In the wake of a stinging 4-0 loss to Tampa Bay, the Avalanche Wednesday made several significant moves involving its corps of defensemen.

In essense, the Avs went “young” on the blue line.

Colorado recalled two 20-year-olds, Nikita Zadorov and Chris Bigras from the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League, and Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said both will be in the lineup against the New Jersey Devils Thursday at the Pepsi Center.

Zadorov was acquired from Buffalo in the Ryan O’Reilly trade last summer and played 11 games with Colorado early in the season before being demoted. He has eight goals and 10 assists in 28 games with the Rampage. Bigras was Colorado’s second-round draft choice in 2013, joined the AHL Lake Erie Monsters late last season after finishing his major junior season with the Owen Sound Attack, and has six goals and 13 assists in 37 games for San Antonio.

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“We sat down after the (Tampa Bay) game and we felt that we needed a spark,” Roy said. “These two guys are part of the future of this team. We feel that these guys could help us to create that spark, and we certainly are curious to see how ‘Z’ and Chris will play (Thursday) night.”

In other moves involving defensemen, Colorado placed Nate Guenin on waivers, demoted Brandon Gormley to San Antonio and placed Erik Johnson on injured reserve, retroactive to Jan. 4. Johnson has missed four games with a knee injury, but he could be activated at any time. Also, defenseman Brad Stuart (back) is on the verge of being able to return to the lineup.

Roy said that Guenin, at least temporarily, will remain with the team and be a healthy scratch against the Devils if unclaimed.

Colorado is at the league maximum of 50 player contracts and would have to clear at least one to make a trade, but Guenin, 33, also could be sent down to San Antonio within the next 30 days or 10 games if he is unclaimed. That’s what happened with Gormley, who was waived and unclaimed last week, yet remained with the team until Wednesday.

Guenin, who spent most of seven seasons in the AHL before the Avalanche signed him in 2013 as an organizational defenseman before he surprisingly stuck with Colorado, handled the news philosophically.

“It’s happened to me before in the past, and it’s part of the business,” he said as the Avalanche went through off-ice workouts. “We’ll wait to see here. If you get picked up, you get picked up. If not, stick around and see what happens next. We’ll take the next 24 hours and see what happens.”

Guenin added, “Guys in my position, it’s always in the back of your mind. So I can’t say I was totally surprised by it, but it’s part of the business.”

Did he feel as if he was being made a scapegoat?

“No, not by any means. I never thought that one bit,” he said.

He conceded, “I haven’t been happy with my play. I look in the mirror every night and feel I could be playing better, and if I was playing better, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Guenin said if he ends up at San Antonio, he would “have to be a pro about it. You’re still getting paid a lot of money to do a job. And one thing I pride myself on is being a really good teammate and part of this organization. So whatever they see for me, I’ll do.”

Guenin is in the final season of his contract, making $800,000 regardless of whether he’s in the NHL or AHL. Almost entirely in the fluctuating third defensive pairing this season, he has played 29 games, has no points, is a plus-2 and has averaged 13 minutes of ice time.

From Aliquippa, Pa., he played four seasons at Ohio State before toiling in the AHL for the Pittsburgh, Columbus and Anaheim organizations, getting in 31 NHL games during callups. After making the Colorado roster at the outset of Roy’s first season as coach, Guenin signed a two-year contract extension in January 2014.

“Nate hasn’t played as well as he did in the past years,” Roy said. “This gives us again some flexibility. He’s going to remain with the team, and like I said to him, ‘If you have a chance to play another game, you’re going to have to make the best of it and bring your game to the level we expect.’ “

Roy said that Calvin Pickard will get the start in net against the Devils. He made the announcement after coming off the ice himself, taking some shots and working in the net in preparation for the Detroit-Colorado alumni game at Coors Field next month, played in conjunction with the Stadium Series meeting between the Avalanche and Red Wings.

“It’s coming,” Roy said. “I could lose 30 pounds and it would help.”

Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or @TFrei

Reporter Mike Chambers contributed to this story.