Colorado Avalanche Condor Watch: Erik Johnson Status

As of last night, March 30, the Colorado Avalanche’s cornerstone defenseman, Erik Johnson, has missed nine weeks after undergoing an knee scoping procedure on January 26. Johnson was originally slated to miss only 3 to 8 weeks.

Missed Hockey

I’ve been a little worried. Johnson participated in two weeks of reconditioning in Philadelphia with renowned trainer Bill Knowles. He completed that five weeks ago, though. He only started skating openly about two to two-and-a-half weeks ago. I don’t know what was going on in between — physical therapy, I imagine.

I initially did an article about Johnson’s type of arthroscopic surgery. Even people in average fitness typically get back to normal activity within eight weeks. Johnson is not of average fitness — he’s an elite professional athlete. Of course, “normal activity” for Johnson is a physical, aggressive game played at the highest levels.

Erik Johnson has now missed 28 games this season. In that time the Avalanche have gone 15-11-2. That’s not bad. It’s not great, but, frankly, it’s better than I expected when EJ first went down. Credit the Avalanche’s new winning system.

Johnson was supposed to start playing again during the Canadian road trip, which was at the eight-week mark. Head coach Patrick Roy then announced that Johnson wouldn’t play until the two-game home stand. Those are the two games than just went by.

Yesterday coach Roy announced that Johnson wouldn’t play until he had participated in a full practice, which was happening today at the Family Sports Center in Centennial. Luckily, Avs practices are open to the public, so I decided to go check the situation out for myself. (Not that I can tell much from my viewer’s vantage point, but I wanted to see Condor soar again.)

Practice Report

Erik Johnson participated in the practice while wearing a red no-contact jersey. This was his first full practice after the surgery, so it should come as no surprise. Nonetheless, it was a little disheartening to see that.

Johnson looked really good skating. One of my favorite aspects of his game is his smooth, powerful skating style — the skating that earned him the nickname Condor. He’s back to skating that well:

Watching that drill, I was so glad to see his transition skating was still strong. I remarked at the beginning of the season that Johnson transitions like his spine is a pivot and he’s got ball bearings in his hips. He still does.

There wasn’t a lot of contact at the practice in general. However, there were a couple times when, as players were fighting for the puck in the corner, I could tell they weren’t going as hard on Johnson as on each other.

No contact aside, about midway through the practice, Johnson did lay a pretty big hit on Joey Hishon. Starting small, I guess.

It was such a pleasure seeing Erik Johnson hockeying again. However, I noticed during the “conditioning drill” — or bag skate — at the end of practice that Johnson lagged behind. He spent the summer working on his stamina so that he could play the big minutes in games, so his lagging during the bag skate was noticeable.

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson

It’s well known that it takes a player awhile to get back into game shape after an extended absence. Apparently that’s true even of a player in elite condition like Erik Johnson.

Prognosis

As soon as I saw Johnson in the red no-contact jersey, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be playing against the San Jose Sharks. I don’t think players ever go from that status directly to participating in full games.

When I saw his lagging during the bag skate, I realized he really wasn’t game ready. So, when Patrick Roy announced during the post-practice presser that EJ would not be making the trip to California, I was disappointed but not surprised.

Erik Johnson looks good. He looks like he’s well-healed. He’s skating strong. I watched if he babied his knees at all, but he did not. (Not that I could tell anyway.) Therefore, I think the lapse is simply his game conditioning. This is a tough stretch for the Avalanche, and the Condor is simply not ready to soar in a game situation yet.

Coach Roy has said Johnson may play in the last two games of the season. I really hope so — I think he’ll be ready then.