Projected Lineups for the Avalanche vs Oilers – 4/5/24

The Colorado Avalanche take on the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups, sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents and others.

AVALANCHE (48-22-6) at OILERS (45-24-5)

9 p.m. TVAS, SNW, ALT

Avalanche projected lineup

Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen

Brandon Duhaime — Casey Mittelstadt — Artturi Lehkonen

Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Zach Parise

Andrew Cogliano — Yakov Trenin — Joel Kiviranta

Devon Toews — Cale Makar

Samuel Girard — Josh Manson

Jack Johnson — Sean Walker

Alexander Georgiev

Justus Annunen

Scratched: Jean-Luc Foudy, Caleb Jones

Injured: Valeri Nichushkin (lower body)

Status report

• Trenin will return after missing two games with an undisclosed injury.
• The Avalanche reassigned forward Chris Wagner to Colorado of the American Hockey League on Friday.
• Georgiev will start after Annunen started the past two games.

More from THW:

• MacKinnon’s 3 Points Make Him 2nd Player to Hit 130 This Season
• Projected Lineups for the Avalanche vs Wild – 4/4/24
• Avalanche Re-Sign Chris Wagner to 1-Year Extension

Oilers projected lineup

Leon Draisaitl — Connor McDavid — Zach Hyman 

Adam Henrique — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — Warren Foegele

Evander Kane — Ryan McLeod — Corey Perry

Mattias Janmark — Derek Ryan — Connor Brown

Mattias Ekholm — Evan Bouchard

Darnell Nurse — Cody Ceci

Brett Kulak — Vincent Desharnais

Stuart Skinner

Calvin Pickard

Scratched: Sam Carrick, Troy Stecher

Injured: None

Status report

• Draisaitl will move up from second-line center to play left wing with McDavid in order to better match up against MacKinnon’s line, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said.
• Nugent-Hopkins moves down to center the second line.
• Ryan comes in to center the fourth line in place of Carrick, a forward. Skinner will alternate starts with Pickard for the fifth straight game.

More from THW:

• Top 3 All-Time Oilers Goalies
• Oilers’ Ekholm, Bouchard Pairing Among the NHL’s Elite
• Oilers & McDavid Have Lots on the Line in Big Game vs. Avs