Avalanche Morning Skate Notebook: Helm Returns, Landeskog Not Close

The depleted depth of the Colorado Avalanche will get a boost on Monday evening.

The Avalanche will get not one, but two forwards back from injury.

Darren Helm, who has missed the entire season to date due to injury, will make his season debut. In addition, forward Martin Kaut will return to the lineup.

Coach Bednar would not indicate exactly who is coming out in their place, but Jacob MacDonald skated as a defenseman and Kurtis MacDermid stayed out late after morning skate, so there’s a good chance both of them will exit the lineup.

For Helm, it has been a long road getting back to game action.

“It’s been a bit of a grind,” the veteran forward said after skate. “A lot of hard work. It’s tested my patience a little bit.”

Bednar is keeping his expectations low, knowing that it’s been a while since Helm has played in a game.

“He’s been out a long time so I’m not expecting miracles,” Bednar said. “He’ll help the penalty kill for sure right out of the gate. We’ll give him some limited minutes and get him back into this thing.”

Injury Updates

The news, however, was not as good for the Avalanche Captain.

Bednar reiterated pretty definitively that Gabriel Landeskog is “nowhere close” to returning. The original timeline after his surgery was 12 weeks. We are a little over two months into that timeline, so it’s possible it will take longer.

There was some good news for another injured player.

“Manson will begin skating tomorrow, I believe,” Bednar said after morning skate.

Welcome news for a defense that has been shorthanded for quite some time.

Alexandar Georgiev will get his eight consecutive start for the Avalanche. He’s 0-3 and has given up 14 goals since the Holiday Break.

The game against the Vegas Golden Knights starts at 7 PM MST.

Stay tuned to Colorado Hockey Now for post game stories, locker room reports, and analysis.