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Logan O'Connor

Injury Notes: O’Connor, MacKinnon, Ekblad, Tavares

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The Colorado Avalanche will be without the services of forward Logan O’Connor tomorrow night, as Meghan Angley of DNVR Avalanche reports the team will hold him out of the lineup so that he can play more continuously when fully healthy. O’Connor has missed the last two games for Colorado as he suffered a lower-body injury in the team’s recent contest against the Florida Panthers.

Amid a career year offensively, the typical bottom-six player for the Avalanche has already reached a career-high total in goals with 13 and is only one point behind his career-high in points with 25. Shaping up to be an integral part of their postseason aspirations, O’Connor still has one year and $1.05MM remaining on his contract after this season.

Either in practice or in the team’s most recent game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now reports that Nathan MacKinnon had broken his nose after taking a puck to the face. MacKinnon is not expected to miss any time with the injury but could be seen wearing a bubble on his helmet tomorrow night.

Other injury notes:

  • Before their game tonight against their in-state rivals, the Panthers announced that defenseman Aaron Ekblad would miss the game due to a lower-body injury. Ekblad had previously missed the majority of the start to the 2023-24 campaign due to offseason shoulder surgery. Upon his return in mid-November, Ekblad has regained most of his previous form, scoring three goals and 14 points in 37 games while averaging over 21 minutes a night for the Panthers.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without their captain tonight, as John Tavares is reportedly considered day-to-day with a minor injury (X Link). Taking a bit of a step back from his previous scoring pace in Toronto, Tavares still sits fifth on the team in scoring with 15 goals and 40 points in 51 games.

Injury Updates: Zary, Martinez, Avalanche

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Calgary Flames forward Connor Zary is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury, according to a team announcement. He did not dress for the Flames’ loss to the Nashville Predators, though the day-to-day nature of the absence does leave a chance for him to return in time for the Flames’ contest tomorrow in Dallas.

The loss of Zary, 22, is a significant one for the Flames, as he’s quickly emerged as one of the team’s more gifted offensive players. In just nine games so far this season Zary has eight points, displaying a knack for finding his way onto the scoresheet. A 2020 first-round pick, Zary’s initial transition from WHL stardom to pro hockey was rocky, but after his 25-point AHL rookie season Zary scored 21 goals and 58 points there. He scored 10 points in just six AHL games so far this season, a performance that earned him his call-up to Calgary.

Some other injury updates from the Western Conference:

  • Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alec Martinez missed yesterday’s overtime victory over the Dallas Stars due to a lower-body injury. Martinez’ vacated spot in the lineup next to Alex Pietrangelo was filled by Nicolas Hague, while Ben Hutton re-entered the lineup to fill Hague’s old role on the team’s bottom pairing next to Zach Whitecloud. Martinez is among Vegas’ most important defensemen, averaging nearly 20 minutes per night and over two minutes per night on the penalty kill.
  • Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told the media, including NHL.com’s Ryan Boulding, that forward Logan O’Connor has a lower-body injury and is out day-to-day. Additionally, forward Valeri Nichushkin left last night’s game to get stitches for his mouth but did end up returning to the contest. At the moment, O’Connor plays third-line minutes for the Avalanche on a line with Ross Colton and Miles Wood. Should he miss any time, physical spare forward Kurtis MacDermid could draw into the lineup, or they could place a player on injured reserve and recall a forward such as Ben Meyers. O’Connor, 27, has scored three goals and seven points in 17 games so far this season.

