Avalanche Thoughts And Observations

Still no LTIR for Erik Johnson but it may be coming, and my 3 Best Bets for tonight

Sorry about not having a write-up on yesterday’s thrilling game. We had a robust, lively group chat on the game though, and I got sidetracked by some stuff later in the day.

So, let me riff some on that game and also take a look forward on all things Avs:

• For a guy who let in five goals, Alexandar Georgiev was one of the better players in the game for the Avs, I thought. He made some great saves to still give his team a chance to win - and they did. So, full marks to Georgie.

• Erik Johnson officially has a broken ankle. I’m not a doctor, and am not making any more guesses on medical/injury stuff. But I would believe that injury will require more than seven weeks of rehab work. If that’s the case, then I expect to see EJ put on LTIR soon. He would then still be considered unable to play in time for the playoffs, and then his cap hit goes away - and he could still return in the playoffs with no cap penalty.

• That would free up $6 million of cap space, ahead of the March 3 NHL trade deadline (that’s just 12 days from now, actually less than 12) and would obviously be a big help to the Avs in acquiring another forward, maybe two.