Center John Mitchell is expected to make his season debut for the Avalanche tonight in Ottawa as the road trip continues. Here are the game notes. The Senators will be playing in their home opener after starting 2-1-0 on the road.
Mitchell will be activated from injured reserve, so Jesse Winchester (concussion) will have to be moved there. Mitchell will start on the fourth line and I'm guessing he'll replace Marc-Andre Cliche. He'll eventually move up to the third unit.
But the Avalanche has placed goalie Semyon Varlamov on IR because of a groin injury. So Reto Berra obviously will start against the Senators and on Saturday in Montreal. The Avalanche have summoned goalie Calvin Pickard from Lake Erie in the AHL.
Coach Patrick Roy said Varlamov was "questionable" after the morning skate. Varlamov took part, presumably to see how he felt. He made 37 saves Tuesday in the Avalanche's 3-2 overtime loss in Toronto.
Defensemen Zach Redmond and Ryan Wilson will be scratched again, even though Wilson has been cleared. He missed Tuesday's game in Toronto after getting hit in the face with a puck Monday in Boston. That means "fan favorite" Nate Guenin will be in the lineup.
Mitchell missed all eight preseason games because of migraines and some vision problems that he thinks could have been related to the season-ending concussion he sustained in an April 10 game against Vancouver.
"It's obviously tough to tell," he told Hockeybuzz earlier this week. "I'm sure some of these things stem from that. You hit the boards that hard, I'm sure you're going to jar loose a few things. Some things are going to get thrown out of whack.
"It's obviously taken longer than I expected and everyone else expected for it to heal, but you just have to be cautious and make sure you're good to go out there. I mean, there's a lot of big guys out there, the game's moving quick and you want to make sure you can see out there, see plays developing."
Mitchell had 11 goals and 21 assists in 75 games last season. He's in the first year of a three-year, $5.4 million contract.
Former Colorado goalie Craig Anderson will start for the Senators. He has a 0-2-1 record against the Avalanche with a 6.32 goals-against average.
The projected Avalanche lineup:
Forwards Jamie McGinn-Matt Duchene-Jarome Iginla Gabriel Landeskog-Ryan O'Reilly-Dennis Everberg Alex Tanguay-Nathan MacKinnon-Daniel Briere Cody McLeod-John Mitchell-Max Talbot
Defensemen Nick Holden-Erik Johnson Jan Hejda-Tyson Barrie Brad Stuart-Nate Guenin
Goalies Reto Berra Semyon Varlamov