Denver, Colo. - Hockey is almost here — 20 days to go until opening night's puck drop.
After a morning spent talking with select members of the team during Media Day, including head coach Jared Bednar for the first time, there are more than a few noteworthy things to keep your eye on as Training Camp officially kicks off tomorrow, 9/18.
Injury Updates
It's always difficult to know for sure during the offseason, as there is no media availability with team staff to talk with in an official capacity. Still, Coach Bednar was able to confirm a couple of injuries plaguing his team as they start training camp and the regular season.
Forward Logan O'Connor had hip surgery back in June, and his recovery was projected to be 5-6 months. "He's doing great," Coach Bednar said on Wednesday. "He is, as you guys probably have seen, is on the ice. He looks great, he feels great. He's working hard in the gym."
Bednar surprised media by saying he's expecting the forward to be back "beginning of November-ish, depending on how things go here and when things ramp up with the physicality that he's going to see."
Bednar went on to clarify that while everything went "great" with his last hip surgery, he feels better with this surgery and recovery process.
Defenseman Sam Girard is also among the injured Coach Bednar listed, saying he "has been dealing with some lower body injuries." Girard has been skating at Family Sports Center in a red no-contact jersey for the last week, rehabbing. Bednar projects that Girard will miss some of camp but he hopes that he'll be ready to go for the beginning of the season.
Additionally, among reports from last week that goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood looked to be in a bit of pain during informal sessions at Family Sports, Coach Bednar confirmed that Blackwood is labeled as week-to-week. This could potentially mean that the team could be missing him for the first week or two of the regular season, and may ride with Scott Wedgewood as the starting goaltender to get things rolling.
"O Captain, My Captain!"
This has been a constantly evolving storyline for three years, but many fans have been wary to put all of their eggs into the "Landeskog making a full return" basket. Rightfully so, but it seems safe to say now that Avalanche Captain Gabriel Landeskog is here to stay for a good, long while with what he considers a solid group that's hungry for another Stanley Cup. As he himself said, "I didn't grind my a** off to come back and just be part of the team."
With that said, Coach Bednar made it very clear when asked that Landeskog is getting the same treatment as all of his other players when it comes to their health.
He'll be full go, and I think we just have to monitor that and make our decisions in the moment. If he has any soreness or anything's going on with him and he needs a day here and there off for practice or even games, and then we'll do that. We're looking big picture here for Landy, get him through the full entire season, have him feeling good so he's available come the stretch run and hopefully playoffs. And for me, that's just going to be the communication between him and I and our medical staff. So, right now, he's full go. I'm not going to sit him out games when he's feeling good or make him take practices off when he's feeling good... If at any point he comes to me, just like any other player, and he's fatigued or he's not feeling like he's ready to practice for whatever reason, then we'll play cautiously.- Coach Bednar on managing Landeskog this upcoming season
Star defenseman Cale Makar called the captain a "missing piece" to the team's locker room for the last three years. "I'm just excited to obviously have him back at the rink every day on the ice with us. He's going to play a huge role, whether it's on or off the ice...so it's exciting to have him back. I think he really fills out the team.
"Physically, I feel great," Gabriel Landeskog Ends Successful Weekend Series with a Goal and Assist
<b>Loveland, Colo.</b> - After 1,020 days of rehabilitation and constant mental preparation, Gabriel Landeskog returned to the ice for a professional hockey game.
Filling the Missing Holes
As far as Coach Bednar is concerned, the only hole the team has to sort out is at 3C, and he addressed his plan for that today.
When talking about his options, he mentioned that he really liked forward Ross Colton at the position last season and intends to try him out there again during training camp over the next week. But he also reiterated General Manager Chris MacFarland's comments about forward Jack Drury having more to give and intends to experiment with last year's trade acquisition at 3C as well.
If Drury makes out to be the better fit, Bednar mentioned also having to find a new 4C. Parker Kelly, Nikita Prishchepov, and prospect Zhakar Bardakov were among the players named that he plans to take a look at with his experienced personnel through training camp.
Overall, with training camp starting on Thursday and no surprise PTOs on the extensively talented roster, Jared Bednar and company have their work cut out for them as the clock ticks down to the beginning of the season.
More Media Day content coming in the next few days!
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