NHL training camps are rapidly approaching, yet the Colorado Avalanche already come in a little banged up.
The Denver Post reports that head coach Patrick Roy was nearly having a difficult time keeping track of their injuries. Let’s take a look at the slew of injury notes from that article:
- Patrick Bordeleau underwent offseason back surgery and is expected to miss the first three months (give or take) of the 2014-15 season.
- Jamie McGinn is also dealing with a bad back that might sideline him for part of training camp.
- John Mitchell is struggling with migraines.
- The following players are dealing with what the Denver Post describes as “minor and undisclosed injuries": Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan O’Reilly, Jan Hejda and Max Talbot. On the bright side, many of those players were involved in scrimmages this week, so it doesn’t sound like these are serious issues.
Avs exec Joe Sakic expressed his belief that the team added valuable depth during this offseason, so perhaps they’ll be able to weather this early storm quite well?
More than a few people look at how savagely Colorado was often out-chanced last season and believe that the team will take a big tumble down the standings even at full strength, so it’s not ideal to see such health issues cropping up. Sakic and Roy seem pretty confident in their ability to keep things going, though.