Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog skated on his own Monday and for part of practice while wearing a non-contact jersey, and he accompanied the team to Nashville, where Colorado plays Tuesday to open a four-game road trip.

"He's felt better every day for about the last three or four days," coach Jared Bednar told reporters. "Obviously skating a little bit and joining the team for a part of practice. That's a step in the right direction."

Landeskog, who sustained a lower-body injury Nov. 15 against Los Angeles, will miss his ninth game when the Avalanche play the Predators, who posted 5-1 and 5-3 wins at the Pepsi Center.

Bednar wasn't sure if defenseman Fedor Tyutin would be able to play Tuesday. He didn't play Saturday in the Avalanche's 3-0 loss to Dallas because of a lower-body injury and didn't practice Monday.

"He's not bad, he's better today," Bednar said. "Took the day off the ice obviously. He's better than he was yesterday. That's all I know. He's coming on the road trip. We'll see how he feels tomorrow morning and then make a decision."

Tyutin's defense partner, Erik Johnson, is expected to miss 6-8 weeks after sustaining a broken fibula against the Stars. He was injured blocking a shot by Tyler Seguin and played for a bit before he was shut down.

"When he got hit, he stayed on the ice," Bednar said. "He didn't really have much choice. Sometimes you get hit with a shot and it stings for a few seconds and goes away. Obviously, that one wasn't going away.

"He's taking care of that right now. He can't do anything at all. He's got a little bit of a road in front of him here."

With Johnson out of the picture for two months and Tyutin's status unclear, the Avalanche called up 6-feet-1, 201-pound defenseman Cody Goloubef from San Antonio. He was acquired last week from Columbus for defenseman Ryan Stanton.

Goloubef, 27, had two goals and five assists in 16 games with Cleveland before the trade and one assist in two games with the Rampage. The Blue Jackets' second-round pick (No. 37) in the 2008 NHL draft, he had one goal and seven assists in 43 games with Columbus last season.

"We know what Cody has done in the past and what he's capable of doing," said Bednar, who knows him from his time with the Blue Jackets organization. "He's a good skater, can chip in on the penalty kill. He has a little bit of familiarity with our system, although it's been a couple of years. I think he's going to be a guy who can contribute, make a simple play and get us in and out of our zone and hopefully give us some stability back there.

"In my opinion, he's an NHL player. He's got to prove that. He's been in the American League to start the season. Things have gone well for him in the American League. Now he's going to get back in the NHL, get in the lineup and play some important minutes for us. We need him to be good. He's excited to be here certainly."

Semyon Varlamov will start in goal.

*****

The Douglas County Coroner's Office on Monday released a report obtained by the Denver Post that said former Avalanche forward Marek Svatos had codeine, morphine and an anti-anxiety medication in his system when he died of combined drug intoxication Nov. 5.

The report said Svatos, 34, had a history of heroin use and had gone through drug rehabilitation. He also had suspected depression, previous suicidal thoughts, and “recent life stressors.”

“Drug paraphernalia was found at the scene,” the report said.



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