Avalanche's Ross Colton: Won't play during opening round

Colton (lower body) is not expected back during Colorado's first-round series against Dallas, Meghan Angley of Guerrilla Sports reports Tuesday.

Colton has already been shelved for eight of the Avs' last nine games and now will miss two more -- assuming the series goes a full seven games. Even once cleared to play, Colton will likely be relegated to a bottom-six role, especially following the return of Gabriel Landeskog from a long-term knee injury.