The real version of the 2024-25 Colorado Avalanche is almost here – Boulder Daily Camera

The wait for a true version of the Colorado Avalanche may be coming to an end.

Colorado’s top six forwards took the ice together Monday for the first time since May. Arturri Lehkonen will make his season debut Tuesday night against Seattle after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery.

Not only Valery Nichushkin take part in team training for the first time since I was suspended for a minimum of six months and placed in Phase 3 of the NHL-NHLPA Player Assistance Program, but the Avs believe they also know his return date: Nov. 15 against Washington.

Add in Jonathan Drouin, who continues to practice in a red non-contact jersey, and the Avs may not be the tightest team in the league for a long time.

– Well, we’re already close, right? Avalanche coach Jared Bednar announced this. “We don’t know exactly when the rest of the guys will be back, but every player we add just helps the other line and probably elevates someone on that line to a level where they’re playing against the right level of opponents.”

The Avs have three other hitters recovering. Miles Wood could return next week with an upper-body injury. Ross Colton could return in mid-to-late December from a broken leg. When the captain Gabe Landeskog may return remains a mystery.

But Lehkonen, Nichushkin and Drouin were crucial to the club’s success on both ends of the ice last season and will instantly improve several aspects of Colorado’s current roster.

The Avs still rank eighth in the NHL in expected goals percentage at 5-on-5 despite having those three play in one game this season. One of the reasons Colorado ranks 25th in actual goals percentage is because goalkeeper fightbut the Avs aren’t converting their scoring chances at the same rate either.

While the power play has been excellent for most of the season, adding these three players could make the game even better and more varied. Nichushkin was one of the top two players in the NHL last season, along with Edmonton’s Zach Hyman.

This makes Cale Makar’s ability to shoot from the top of the zone more effective. Drouin is also adept at creating space for Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen to pass the puck from one side of the ice to the other, creating different ways to attack.

Lehkonen could provide immediate momentum in all three phases of the game, but he (and Nichushkin) may be missed most on the penalty kill. The Avs currently sit 20th in the PK rankings, including a pair of goals Saturday night in Nashville.

“I think he’s a very versatile player,” Rantanen said of Lehkonen. “It’s like he can play on the penalty kill and play on the power play. He can do it all. So just a versatile, really reliable player. There are no mistakes made. It’s so good to have him back.”

Nichushkin has been skating and training on his own in Denver for the last couple of weeks, away from the team. He still has to go through the final reinstatement process and be cleared to play in the NHL and NHLPA, but Bednar believes Nichushkin will be ready to play on November 15th.

Many key team leaders repeated a phrase from last season: The Avs will welcome Nichushkin with open arms again – at the media day in September. General manager Chris McFarland said in early October that his players “want to know that Val is healthy and that he understands the pain they went throughespecially during the playoffs” after he had availability issues in each of the last two postseasons.

Now the reality of Nichushkin’s return is almost here.

“Obviously we need him,” Rantanen said. “I don’t want to go back to the past, to what happened before. We need him in the lineup. He’s an important part of the team.”

The Landeskog update was not so promising. Bednar said the team captain has been off the ice for some time recently but is feeling better in the gym and is “still going through the process.” The Avs previously said Landeskog’s recovery from May 2023 surgery would take “12-16 months,” but he turns 18 months next week and hasn’t been on the ice with the team since the May 2024 playoffs. .

Given other injuries and availability issues, Landeskog’s delayed return was put on the back burner. The Avs need healthy, effective versions of Lehkonen, Nichushkin and Drouin to help spark a season that feels like a drawn-out waiting game, even though McFarland has said he doesn’t want the club to wait around for the Cavalry.

“It will help our team and then we will just have to play together and not change our mindset,” Rantanen said. “I think it was some struggles offensively, maybe execution-wise… that’s going to happen with this team. We’ve seen this in the past.”

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