More photos » Mark Humphrey - AP

5 months ago: Colorado Avalanche center T. J. Hensick (7) moves the puck past Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Suter, left, in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

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The Avalanche made a couple of moves today. As usual, the news came first from the AHL transaction wire...

T.J. Hensick has cleared waivers and has been reassigned to Lake Erie. I have enough faith in T.J.'s potential that I was sweating this move slightly, but I guess no one wants to spend $850,000 (Hensick's NHL salary) to see if a change of scenery (or coach) would snap him out of his funk. Now that he's cleared, I'm glad to see him sent down to Lake Erie, as he needs to get some ice time and a giant boost of confidence. This is probably the point in the piece where I mention (again) that I think Hensick has looked better this year than he's been given credit for. Oh look! It was!

To replace Hensick, Chris Durno has been recalled again. He has 15 points in 14 games with Lake Erie this year, but he's a 4th liner / reserve forward for us.

The Avalanche also recalled defenseman Brian Fahey. You may recall that Fahey is a minor-league vet (he's 28) acquired this summer for Nigel Williams. Williams is tearing up the AHL this year with 1 point. Fahey has 6...with a Svatos-like line of 5 goals, 1 assist and 22 penalty minutes. Fahey has played in 334 AHL games and 104 ECHL game, but has yet to play in his first NHL game. I'm curious to find out if he and Craig Anderson knew each other growing up. They were both born in 1981 in Illinois in towns that are about 7 miles from each other. You have to figure they've crossed paths at some point, right?

Both Kyle Cumiskey and Adam Foote have been ruled out for Friday's Minnesota game (in fact, neither made the trip); I don't know if Fahey will play instead of Tom Preissing, but it wouldn't shock me if it happened.