The forward has missed four games since a 3-2 shootout victory at the New York Rangers on Oct. 25. Nichushkin, who signed an eight-year contract with the Avalanche on July 11, is tied for their lead in goals (seven) and has 12 points in seven games.
Defensemen Bowen Byram and Samuel Girard each sustained a lower-body injury during the recent road trip, which included back-to-back games against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Tampere, Finland, as part of the 2022 NHL Global Series.
Byram played Nov. 4 against Columbus but was out the following day. He has five points (two goals, three assists) in 10 games. Girard played both games and has four points (one goal, three assists) in 11 games.
"So Val is having surgery on his ankle. He's going to miss approximately a month, give or take," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said following practice Tuesday. "'Bo Byram has an injury and he's week to week, lower body. Girard, same thing. He's going to be day to day as well. … All three of them are new injuries."
Bednar also provided updates on injured forwards
Gabriel Landeskog
, who had knee surgery Oct. 18, and Darren Helm, who has yet to play this season because of a lower-body injury.
Landeskog missed the final 23 games of the 2021-22 season after having knee surgery March 14. He returned for the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and had 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in 20 games to help Colorado win the Stanley Cup.
"I don't have a timeline on Landeskog." Bednar said. "… Helm's making progress, but he's still week to week.
"Then you start adding other key impactful players too. The strength of our team has been our back end and we're just pulling two guys (Byram, Girard) out of it now for who knows how long. There's obviously some opportunity for some guys just like we've seen up front. We'll see our [defenseman] core change a little bit. There'll be opportunity for more forwards to come up here now and [we've] just got to grind through. Injuries are going to come at certain times. You're hoping they don't pile up all at the same time like they kind of are for us right now."
The Avalanche begin a three-game homestand against the Nashville Predators on Thursday.
"Good news is we're coming home. We haven't spent a lot of time at home," Bednar said. "We can get the rhythm of our game going again. Our schedule has been crazy. So we just got to chip away for now."
Colorado (6-4-1) is third in the Central Division and hasn't played at home since Oct. 21, a 3-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken.
