Colorado Avalanche: What Happened to Conor Timmins?

The Colorado Avalanche are showing caution with one of their top prospects, Conor Timmins, as he battles concussion symptoms.

Colorado Avalanche prospect Conor Timmins has been unable to participate in any of the development camp activities. BSN Avalanche’s A.J. Haefele reported on Friday that he was being kept out due to a concussion. Adrian Dater went into a little more detail:

And then some good buddies of mine over at Hounds Insider went into more detail. Reading this made me sad:

Reading this made me mad:

No, not mad — code-red furious.

The Game 5 in question happened on May 11, 2018. Conor Timmins had signed his entry-level contract on March 2, 2018 — two months previously. He already had the next step in his future secured. He already had the GM of his new NHL team, Joe Sakic, stating he expected Conor to make the team out of training camp.

Conor Timmins had his dream right in front of him.

Why did he go back into that game? No way a 19-year-old kid knows how to cheat the concussion protocol. And no way a 19-year-old kid finishing his amateur career with his professional career already waiting would want to.

Do players make that decision? Absolutely. Alex Ovechkin has never had a concussion. However, do I think he would have played through a concussion during his Stanley Cup run this year? I would bet money in Vegas he would.

But he’s a 32-year-old man with a lot of money and a baby on the way. He knows exactly what’s at stake. And he knows exactly what he wanted — a Stanley Cup. I think you could tell him he’ll spend the last 40 years of his life drooling because of CTE, and he’d still make that decision.

Conor Timmins? No way.

I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed for this kid’s sake, for his future, that the Colorado Avalanche are being more cautious than the Soo Greyhounds apparently were. That they’re taking CTE and concussions in general seriously.

That they’re taking Timmins’ health seriously. That they’re not willing to trade his future for something meaningless like a development camp or a trophy.

I believe in the Colorado Avalanche on this topic. They have a good history of making sure a player is healed from his concussion before returning. They did so with Gabriel Landeskog, Matt Duchene and Erik Johnson at different times. All three of those core players went down with a concussion at one time or another, and the Avs kept them out of the lineup for extended periods of time.

They did so again with Jonathan Bernier last season. They went forth in the playoffs with their third-string goalie because Bernier was still battling concussion symptoms. And if that cost them the series, so be it.

Next: Facing Concussion in Modern Hockey

I’m sure the Avalanche have Conor Timmins’ best interests at heart. Too bad the Soo Greyhounds didn’t afford him the same care. Instead, it appears they just tried to wring out the last vestiges of utility from a player who was leaving the team anyway.

In future, if I were the Colorado Avalanche or any other team, I’d yank my player out of major juniors the second he was signed since these teams don’t have the decency to protect their assets.