The Artturi Lehkonen injury is going to keep him out for more time

Colorado Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen has an injury that’s going to cause him to miss the start of the regular season.

While that’s not a huge surprise, unfortunately the shoulder surgery he underwent this offseason is going to keep him out for some more time.

Head coach Jared Bednar delivered the news after practice on Monday, with the Avs set to open the regular season on Wednesday night in Vegas against the Golden Knights.

The biggest takeaway from Bednar: Artturi Lehkonen won’t be back for a little while.

He has a 5-month check-in at the end of the month and they’ll see how he can advance from there.

— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) October 7, 2024

A checkup at the end of the month means you can basically rule Lehkonen out for all of October. Colorado is scheduled to play 11 games before the calendar flips to November.

Lehkonen had the shoulder surgery at the end of May, and it was “pretty bad in there,” Bednar said at the Avalanche’s first media availability of the season in September. The surgery went well, but the doctors found a fair amount of damage that needed to be fixed.

It’s not great overall, as Colorado will also start the season without Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin. Landeskog hasn’t played in two years and continues to recover from a cartilage transplant in his right knee.

Nichushkin is still serving a six-month suspension that ends in the middle of November. He’s in Phase 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.

The Avalanche have superstars like Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar ready to go, but depth will be a question until Lehkonen, Landeskog and Nichushkin can return.

In Lehkonen’s case, that appears to be a matter of weeks not days.

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