Avalanche left-winger Artturi Lehkonen will make his return to the lineup from an upper-body injury on Thursday against the Jets, head coach Jared Bednar told reporters after morning skate (via Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press).
Lehkonen, who’s remained a top-line fixture with Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas this season, will instead return in a more limited role as Colorado looks to spread out their scoring depth while easing him back into the lineup. He’ll be skating on a new-look third line with trade deadline acquisition Nazem Kadri down the middle and Logan O’Connor, who made his season debut after hip surgery and various unrelated complications had him sidelined long-term, on the right wing, per Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now.
The 30-year-old left a March 2 game against the Kings with his upper-body injury and was subsequently ruled out indefinitely. There weren’t many updates in the interim, but they’ll be happy to get him back in the rotation tonight after going 7-3-1 in 11 games without him, especially after receiving news that they’ll be without Nicolas Roy for several games as well.
Injuries have been a constant for Lehkonen ever since joining the Avs at the 2022 trade deadline. He’s yet to play more than 70 games in a season, but could finally hit that mark this year if he plays in 11 of Colorado’s 12 remaining games.
Had he been healthy over the past four years, he would be money in the bank for at least 55 points a year. Instead, he’s only technically hit the 50-point mark once in his career, back in 2022-23. He’s nonetheless been quite consistent when healthy and is averaging 0.71 points per game this season with a 19-23–42 scoring line in 59 games, the third-highest rate of his 10-year career.
Rookie Zakhar Bardakov will be the one exiting the lineup to make way for Lehkonen’s insertion. The versatile 25-year-old Russian has played in all but one game since the Olympic break and has been a fine fourth-line piece, scoring 10 points with a +5 rating in 56 games despite averaging just 7:09 of ice time per game.