Valeri Nichushkin Missed Avalanche Game vs. Devils Friday

Valeri Nichushkin was out of the lineup Friday for the Colorado Avalanche, Peter Baugh of The Athletic reports.

Nichushkin is day to day with a lower-body injury. Nichushkin seemed to find his game last year in the playoffs as he helped lead the Avs to raise the Stanley Cup. That play has continued this season, as he has seven goals and 12 points through seven games.

This is an even more significant loss for the Avs when you consider that Gabriel Landeskog is out long-term due to injury. The team also lost Andre Burakovsky to the Seattle Kraken and Nazem Kadri to the Calgary Flames in free agency.

Whether or not Nichushkin will be able to play Saturday versus the New York Islanders remains to be seen. Head coaches in the NHL tend to guard the nature of an injury and how long a player may be out of the lineup like they are state secrets.

The Avalanche are +172 (-1.5) on the puck line, and -142 on the money line, with an over/under of six, over (+100), under (-122) versus the Islanders on Saturday. You can find the lines and props for this game and all others on FanDuel Sportsbook.