Colorado Avalanche deliver bad news on Logan O’Connor
Colorado Avalanche forward Logan O’Connor is done for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs, head coach Jared Bednar announced on Sunday.
He’ll need hip surgery that will keep him out until at least the start of next year.
It’s a blow to the Avs, as O’Connor was having the best season of his pro career. In 57 games, O’Connor had 13 goals and 12 assists, good for 25 points. His previous high in points was in 2022-23, when he had 26. With good health, O’Connor would’ve easily passed that.
He played on a line primarily with Ross Colton and Miles Wood, and it was a very solid third-line for Colorado. Now, Bednar will have to adjust.
Luckily for the Avalanche, they acquired four news players before the NHL trade deadline, including a couple of depth forwards.
It’s “next man up” time for the team, and they’ll try to win their second Stanley Cup in three years without Logan O’Connor.
Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog won’t return earlier than May
It looks like the Colorado Avalanche’s captain might be out longer than expected.
On Sunday, head coach Jared Bednar told the media that forward Gabriel Landeskog will not return to the lineup before the team’s original target date, though he did not specifically confirm the date.
Landeskog received a cartilage transplant in his right knee on May 10 of last year, with the expectation that he could get back into game action in 12-16 months. Bednar says the Avs hope the 31-year-old can return “around there.”
Landeskog has not played since he helped Colorado win the franchise’s third Stanley Cup in June 2022. The Swedish star ended up missing all of last season following a procedure on his knee in October of that year. The original prognosis said that Landeskog was supposed to return in 12 weeks. Landeskog was eventually ruled out of the playoffs before receiving the operation in May.
The Avalanche had been public in the past that Landeskog could be back by the 2024 postseason, with more questions on when exactly he will come back as he began joining the team at practice for some individual work last month.