Snapshots: Knight, Subban, Bourque, Avalanche

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The NHL has named Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight as the Rookie of the Month for April.  The 21-year-old finished up his first full professional campaign on a high note, posting a 2.16 GAA along with a .925 SV% in seven starts for Florida this month.  With veteran Sergei Bobrovsky’s numbers checking in at 3.27 and .893 respectively over that same stretch, Knight has made a strong push for playing time in their upcoming playoff series against Washington.  He’s the second Panther to get the award this season, joining center Anton Lundell who received the honor in January.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Sabres goaltender/surprise anthem singer Malcolm Subban told reporters today, including Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News (Twitter link) that he’d love to return to Buffalo next season. The pending unrestricted free agent was traded to the Sabres in December but got into just four games before suffering a season-ending upper-body injury back in January.  After clearing waivers earlier in the year, it seems likely that Subban’s best fit would be as a third-string netminder and Buffalo will likely have an opening in that spot with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen expected to be up full-time in the NHL next season.
  • Veteran forward Chris Bourque announced (Twitter link) that he is retiring. The 36-year-old played in 51 career NHL games over parts of four seasons with Washington, Pittsburgh, and Boston while spending 13 years in the minors where he’s 20th in all-time AHL scoring with 746 points.  Bourque spent the past three seasons with Ingolstadt in Germany, collecting 134 points in 141 games.
  • Avalanche defenseman Kurtis MacDermid and winger Logan O’Connor avoided any suspensions from the league for their actions against Minnesota on Friday. However, both will be a little lighter in the wallet as the Department of Player Safety announced (Twitter links) that both players received fines worth half of one day’s salary, the maximum allowable under the CBA.  MacDermid was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for kneeing winger Marcus Foligno who looked to be seriously injured on the play.  O’Connor, meanwhile, had cross-checked defenseman Dmitry Kulikov although the blueliner was eventually able to return to the game.

Logan O’Connor Signs Three-Year Extension With Avalanche

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Logan O’Connor’s ice time has slowly gone up the last couple of seasons and he has been rewarded for his improvement as the Avalanche announced that they’ve signed the winger to a three-year contract extension.  Peter Baugh of The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that the deal carries a $1.05MM AAV.  GM Joe Sakic released the following statement:

Logan is a high-energy player who works hard, competes and brings grit and depth to our lineup. He is a strong skater and penalty killer and has continued to improve his game every year as a professional.

O’Connor was frequently shuffled back and forth to and from the taxi squad last season while also dealing with a lower-body injury but still got into a career-best 22 games with Colorado last season where he picked up three goals and two assists in just under 11 minutes a game in playing time.  He also saw action in a pair of playoff contests where he was held off the scoresheet.  To this point in his career, the 25-year-old has primarily been used in a checking role over his 43 total NHL appearances but with the departures of Joonas Donskoi and Brandon Saad this summer, there will be an opportunity for O’Connor to have a bigger role on the depth chart.

The fact that Colorado has handed him this deal now suggests that they expect O’Connor to be more of a regular player this coming season and have opted to sign him now over potentially needing to pay him more had they waited until next offseason.  Either way, O’Connor picks up a nice raise as he is scheduled to make the league minimum of $750K in salary in 2021-22 while actually carrying a cap hit below that price tag at $725K.

West Notes: Patrick, Connolly, O’Connor

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After a tough season with the Flyers, it seemed a trade was all but inevitable for Nolan Patrick and one eventually came to fruition as he was flipped to Vegas as part of the three-team deal that saw Cody Glass head to Nashville in return.  Speaking with Justin Emerson of the Las Vegas Sun, the 22-year-old acknowledged that a fresh start was probably the best thing for him.  Last season, the 2017 second-overall pick returned from missing an entire year due to migraines but managed just four goals and five assists in 52 games.  The Golden Knights still need to sign Patrick who is a restricted free agent but it’s hard to see him getting much more than his qualifying offer of just under $918K.  He should get an opportunity to play a regular role in their bottom six next season and a more consistent performance will be needed for him to have a shot at being an impact player.

