Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar provided the latest update on injured forward Logan O’Connor on Tuesday. The 29-year-old winger has not played since last year’s playoffs.
“He’s back on the ice, making progress. So that’s good,” Bednar told reporters after practice. “He’ll be a guy who uses this break to his advantage. He’s planning on getting on the ice, staying on the ice, and working his way back to hopefully joining the team in the near future if everything goes well.”
O’Connor had offseason hip surgery on June 6 that was originally expected to keep him out for 5-6 months. He was getting close to a return in November before a new soft tissue injury took him off the ice.
Since then, updates have been nonexistent. O’Connor was not skating, and it was unclear when he would return. Throughout that period, Bednar would not commit to shutting down O’Connor for the season. It always sounded like the team expected to get him back at some point.
Now it seems like he’s back on track and working towards that.
“We feel confident in the plan and he feels good about it and he’s starting to ramp up again,” Bednar said.
After Wednesday’s matchup against the San Jose Sharks, the Avalanche won’t play again for three weeks. They close out the post-Olympic-break schedule with 27 games in 51 days.
O’Connor was excellent during the first-round series loss to the Dallas Stars last spring. Playing on a line with center Jack Drury and winger Parker Kelly, O’Connor had two goals and four assists in seven games.
This season is the first of a six-year, $15 million contract for O’Connor.
