Kariya lost to wrist injury indefinitely

DENVER – The Colorado Avalanche acquired left wing Steve Konowalchuk from the Washington Capitals on Wednesday after learning Paul Kariya will be out indefinitely with a sprained right wrist.

Kariya, who starred for the University of Maine on its first NCAA championship team in 1992-93, was injured midway through Colorado’s 4-1 loss to Boston on Tuesday night. Test results Wednesday didn’t show any broken bones.

To fill the hole left by the high-scoring left wing, Colorado sent forward Bates Battaglia and the rights to forward prospect Jonas Johansson to Washington for Konowalchuk and a third-round pick in next year’s draft.

Colorado also recalled left wing Brad Larsen from Hershey of the AHL.

“Steve Konowalchuk is a reliable, experienced forward capable of playing at both ends of the ice,” Michel Goulet, the Avalanche’s vice president of player personnel, said in a statement. “He can play in a variety of roles, and we are pleased to add a quality player like Steve to our roster.”

Konowalchuk has shown a good scoring touch for someone who has mostly played on checking lines in 11 seasons with Washington. He has 146 goals and 196 assists in 693 career games, and his best season was 2000-01, when he had 24 goals, 47 points and played in every game.

Konowalchuk has one assist and was minus-5 this season for the Capitals (1-4-1).

Battaglia came to Colorado in a trade deadline deal last season that sent forward Radim Vrbata to Carolina.

Battaglia had 21 goals and 25 assists in helping the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup finals in 2001-02, but struggled last season. He had five goals and 14 assists in 70 games with Carolina, and one goal and five assists in 13 games with the Avalanche.

Battaglia had one assist in four games this season, giving him 64 goals and 93 assists in 419 NHL games.

Kariya signed with Colorado this offseason in a package deal with Teemu Selanne that instantly made the Avalanche a favorite to win the Stanley Cup.

The friends and former linemates for five seasons in Anaheim decided they wanted to play together again and took pay cuts to sign with Colorado on the same day.

Kariya, who agreed to a one-year, $1.2 million contract, had a goal and two assists in his Colorado debut and has added two more goals since.

The Avalanche have gotten off to a disappointing 2-3 start. The players called a team meeting Tuesday night following Tuesday’s loss.