Avalanche give brutal update on health of forward Artturi Lehkonen

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar passed along an unfortunate update about the health of forward Artturi Lehkonen on Saturday.

After the team’s morning skate, Bednar announced Lehkonen would miss “weeks” due to a scary collision into the boards against the Seattle Kraken earlier this week.

Artturi Lehkonen will miss “weeks,” Jared Bednar said. He said it was not a head injury. No exact timeline.

Andrew Cogliano will also miss tonight. He’s day-to-day.

— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) November 11, 2023

Lehkonen was taken to the hospital on Thursday night after going head first into the boards following a hit by Seattle defenseman Jamie Oleksiak. The incident occurred in the second period with 8:15 to go and the Avs trailing 3-1.

You can watch it here, but a fair warning, it’s difficult to see.

Lehkonen has gone to the locker room after crashing into the boards pic.twitter.com/Y05SP2FhHX

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 10, 2023

The Avalanche announced that Lehkonen had been taken to the hospital after he was able to leave the ice under his own power. They noted he was “alert, responsive and has full movement,” which was obviously great news.

Colorado will miss Lehkonen in a big way. He’s tied for fourth on the team with eight points, netting three goals and adding five assists.

Will the Avs make a big move? Patrick Kane is still a free agent and has been vaguely linked to the team.

We’ll keep an eye on it, but for now Colorado will need its depth scoring to step up. They’re currently 8-4-0 on the young season and host the Blues later tonight.