Avalanche's Andre Burakovsky, J.T. Compher enter COVID protocol

A day of additions to the league’s COVID protocol list continues. Per The Denver Post’s Mike Chambers, Colorado Avalanche forwards Andre Burakovsky and J.T. Compher entered the NHL’s COVID protocol.

They join defenseman Devon Toews on the list. He was added two days ago.

Due to salary-cap restraints, the Avalanche will play a skater short Thursday night (11 forwards, six defensemen) against the Nashville Predators, who are dealing with a COVID outbreak of their own.

Both Burakovsky and Compher are giant parts of Colorado’s scoring depth this season. They’re both scoring at rates higher than 0.70 points per game, with Compher netting 11 points in 15 games and Burakovsy netting 21 in 25.

With Kurtis MacDermid moving up to play forward for Thursday night's game, their defense will be stretched thin. Jordan Gross will be making his Avalanche debut, and young Justin Barron will play in just his second career NHL game.