The Avalanche are taking seven defensemen with them on their two-game road trip. With Samuel Girard announced out week-to-week, the Avs called up Jack Ahcan ahead of Monday’s early puck drop against the Buffalo Sabres.
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Ahcan, 28, was one of the final cuts from the team as the preseason started to wind down. He worked his way up the depth chart and past Keaton Middleton, quickly becoming a call-up favorite for head coach Jared Bednar.
In Saturday’s 5-4 shootout loss to Dallas, Colorado used defenseman Ilya Solovyov on the third pair alongside Sam Malinski.
Solovyov was claimed off waivers from the Calgary Flames to be the team’s No. 7 defenseman. He played just under 10 minutes in his Avs debut but looked fine given he was inserted into the lineup after just one full-team practice.
Ahcan gives the team another option, and an extra body if injury arises. Colorado plays Buffalo at 10:30 am MT on Monday before traveling to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets on Thursday.
