Colorado Avalanche recall Dominic Toninato

With the injury to Vladislav Kamenev, the Colorado Avalanche have recalled Dominic Toninato to fill the void at center. He got the call over Tyson Jost because coach Bednar spoke about wanting to get Jost a lot of game action - something that won’t be coming to Toninato over the next few games.

Jost needs to get some time playing in key offensive roles, while Toninato will slot into the bottom-6 where he will be expected to play a checking role, and possibly kill some penalties.

Drafted in the 5th round in 2012 by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toninato never signed with the Leafs and instead decided to take his talents to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado over the off-season.

Toninato is more known for his defensive capabilities as a center rather than a scoring threat. He was awarded NCAA best defensive forward in his senior year at Minnesota-Duluth last year. However, in his 4 years at the collegiate level, he accumulated 91 points in 151 games.

In San Antonio this year, Toninato has been shifted around numerous times. Though always playing center, it seems he has a new wing pair every other game. In 13 games, he has 3 goals and 3 assists with 10 PIMS.

He won’t light up the score sheet but he plays a hard two-way game and should be able to hold his own on the 4th line and could even find a spot on the PK.

I would suspect Kerfoot being bumped back up to the 2nd line, centering Yakupov and Andrighetto, and Toninato finding a spot between Wilson and Compher.

The Avalanche are back in action tomorrow night in Nashville. Puck drops at 6pm.