The Avalanche are likely going to start the season with 12 healthy forwards. Artturi Lehkonen, who missed all of training camp and the preseason isn’t going to be back anytime soon. At least that was the way it sounded after Monday’s practice at Ball Arena.
“He has a five-month check-in at the end of the month,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “And then we’ll get word on how he can advance from there.”
The Avs open the season on Wednesday in Vegas before playing four home games over seven nights starting Saturday. If Lehkonen were to miss the entire month of October, he’d be absent for 11 games. Since the Avalanche also didn’t make a waiver claim, Bednar mentioned flexibility with some of his top AHL veterans already passing through waivers. They’ll likely get the first look as the 13th forward if needed.
On Monday, rookies Nikolai Kovalenko and Calum Ritchie slotted in on the second line alongside center Casey Mittelstadt. They’ll likely get an extended look higher in the lineup until at least Lehkonen is back. The other missing piece is of course Valeri Nichushkin, who isn’t eligible to be reinstated until Nov. 13.
Ritchie could play nine games without burning the first year of his entry-level contract. But he could still be sent back down to the Ontario Hockey League after the nine-game mark. His play will ultimately determine how long he stays in the lineup and if he sticks around if or when the Avs get Lehkonen, Nichushkin, and Gabriel Landeskog back.
“He’s a confident player, like even just coming in,” Bednar said of Ritchie. “I think that he understands the skill set that he has, sometimes probably even just a little bit too confident. It’s the decision-making part of it, for me, is an area that he needs to improve. He has the ability to make plays all over the ice, and I want to give him the freedom to do that, just like I would any other top-six skilled player.”
