Colorado Avalanche teammate Andrew Cogliano said you never want to see a player go down the way Artturi Lehkonen did after crashing head first into the boards. Forward Artturi Lehkonen skated in a red non-contact jersey [https://x.com/jessemontano_/status/1733194703552614401?s=20] on Friday for the first time publicly since he was injured on Nov. 9 in a game against the Seattle Kraken [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/artturi-lehkonen-taken-to-hospital-after-head-first-crash-into-boards-in-avs-4-3-loss-to-kraken]. The 28-year-old suffered a head-first crash into the boards during the second period after making contact with Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak. Play stopped and he remained down for about a minute or so before Nathan MacKinnon and head athletic trainer Matt Sokolowski helped him down the tunnel. He was taken to the hospital but the team said later that he was alert and able to move. The following day, head coach Jared Bednar said Lehkonen would be out weeks and could not give a definitive timeline. Media has checked in regularly on his progression and Bednar said his return was still unknown. The exact extent of his upper-body injury has not been revealed but he was — at some point — in a neck brace, according to Bednar. Prior to his injury, the Piikkio, Finland native earned eight points in 12 games and was playing on the top line with MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. He averaged 18 and a half minutes of ice time per game with shifts averaging 50 seconds. In comparison, the only other forwards with more are MacKinnon, Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin. Lehkonen's absence has been felt in the top six more recently as Bednar has had to shift lines around with Nichushkin out due to illness. His return is crucial and hopefully soon to power up the Avalanche's offense. Artturi Lehkonen taken to hospital after head-first crash into boards in Avs 4-3 loss to Kraken [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/artturi-lehkonen-taken-to-hospital-after-head-first-crash-into-boards-in-avs-4-3-loss-to-kraken] Lehkonen out weeks, Avs look to keep momentum going against Blues [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/artturi-lehkonen-out-weeks-avs-look-to-keep-momentum-going-against-blues]
