Avalanche forward Daniel Briere did not participate in the morning skate Tuesday and might conclude his 307-goal NHL career on the team’s crowded injured list. Briere, 37, will miss his eighth consecutive game Tuesday night against the visiting Nashville Predators and is unlikely to play Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets or in Saturday’s season finale against the Chicago Blackhawks.
“Right now it doesn’t look good,” Avs coach Patrick Roy said regarding Briere, who suffered a foot injury March 23 at Calgary. “Obviously, I would like to see him play a game (before) the end.”
Briere is in the final year of a contract paying him $4 million annually, and the Avs undoubtedly will devote that money to a younger player next season. Briere was acquired from Montreal last summer for forward P.A. Parenteau and a draft pick.
Briere and Parenteau are both making $4 million this season, but Parenteau is signed through next season. The trade was about contract length as much as personnel.
Briere was a 1996 first-round draft pick of Arizona Coyotes and is playing for his sixth NHL team. In addition to his 307 career regular-season goals, Briere is stuck on 971 games played and 696 points.
He is tied for 46th all-time in playoff goals with 53.
The Avs will make Briere and the other injured players — including all-star defenseman Erik Johnson and teenage forward Nathan MacKinnon — available to the media Saturday.
Footnotes. Rookie forward Borna Rendulic, who hasn’t played since fracturing his leg Jan. 17 at Tampa Bay, completed Tuesday’s skate in a regular sweater, but is not a candidate to return to the lineup this season, Roy said. Rendulic — the first Croatian-born player to score a goal in the NHL — will enter the offseason close to full-strength. … Semyon Varlamov will start against the Predators and Saturday against the Blackhawks. Backup Reto Berra is scheduled to play against the Jets on Thursday.
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or
