Avalanche’s Ross Colton out day-to-day with upper-body injury

The Colorado Avalanche could be without a key depth forward for Friday night’s game against the Nashville Predators.

Forward Ross Colton was absent from the team’s practice on Thursday, and head coach Jared Bednar told reporters, including Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette, that he is out on a day-to-day basis with an upper-body injury that leaves his status for Friday in question.

Colton last appeared in Colorado’s last game, a 4-3 overtime loss to Toronto on Monday. The Avalanche have been idle since then giving the team some time to rest amid what had been a busy stretch in their schedule.

The 29-year-old New Jersey native is in his third season as a member of the Avs, and he has 5 goals and 15 assists this season for 20 points in 45 games while skating to a plus-13 rating on an average of 12:54 of time on ice per game.

His production is in line with his prior two years in Colorado despite a dip in ice time. The Former Lightning forward has made 376 career regular season appearances in which he’s racked up 85 goals and 87 assists for 172 points while being an impactful presence both on defense and with his physicality.

The Avalanche continue to dominate both the Central division and the NHL as a whole this season. At 33-4-8, they are 11 points clear of the Dallas Stars for first place in both the division and the league. Their plus-79 goal differential paces the league by a wide margin, and they are 19-0-3 on home ice.

Colorado will continue its quest to break the single-season points record on Friday night against Nashville. They will then have the weekend off before continuing a seven-game home stand next week when they welcome Washington, Anaheim and Philadelphia to Ball Arena.