have a chance to make it four in our last five. It has to be a day-to-day thing.”
