Another One Bites The Dust: Injuries Piling Up For The Colorado Avalanche

When Matt Hendricks injured himself in the first period against Detroit, he joined a long list of injured Avalanche players.

Currently, the Avalanche have seven players out with injury.

The Avalanche haven't officially listed Hendricks as day-to-day, but he only played 1:45 against Detroit. He was in obvious discomfort during a first period shift, and didn't play after that.

Even though he's only a fourth-line player, he'll still be sorely missed as injuries continue to spread throughout the Avalanche lineup.

Avalanche defensemen have suffered a good portion of the mentioned injuries. Liles (shoulder), Salei (back), and Preissing (knee) have all been placed on injured reserve. Preissing, acquired in the trade that sent Ryan Smyth to LA, hasn't played a game for the Avalanche yet.

The most severe is to forward Darcy Tucker, who was hit face first into the boards by Carolina Hurricanes' forward Tuomo Ruutu. Tucker received a concussion and a cut that required 40 stitches to close. Ruutu was suspended three games for the hit. Tucker is expected to miss 10 days.

Another scary injury occured when winger Cody McLeod took a stick to the eye. Thankfully, his vision is fine, but he will not join the Avalanche on their upcoming four-game road trip. Goalie Peter Budaj is day-to-day with the flu.

But the Avalanche are no stranger to injuries.

Last season, the Avalanche lost star centers Joe Sakic and Paul Stastny for 67 and 37 games, respectively. Those injuries were instrumental in the Avalanche last place ranking in goals scored (190).

Injuries to Adam Foote (40 games) and Ruslan Salei (12 games) helped contribute to the Avalanche allowing the fifth most goals in the NHL (253).

Unlike last year, the team hasn't completely fallen apart.

Youth and strong goaltending from Craig Anderson has kept the Avalanche afloat, but how long will they be able to keep it up?