Elsewhere in the West:

  • While he’s only two seasons removed from a 46-point campaign, Brett Connolly has seen his stock dip sharply since then to the point where Florida paid the Blackhawks to take on his contract. Now, as Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times observes, the 29-year-old appears to be the odd one out in terms of making Chicago’s opening roster as things currently stand.  With two years left on his contract at $3.5MM, he’s a lock to go through waivers unclaimed and an assignment to the minors would only free up $1.125MM in cap space.  That said, if he’s only going to be a reserve player, going that route and bringing someone up making close to the minimum would likely be worthwhile from a cap perspective.
  • Avalanche winger Logan O’Connor missed more than two months with a lower-body injury last season with the team never revealing the nature of it. O’Connor clarified to Mike Chambers of the Denver Post that he had undergone sports hernia and groin surgery to fix an issue that had crept up early in the season.  The 25-year-old was able to return for the final two games of the playoffs and will have a chance for a bigger role in 2021-22 with the departures of Brandon Saad (free agency) and Joonas Donskoi (expansion).  He’s in the final year of his contract, one that carries an AAV that’s actually $25K below the league minimum.

West Notes: Garland, Nieto, Avalanche

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Losing a top point producer is never ideal but especially so in the midst of a playoff race.  However, it appears that the Coyotes are in that situation as Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider reports that winger Conor Garland suffered a knee injury at practice on Tuesday and that there is internal concern that he will miss significant time.  The 25-year-old is tied for second on Arizona in scoring with 10 goals and 22 assists in 45 games while logging over 17 minutes a night so any extended absence would significantly hurt their chances of snagging the last playoff spot in the West Division; they sit one point up on St. Louis but the Blues have three games in hand.  Garland isn’t playing tonight and the team should know more about his status over the next day or two.

More from the West Division:

  • Sharks winger Matt Nieto could return this season, or not. That’s certainly an odd way to update the status of a player but head coach Bob Boughner told Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News (Twitter link) that it’s possible that Nieto can play next week but at the same time, “it might be a marginal call whether he goes back in or not”.  Nieto has been dealing with a lower-body injury for the last month and it appears that they are going to ere on the side of caution when he is cleared and if there isn’t enough time left in the year (or they fall out of the playoff race entirely), he could just be shut down.  Nieto has five goals and two assists in 28 games this season.
  • While Bowen Byram is now off the CPRA list, he will not accompany the Avalanche on their three-game road trip to St. Louis, reports Peter Baugh of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 19-year-old rookie has played in 19 games so far this season, recording a pair of assists while logging 17:31 on the back end.  Assuming he’s able to suit up after this trip, he’ll have a couple of weeks to work on his conditioning before the playoffs get underway.  Meanwhile, Baugh adds that winger Logan O’Connor, who suffered a lower-body injury at the end of March, is on the trip.  Initially an injury fill-in, O’Connor has three goals and two assists in 22 games this season.

Colorado Re-Signs Logan O’Connor

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Colorado has re-signed one of their wingers, announcing that they’ve inked Logan O’Connor to a two-year contract.  While financial terms weren’t disclosed, Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the first year is a two-way deal with a $700K salary in the NHL and $200K in the minors while the second has a one-way salary worth $750K.

The 24-year-old split this season between the Avalanche and their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. While in the minors, he was productive as he picked up 12 goals and 13 assists in just 40 games, a similar point pace to his rookie campaign.  With the Avs, he was held to just two goals in 16 contests while playing just 8:26 per night.

O’Connor was included on their playoff roster and while he didn’t play early on, he was pressed into action when they were hit hard with injuries.  He started out on the fourth line but moved up as their series against Dallas moved on and wound up picking up an assist in five games.

GM Joe Sakic released the following statement about the signing:

Logan has continued to elevate his game each season and made the most of his opportunities this year and in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He’s a hardworking player who brings speed and energy to our lineup and we’re excited to have him for another two seasons.

O’Connor will be pushing for a regular spot in the lineup at training camp but he remains exempt from waivers for next season having had only two professional seasons under his belt after signing as an undrafted free agent in 2018.  As a result, he may have to start back in the minors and wait for injuries to get his next chance in an Avalanche uniform.

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