AVALANCHE: Forward A.J. Greer, injured during preseason, ready to make debut vs. Dallas Stars.
Avalanche forward A.J. Greer suffered a concussion Sept. 21 in a preseason fight with Dallas defenseman Greg Pateryn. Greer, 20, missed the rest of the preseason and was ultimately reassigned to Colorado’s American Hockey Affiliate in San Antonio.
On Sunday, he was recalled along with forward Gabriel Bourque, and each will make his NHL season debut Tuesday. It just so happens that Greer will make his return against Pateryn and the Stars — although Pateryn has been scratched in each of Dallas’ eight games.
“I feel great. Conditioning-wise, I feel really good,” Greer said Monday after practice. “It’s just a matter of execution, and get the bugs out of your system and playing the right way.”
Greer played in two games for San Antonio, for which he had two assists, a plus-3 rating and zero penalty minutes. A 6-foot-3, 205pounder with an edge to his game, Greer is expected to finish his checks and create traffic in front of the opponent’s net.
“We need him to play that power forward game,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “He’s been out long enough. He’s cleared to play, so now we need him back at his best. He’s got to be physical. He’s been a real good penalty-killer, real good detailed guy, tough checking guy.”
Greer probably will play on a line with Bourque and rookie center Alex Kerfoot.
“For me, it’s just to be that power forward, create space for them and let them do the fancy work,” Greer said.
Greer and Bourque are replacing the injured J.T. Compher (broken thumb) and Tyson Jost (lower body), who both went down in Thursday’s 4-3 loss to visiting St. Louis. Also, forward Colin Wilson is day to day with an unspecified ailment.
“Both those guys (Greer and Bourque) made statements in camp, and there was discussion on whether those guys should start the year with us,” Bednar said. “With our numbers, they weren’t able to. So those are the first two guys we’re calling up to give an opportunity to. And they both have specific roles that they can play.”
Compher has learned that his broken thumb won’t require surgery, and he had a conditioning skate under Bednar’s guidance before Monday’s practice.
“He’s going to be able to stay on the ice and keep his skating legs,” Bednar said. “Comph’ is able to do everything lower body — he’ll be able to skate and do lots of cardio — and at some point hopefully we’ll try to get him into a brace and he can handle pucks and get his hands back.”
Jost is the opposite. He can stickhandle for now but must stay off his skates.