The Avalanche are soon expecting to have both Samuel Girard and Logan O’Connor back in the lineup.
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On his weekly Altitude Sports Radio segment, Jared Bednar said on Wednesday that the two skaters will join the team for the upcoming two-game road trip starting Friday. They won’t play in those games in either Vegas or San Jose, but the coach expects to have them back in early November.
Girard and O’Connor were two of three significant injuries the Avs had to start training camp. The other, starting goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, made his return on Tuesday in a backup role against the New Jersey Devils. He’s likely to make his season debut in one of the two games during the road trip.
Girard ended up working his way back near the end of preseason and was in the lineup when the season began. He played just two games before being shelved with an upper-body injury that’s kept him out since Oct. 11.
O’Connor was always going to miss the start of the season. The forward is in the first of a six-year contract and had offseason hip surgery early in the offseason that required nearly six months of recovery.
Both Girard and O’Connor have been skating in red non-contact sweaters recently to ramp up their game.
Assuming no other injuries, Girard’s return will likely replace Jack Ahcan on the third pair. The return of O’Connor will make things interesting among the forward group. Bednar can either sit Zakhar Bardakov and shift Parker Kelly to center to make room for O’Connor.
Or he can choose to sit Gavin Brindley instead and place O’Connor on the fourth-line wing with Kelly and Bardakov.
The only other notable injury is Joel Kiviranta, who doesn’t seem close to returning yet, although there hasn’t been an update on his status.
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