Right wing Alex Tanguay will become the next Avalanche player to return to the lineup when the team plays in Florida on Friday to open a three-game road trip.
Tanguay, who has missed 36 games because of knee and hip injuries, said Wednesday he passed his grueling skating test and will play against the Panthers.
He'll be following right wing PA Parenteau, who played Tuesday in the Avalanche's 5-2 loss to Toronto after missing 10 games with a sprained knee.
To make room for Tanguay on the active roster, forward Brad Malone was reassigned to Lake Erie in the AHL. Malone had two assists in 15 games.
Tanguay, 34, has three goals and six assists in 13 games. He's been sidelined since Nov. 2 when he was hurt in a game against Montreal at the Pepsi Center while skating on a line with Gabriel Landeskog and Paul Stastny.
"Getting him and PA back within two games is a pretty nice little gift for us this time of year," Matt Duchene said. "It's pretty impressive what we've done without two of our top offensive guys and getting them back in the lineup is going to make us that much better and harder to contain offensively."
Defenseman Nate Guenin also will be available this weekend. He's missed eight games with an ankle injury. "I'm nervous to see how everything's going to feel out there," Tanguay said. "As much as you do in practice, you don't get the same checking and intensity as you do in a game. But I'm excited to get back. This team has been doing outstanding. It's quite the turnaround from where it was a year ago and I'm excited to get back and hopefully do my part and help these guys out.
"I've done what I need to do. The training staff did a great job, from the strength coach to the trainers to get me ready and help me get my body to where I can compete again. I certainly want to be a contributor to this team down the stretch. I've been working extremely hard to get back. These are long days. You get to the rink early and you leave late and on game days you go back and you do more."
Tanguay said he was injured in a collision with Landeskog behind the Montreal net.
"I was driving the net and Landy took a shot wide and I kind of got pushed aside by (Canadiens defenseman) P.K. Subban and Landy ran into me behind the net," he said, adding the hip problem was discovered after an MRI a week later. "We didn't know how (the hip) was going to turn out. It turned out not to be as good as we wanted. Now I seem to be in good enough shape to play and hopefully I'll be good to go and be fully healthy until the end of the year."
Tanguay, who has three goals and six assists in 13 games, needed extensive rehab for his knee and left hip. He said he had surgery on his right hip during the 2004-05 lockout.
"I want to play," he said. "The offseason gives me time to do some of the stuff that needs to be done, but it's not something that's going to affect me long term. It's something I have to deal with. I'm happy now and I'll cross my fingers that it will go well.
"I'm anxious to be playing. The first 13 games was probably the most fun I've had playing hockey in a long, long time and I'm hoping to get back into a rhythm as quickly as possible. This team has done some great things and this is the tip of the iceberg for this team. There's a lot of potential, lots of young potential."
Coach Patrick Roy wasn't available Wednesday, and Tanguay said he didn't know which linemates he'd be skating with on Friday.
"I don't know how the lines are going to play out," he said. "We'll see what the coaches decide, but I'll be ready."
Said Duchene: "We'll be deep. Patty is easing PA back in and he may do the same with Tangs."
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Guenin is eager to play again, too, but he didn't know Wednesday if he'd be in the lineup Friday against the Panthers. He hurt his ankle in a Jan. 4 game against San Jose and two days later signed a two-year, $1.6 million contract extension.
"The guys have been busting my chops, saying I signed my contract and then I shut it down," Guenin said, laughing. "Yeah, just what I wanted to do."
Guenin couldn't do anything until the swelling in his ankle subsided.
"Our equipment guys did a great job pounding out my skates once the swelling went down so I could get my foot in there," he said. "I really couldn't do much cardio, either, because I couldn't walk. It's amazing what two weeks of not doing anything can do to you. It's so nice to be back on the ice. Now it's just a matter of when Patrick feels I'm ready to step into a game. I'm ready whenever he says."