Avalanche’s Alexandar Georgiev out day-to-day with upper-body injury

The injury bug continues to take a toll on the Colorado Avalanche this season.

After numerous players have missed extended periods of time throughout the start of this season, the team announced Friday that goaltender Alexandar Georgiev is out with an upper-body injury, and is considered day-to-day.

Georgiev, 28, has appeared in 10 games this season, posting a 4-5-0 record, along with a 3.56 goals against average, and .863 save percentage. It’s been a down season for the Russian netminder, who won 38 games in 2023-24.

With Georgiev on the shelve, look for backup netminder Justus Annunen to get the majority of the workload. Annunen, 24, is 5-2-0 in his eight appearances this season, registering a 2.64 goals against average and .894 save percentage. As the team noted in their injury report above, the Avs have recalled 23-year-old goaltender Trent Miner from the American Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles. Miner will backup Annunen for the time being, and is off to a reasonable start to his AHL season, owning a 3-2-1 record, with a 2.34 goals against average and .905 save percentage.

It’s not all bad news on the Avalanche’s injury front, as they’re expected to welcome back forwards Miles Wood and Jonathan Drouin from the injured reserve, meanwhile, Valeri Nichushkin will also return to Colorado’s lineup on Friday against the Washington Capitals. Back in May, Nichushkin entered Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program after failing a drug test. Nichushkin is coming off a career-best season, scoring 28 goals and 53 points in 54 games.

As for Georgiev, this is an untimely set back as he had been finding his groove of late in the Avalanche’s crease, winning his last three starts. The Avalanche head into Friday’s matchup against the Capitals sitting 9-8-0 on the year, currently on the outside looking in at the way-too-early Stanley Cup Playoff picture.