Colorado's forward missed the end of last season and playoffs but is ready to get back at it this season.
Logan O'Connor spent his summer rehabbing from hip surgery he had at the end of last season. He is ready to go and expected to play in early preseason games, per Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar.
"We want to get him back on the ice, it's been a while," Bednar said after the first day of training camp. "We want him to get some games, but just getting out in practice for a guy like Logan it's going to help him in working all these 5-on-5 drills that we're doing. It should get us up to speed quickly."
The 28-year-old forward's linemate, Ross Colton, said the trio (Miles Wood-Colton-O'Connor) connected instantly and was excited to have him back.
"We had great chemistry there so anytime you lose a guy that brings a lot to the team is obviously devastating," Colton said. "He did a great job rehabbing, getting himself ready to go, be back for day one today. And I thought we did a really good job out there today, flying around and jumping right back where we left off."
O'Connor took a little time off from rehabbing to get married and enjoy his honeymoon in Hawaii – not Ohio, as Wood (whose locker is next to his linemate'ss) misheard during the interview. He progressed well in the past few months and is ready to get back to his game.
"Started working out right away, what you can do, and slowly open that up," O'Connor said after day two of camp. "In regard to skating, it was sort of middle of June ... started off 30, 40% just playing it safe, and obviously week-by-week, slowly ramp it up and then add ice sessions throughout the week – duration of ice sessions and volume, and then obviously more practice-like situations leading to now camp."
It is O'Connor's seventh season with the Avalanche and second for both Wood and Colton. The two newer players are more comfortable with the team's systems and have adjusted to their roles on the team – which should prove beneficial for the mid-six line this season.
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