Avs Add Players on American Thanksgiving

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--The Colorado Avalanche added reinforcements on U.S. Thanksgiving by recalling forwards Sheldon Dries and A.J. Greer from the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League.
Dries and Greer will join the team on its trip to Chicago Thursday afternoon as the Avs prepare for a back-to-back, home-and-home set with the Blackhawks. The division foes square off on Friday at 2 p.m. MT at United Center before facing off again on Saturday at 7 p.m. MT at Pepsi Center.
Colorado's recalls on Thursday morning come after Andre Burakovsky did not play in the third period of the team's 4-1 win versus the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday due to an upper-body injury.

"He's day-to-day I guess right now, but he's not going to make the trip to Chicago," said head coach Jared Bednar of Burakovsky's status. "He's not going to be a player for us tomorrow and then he's going to get some further evaluation here and then we'll know more come Saturday."
Matt Nieto and Erik Johnson also didn't take part in the club's 30-minute practice, with Johnson (lower body) already ruled out for both contests against the Blackhawks.
Mikko Rantanen (lower body) practiced on a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Joonas Donskoi on Thursday, but he also won't make the trip to the Windy City. Bednar said the plan is to still have Rantanen make his return to the lineup on Saturday after missing the past five weeks.

Dries is making his first call-up of the season with the Avs after appearing in 40 games and registering three goals and three assists last year with the club. Dries, who practiced with the Avalanche at Family Sports Center, left the Eagles as the team's leading scorer with 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in 17 games.
For Greer, this is his second recall of the campaign, but he has yet to skate in a contest with the NHL club. He has six points (one goal, five assists) in 37 career contests with the Avs, including 15 last season.
"We recalled Dries, we recalled Greer, just so we know that we have an extra forward and D at this point," Bednar said. "We have a few guys that are dinged up, and we'll figure out our lineup as we go through today and early tomorrow."
There was some injury news to be thankful for on Thursday as both Matt Calvert (head) and Gabriel Landeskog (lower body) skated and ran drills prior to the team session in red, non-contact jerseys. It marks the third straight day that Landeskog had taken the ice, while Calvert was skating for the first time since being hit in the head with a puck in the final minutes of the Avs' game at the Vancouver Canucks on Nov. 16.
The home-and-home set marks the Avalanche's first meetings of the year with the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago will also be the first division club that Colorado will wrap up its seasons series with as the rivals will face off four times in a matter of 23 days.

PRACTICE LINE COMBINATIONS

Forwards
96 Mikko Rantanen - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 72 Joonas Donskoi
17 Tyson Jost - 91 Nazem Kadri - 37 J.T. Compher
25 Logan O'Connor - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
15 Sheldon Dries - 81 Vladislav Kamenev - 36 T.J. Tynan
Defensemen
16 Nikita Zadorov - 8 Cale Makar
48 Calle Rosen - 49 Samuel Girard
27 Ryan Graves - 28 Ian Cole
44 Mark Barberio
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
39 Pavel Francouz
Injuries: Andre Burakovsky (upper body) Matt Calvert (head), Erik Johnson (lower body), Gabriel Landeskog (lower body), Mikko Rantanen (lower body), Colin Wilson (lower body)