The Colorado Avalanche got a major injury disaster with the loss of Artturi Lehkonen during Monday’s win against the LA Kings.
Lehkonen left the game and did not return. Following the matchup, coach Jared Bednar stated that Lehkonen would “miss some time.”
Now, “some time” is coach-speak for a long-term injury. Coaches don’t like to tip their hands, but that sort of verbiage signals it’s at least a week-to-week thing.
While the injury itself is bad enough, the timing is even worse. With about six weeks left in the regular season, the Avalanche need to determine if Lehkonen will be out for the remainder of the regular season and then back for the playoffs, or, if the worst should happen, Lehkonen is out for the playoffs as well.
Please bear in mind that the devil is in the details.
If Lehkonen is out long term, but there’s a chance he could be back for the playoffs, that situation would effectively handcuff the Avalanche. This year’s playoff salary cap means Colorado can’t just shut down Lehkonen, put him on LTIR, bring in someone else, and activate the Finnish star for Game 1 of the playoffs.
Now, the Avalanche could move Lehkonen to LTIR and acquire someone else at the deadline. He’s got a $4.5 million cap hit. However, under this year’s rules, the Avalanche could only get $3.8 million in cap relief.
That’s not nothing. It could go a long way towards bringing in a solid middle-six forward. However, if Lehkonen returns in the postseason, the Avalanche may have a cap crunch. That’s why Lehkonen’s injury could leave the Avalanche in cap limbo.
Losing Lehkonen for the season would give Avalanche cost-certainty
Losing Lehkonen for the remainder of the season, that is, including the playoffs, is perhaps the best-case scenario.
With Lehkonen done for the year, the Avalanche would have cost certainty. Most importantly, the club could go out and get another forward, knowing they wouldn’t necessarily face a cap crunch.
But there’s one detail with this move.
If the Avalanche rule Lehkonen out for the season, including the playoffs, and then he’s ready to come back in, say, the Conference Final, the Avalanche can’t activate him. Once the paperwork is in, that’s it. There’s no going back.
That said, we might be getting ahead of ourselves here. But the issue lies in the timing of Lehkonen’s injury. Had this situation happened earlier, the club could have gotten an opportunity to pivot.
But since it’s happening now, there’s still a chance to do something about it. But the runway is tight, and the uncertainty makes solving this situation that much harder.
It remains to be seen if the Avs pull the trigger on a depth forward such as Toronto Maple Leafs winger Bobby McMann or the San Jose Sharks forward Kiefer Sherwood, and hope that Lehkonen could return at some point down the line.