Colorado Avalanche’s list of injuries continues to grow
The injury bug has been flying around the National Hockey League again, and its latest stop has been in Denver, Colorado, the home of the Colorado Avalanche.
The Avalanche, who are off to a 7-6-1 start this season, currently have 10 of their players sidelined with a variety of injuries. Half of those players have been placed on the injured
reserve, while the other half have missed time with other problems.
Forwards T.J. Galiardi and David Van Der Gulik, who was recently called up, are the most recent Avs players to be injured. Galiardi broke his right wrist during a 4-2 loss to the Calgary
Flames on Tuesday, 9 November. Van Der Gulik tore ligaments in his left knee during the same game.
Despite the growing list of injured players, Avalanche head coach Joe Sacco feels that the team can still be competitive and play well.
“We don’t feel sorry for ourselves. No one feels sorry for us in this league,” Sacco told
The Associated Press. “We feel that we can compete with anybody. It doesn’t matter who is in the line-up.”
Some of the injured players have resumed skating. Captain Adam Foote, who has been on the shelf since 21 October, was recently skating up and down the length of the ice in an attempt to
increase his stamina level.
“My head feels great,” Foote said of his progress. “But as far as conditioning, it’s probably going to take a little bit. We’ll see how it goes.”
Foote is leaning towards a return on Friday, 12 November, but he doesn’t want to rush his return to the team.
“You don’t want to come back too early, especially with what I’m coming off,” Foote said. “It’s a long year, too, so we’ll have to measure it.”
Forward Peter Mueller has been out of the line-up since he suffered a concussion last season’s playoffs. He has yet to play this season.
The team did receive some good news regarding two of their injured players. Starting goaltender Craig Anderson and defenceman Ryan Wilson may return soon, as they too have resumed skating.
Colorado’s next game will be against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday, 12 November. The game is scheduled to begin at 19:00.
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