The Colorado Avalanche will be short a big name defenseman on Sunday night’s matchup against the Florida Panthers, as Devon Toews will be out of the lineup with an injury.
#Avs team spokesman says Devon Toews will not play tonight against the Florida Panthers because of an upper-body injury. Yes, before you ask, upper body.
He is one of the 14 players on the roster who had played in all 40 games to date.
Toews appeared to sustain an injury during Saturday’s 5-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. He crashed skate-first into the end boards early in the third period of the game, and after missing about 10 minutes of the game, returned for two final shifts in the game.
There was no update about the injury provided after the game, although there was some uncertainty about his availability for Sunday’s game. According to The Denver Post’s Corey Masisak, Toews has an upper-body injury, which may come as a surprise considering the nature of how he was hurt.
While there’s no official timeline for return regarding Toews, it’s likely that he’s only day-to-day given how Sunday’s game appeared to be a game-time decision. The Avalanche also play on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday this week.
Should Toews’ injury result in a longer absence, there may be further questions about his availability for Canada’s Olympic team. Toews was named to Canada’s roster on Tuesday as part of the same defensive corps that made up Canada’s team at the 4 Nations Face-Off. However, with the injury appearing to be a short-term issue, it likely isn’t a concern for the time being.
While Toews’ defensive play has helped the Avalanche’s incredible start to the season, he’s struggled offensively with just one goal and 12 assists for 13 points in 40 games.
With Toews out of the lineup, Samuel Girard will move to the top pair alongside Cale Makar in his place. The duo has outscored opponents 2-1 and has a 39% 5v5 expected goal share in 22:18 of ice time together this season.
Ilya Solovyov will draw into the lineup to replace Toews, playing on the bottom pair. Solovyov has been held pointless in nine NHL games and three AHL games with the Colorado Eagles.
