An already banged up Avalanche team will be even more shorthanded Saturday against Philadelphia.
Forwards Rocco Grimaldi and Matt Nieto are ill and won't play against the Flyers. Gabriel Bourque will return after missing two games because of an upper-body injury, so the Avalanche will use 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
Defenseman Nikita Zadorov will play -- finally! -- after being a healthy scratch for three consecutive games, but Chris Bigras will sit for his third game in a row.
"With seven D it's going to be a little bit of a blender back there tonight," coach Jared Bednar told reporters after the morning skate. "But we'll start (Mark) Barberio playing with (Erik) Johnson a little bit.
"We have some analytics that say the time they've spent together has been pretty good. They played well together last year, so we're going to work that out as much as we can."
Has to be the first time the word "analytics" has ever been used by an Avalanche coach.
The Nathan MacKinnon- and Carl Soderberg-centered lines will remain, at least at the start, but slump-ridden Nail Yakupov will move from the fourth line back to a unit with Matt Duchene. Yakupov went seven games without a point before getting an assist Thursday against Carolina.
Depending on the health of Grimaldi and Nieto, you'd think the Avalanche would at least consider calling up a forward from AHL San Antonio before heading to Stockholm for next week's back-to-back games against Ottawa. It would be too late once they arrive in Sweden.
The Avalanche (7-5-0) are 2-4-0 on the road. They've lost the past three on the road to Dallas, Nashville and Vegas.
And as for the latest Duchene trade rumors, I've heard the Avalanche were offered draft picks in this three-way deal with Ottawa and Nashville. They need a defenseman who can play right away, not picks.
Say what you want about general manager Joe Sakic, who by the way isn't talking about this, but he certainly isn't obligated to trade Duchene or any other player in order to make teams that could use them happy.
The Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Sven Andrighetto -- Matt Duchene -- Nail Yakupov Gabriel Bourque -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau A.J. Greer -- Alexander Kerfoot
DEFENSE Mark Barberio -- Erik Johnson Patrik Nemeth -- Tyson Barrie Anton Lindholm -- Nikita Zadorov Andrei Mironov
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Jonathan Bernier