Avalanche News
2 Injured Avalanche Skaters Nearing a Return
Girard and O’Connor will join the Avs on road trip, but won’t play
The Avalanche are soon expecting to have both Samuel Girard and Logan O’Connor back in the lineup.
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On his weekly Altitude Sports Radio segment, Jared Bednar said on Wednesday that the two skaters will join the team for the upcoming two-game road trip starting Friday. They won’t play in those games in either Vegas or San Jose, but the coach expects to have them back in early November.
Girard and O’Connor were two of three significant injuries the Avs had to start training camp. The other, starting goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, made his return on Tuesday in a backup role against the New Jersey Devils. He’s likely to make his season debut in one of the two games during the road trip.
Girard ended up working his way back near the end of preseason and was in the lineup when the season began. He played just two games before being shelved with an upper-body injury that’s kept him out since Oct. 11.
O’Connor was always going to miss the start of the season. The forward is in the first of a six-year contract and had offseason hip surgery early in the offseason that required nearly six months of recovery.
Both Girard and O’Connor have been skating in red non-contact sweaters recently to ramp up their game.
Assuming no other injuries, Girard’s return will likely replace Jack Ahcan on the third pair. The return of O’Connor will make things interesting among the forward group. Bednar can either sit Zakhar Bardakov and shift Parker Kelly to center to make room for O’Connor.
Or he can choose to sit Gavin Brindley instead and place O’Connor on the fourth-line wing with Kelly and Bardakov.
The only other notable injury is Joel Kiviranta, who doesn’t seem close to returning yet, although there hasn’t been an update on his status.
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wow I thought O’Conner was going to be out most of the season?!
I had always read “mid-November” but it was all conjecture.
Would like to be conservative with LOC. The team is ok, and I want him for the long haul.
That said, even though the PK has been good, he is an added asset.
Damn I’m not sure how I got most of season in my head 😛
OC is our glue. Kelly and Wedgewood have filled that role admirably in his absence, but OC is on another level when it comes to holding things together. It also wouldn’t surprise me if the SHG’s start coming when he returns.
Yeah, LOC is a definite short-handed goal threat. I wouldn’t call him an elite skater, but his straight-ahead speed is top shelf. That, and his aggressiveness, make him a legitimate offensive threat on PK.
Sorting out the bottom two lines will be interesting. Somebody deserving of playing time is going to sit. That level of depth is a high-class problem, one that the Avs have not enjoyed in recent years, and is an unusual luxury with such a top-heavy roster (salary wise). There will be more injuries — all hands will be needed.
True. Tough choices. I like the Bard and I really like Brindley
After LOC returns, Landy can take some maintenance days.
Great news on LOC! He’s a force on the bottom six!
I contend we’re better moving forward without Girard. I like the D pairings we have right now. For all the decent regular season play we get from Girard, he is an absolute liability in the post season. Ahcan and Solovyov getting the play time and developing their NHL game would be preferable.
Perhaps the time to move Girard is now?