Injury Notes: Koivu, Wilson, Tanev

Mikko Koivu’s season is over and it’s already had a massive impact on his team. However, the Minnesota Wild captain wants everyone to know that next year is not in doubt. The Associate Press report on Koivu’s major knee injury was actually overwhelmingly positive. Less than a week after reconstructive surgery to repair a torn ACL, Koivu said the following yesterday about his potential return for 2019-20 training camp:

 I’m totally confident… I think it’s about your effort, the way you take care of yourself on and off the ice, and at the end, it’s going to be a battle. But if you’re strong enough, you’re going to be able to do it… It’s a fact that this knee will be stronger than I’ve ever experienced. The rest of it is up to me.

The typical recovery time for this injury is six to nine months and especially for a soon-to-be-36-year-old, the latter end of that timeline seems more likely. However, Koivu has never given anyone a reason to doubt his dedication and work ethic, so his own optimism means a lot. Some thought that this could be a career-ending injury for the respected veteran; he merely sees it as a minor setback.

• The Colorado Avalanche have all but confirmed that they won’t be major buyers at the trade deadline, but they might have a hard time being sellers too. The young team is not looking to move their long-term investments nor the players needed to win down the stretch and few good other rental options exist on the roster. The one player that does stand out as a valuable rental target is forward Colin Wilson, who has redeemed himself this season after an abysmal first year in Colorado. Wilson is a versatile, veteran forward who can be a major boost to a contender’s bottom-six. However, he’s also now on the injured reserve. CapFriendly reports that Wilson has been moved to the IR by the Avs with an undisclosed upper-body injury. The requisite ten days on the IR will give Wilson at most two games to show that he is healthy, if he is even ready to play by then. This could make it hard to the Avalanche to shop their most prized impending free agent.
• The injuries continue to pile on for the Vancouver Canucks, as Chris Tanev has also joined the injured reserve. While the Canucks were happy to get starting goalie Jacob Markstrom back last night, Tanev is the latest in a long list of injuries, including Sven Baertschi, Alexander Edler, Thatcher Demko, Brandon Sutter, and Jake Virtanen. Of that group, only Virtanen has managed to stay off the IR.