{"id":133350,"date":"2022-11-08T17:58:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T22:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=133350"},"modified":"2022-11-08T17:58:23","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T22:58:23","slug":"colorado-avalanche-star-winger-out-a-month-after-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2022\/11\/08\/colorado-avalanche-star-winger-out-a-month-after-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Avalanche Star Winger Out A Month After Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">As if the injury bug could not get worse for the defending Stanley Cup Champions. In addition to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/landega01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gabriel Landeskog<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2022\/10\/19\/colorado-avalanche-forward-out-long-term-with-injury\/\" target=\"_self\">being out for three months<\/a>, another big-time winger will miss time. Colorado Avalanche winger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nichuva01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Valeri Nichushkin<\/a> will be out for a month after having ankle surgery. Having two of your top six wingers are not ideal, but they can weather the storm. It was also announced the defenceman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/byrambo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bowen Byram<\/a> is week-to-week with a lower-body injury.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Valeri Nichushkin Out With Ankle Injury<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Jared Bednar: Valeri Nichushkin had ankle surgery and is out a month. Bowen Byram is week-to-week (lower body) and Samuel Girard is day-to-day.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Peter_Baugh\/status\/1590061789265694720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 8, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">This is not the best news for the Avalanche. Thankfully it is not long-term, and he will return at the beginning of December. Colorado is currently 6-4-1 and sit third in the Central Division, and are 7th in the Western Conference. After what appeared to be a slow start, now sees the team is heading in the right direction. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Impact Of Valeri Nichushkin<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Nichushkin is impactful when in the lineup. Last year was a career year for him, and it earned him <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2022\/07\/11\/valeri-nichushkin-contract-signed-to-stay-on-colorado-avalanche\/\" target=\"_self\">an eight-year extension<\/a>. This season he has picked up where he left off. In only seven games played, he has scored seven goals, five assists, and 12 points (still good for fourth on the team). Nichushkin helps lead the league&#8217;s best power play in goals (5) and has two points-killing penalties. Using his big body and playing the power forward perfectly, his presence will be missed. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">How The Avalanche Can Overcome It<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Losing Nichushkin is big, but it is not the end of the world. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/mackina01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nathan MacKinnon<\/a> still leads the team alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/rantami01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mikko Rantanen<\/a>. Aside from this two, Arturri Lehkonen will see an increased role as well as Logan O\u2019Connor. On the back end, the group boasts offensive talent with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/makarca01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cale Makar<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/toewsde01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Devon Toews<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/girarsa01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Samuel Girard<\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The biggest thing for the Avalanche going forward is the play of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/georgal01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alexandar Georgiev<\/a>. He owns a 6-1-1 record, 2.61 goals-against average, and a .925 save percentage. Georgiev ranks fifth in <a href=\"https:\/\/moneypuck.com\/goalies.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">goals saved above expected<\/a> with 5.7. He will be leaned on heavily in the absence of Nichushkin.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"_pi8MYoSQLlBmrwSiT3dtw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1244228814\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'_pi8MYoSQLlBmrwSiT3dtw',sig:'dDWKep5k5oX4OMohMo2DxUlyDioli8RbtFlwrYvgNUA=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1244228814',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As if the injury bug could not get worse for the defending Stanley Cup Champions. In addition to Gabriel Landeskog being out for three months, another big-time winger will miss time. Colorado Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin will be out for a month after having ankle surgery. Having two of your top six wingers are not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4194,"featured_media":133354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,4547,6671,34,4548],"tags":[3758,3509,5781,955,2671,502],"class_list":["post-133350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avalanche","category-hockey","category-injuries","category-news","category-nhl","tag-alexandar-georgiev","tag-bowen-byram","tag-colorado-avalanche-news","tag-nhl-news","tag-samuel-girard","tag-valeri-nichushkin"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}