Colorado Avalanche lose Nazem Kadri for “weeks, not days” with lower-body injury

The Colorado Avalanche got some bad news Tuesday morning as head coach Jared Bednar told Altitude Sports Radio that center Nazem Kadri is out indefinitely and that the team is expecting him to be out of the lineup for “weeks, not days”.

Kadri appeared to hurt his leg in the second period of Sunday night’s game against the Minnesota Wild. He did not initially come out for the third but eventually returned for one shift before heading back to the dressing room.

This is a huge blow for an Avalanche team that was finally healthy after missing key players for large portions of the season. Kadri has 19 goals and 36 points through 51 games this season after being acquired in a trade from Toronto this past summer. After finding some great chemistry with Val Nichushkin and Andre Burakovsky, Kadri has given the Avalanche a second line that has done a great job of providing new-found depth to the Avalanche lineup.

Having won seven of their last eight games, the Avalanche are playing some of their best hockey of the season. The loss of Kadri will leave a big hole in the top-6 as well as on the team’s first power play unit. Tyson Jost and J.T. Compher are going to be called upon to help carry the load in Kadri’s absence. The team has not yet called anyone up to fill Kadri’s role on the roster so we are likely to see Vladislav Kamenev draw into the lineup to play on the fourth line for the time being.

The Avalanche will face off against the Ottawa Senators at the Pepsi Center tonight after going 4-1 on their recent road trip.