Lehkonen broke toe in playoffs, offseason will be healing time for some Avalanche players

Only four players managed to play all 82 games for the Colorado Avalanche this season, which means the rest of the squad was hurt at some point in time.

The offseason should do the Colorado Avalanche some good after battling through an injury-ridden season and postseason. At least, that’s what management is hoping for and expecting.

Even with an early playoff exit, general manager Chris MacFarland is proud of his team. His group was cursed with the injury bug and the hockey gods seemed to be against the reigning Stanley Cup champs. But players managed through shifting lines and rotating teammates, to end the season atop the Central Division finishing with 109 points.

“The group dealt with a tremendous amount of adversity this year, in large part because of injury,” MacFarland said on Tuesday. “Not just Gabe’s (Landeskog) either. There were a lot of number of guys that were dealing with injuries all year and battling through.”

Professional teams tend to stay tight-lipped when it comes to player injuries during the season. But the offseason is usually when the truth comes out.

For the Avalanche, it was obvious there were several players on the ice not at 100% for the majority, if not all, of the season. The front office is hoping the next few months will be good recovery time for those players needing to heal.

A few players had procedures after the playoffs ended on April 30 with a Game 7 loss to the Seattle Kraken in the first round.

MacFarland said Pavel Francouz underwent an adductor procedure and Josh Manson had a procedure, as well. The team is expecting them both to make full recoveries. 

Artturi Lehkonen returned from a broken finger for the last two games of the regular season and the postseason. But MacFarland said he suffered a broken toe during the playoffs and that will need to heal.

Darren Helm only played 11 regular season games and Game 2 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Kraken. He had 8:15 of ice time in that game and didn’t play another. MacFarland didn’t specify if the same lower-body injury kept him sidelined and/or if he was having any further procedures on that end.

Andrew Cogliano took a hard hit into the boards in Game 6 but returned to finish the game. It was later discovered he had broken his neck and missed Game 7. His most recent injury was just an addition to the list of ailments he dealt with during the season including an AC sprain, MacFarland said.

Helm and Cogliano are both unrestricted free agents come July 1 so their futures with the Avalanche are unknown.