Avalanche activate Jonathan Drouin off Injured Reserve

The Colorado Avalanche announced Tuesday that forward Jonathan Drouin has been activated off Injured Reserve (IR) and he’s expected to play Tuesday against the Winnipeg Jets.

The Avalanche also placed forward Ivan Ivan on IR, retroactive to Dec. 27.

Drouin has missed the last 16 games due to an upper-body injury. He’s only played five games this season, scoring two goals and adding two assists for four points while averaging 20:40 of ice time.

“It’s been a long year. Kind of play a couple games and get reinjured,” Drouin told reporters Monday. “The same kind of thing happened, and kind of redo the whole process of all the rehab and treatment. It’s very similar, very close to the same one I had to start the year in the first game.”

Drouin scored a career-high 56 points in his first season with the Avalanche in 2023-24, scoring 19 goals and adding 37 assists. Now in his 11th season, Drouin has 98 goals and 243 assists for 341 points with Colorado, the Montreal Canadians and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Taken No. 3 overall in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, Drouin spent three seasons with the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads, helping the club win a Memorial Cup in 2012-13. Drouin was able to record back-to-back 100-point seasons with the Mooseheads. He also played in two World Junior Championships representing Canada in 2013 and 2014.

The Avalanche are 22-15-0 with 44 points, third in the Central Division. They have won four straight games and are 8-2-0 in their last 10 games.

Forward Nathan MacKinnon leads the team with 60 points, with 14 goals and 46 assists in 37 games.