Avalanche left winger and team captain Gabe Landeskog on Tuesday was again not made available to reporters because he was “unfit” to participate in training camp for the second straight day — presumably because of COVID-19 protocols that the team declined to outline.
Defenseman and alternate captain Erik Johnson also was among five “unfit” players, a group that also includes goalie Philipp Grubauer and new second-line forward Brandon Saad. Depth defenseman Keaton Middleton, who has yet to play in the NHL, was the fifth unfit player.
Avs coach Jared Bednar, who on Sunday said his team was 100% injury-free, declined to say if the five players are allowed into Family Sports Center or if any will return to the ice this week.
“Different (protocols) for different guys, so I can’t comment on it,” Bednar said. “All I can say is they’re unfit to practice again today. They’re all sort of meeting different protocols.”
Colorado’s regular-season opener is Jan. 13. Bednar hopes to have a full complement of available players at that time, but it is uncertain whether or not that will be the case.
“I’m not 100% sure but at this point I’m not overly worried about it either,” he said.
He added: “It’s not ideal. It’s also not the end of the world. With Saad out, he’s the one guy (who) we approach him a little bit different. Gruby, Landeskog, Johnson, those guys are in-tune with the way we play and have been doing it for years. Saad, we’ll send him some of the meetings, have some discussions with him and make sure he’s getting the information he needs and knows what he’s missing out on.”
Landeskog and Saad were pegged to play on the second line with center Nazem Kadri. It’s unclear who Kadri is practicing with because the camp is closed to media. Bednar on Sunday said Johnson would play with Sam Girard on the second defensive pairing.
Landeskog and Saad are also power-play specialists, and Johnson is a primary penalty killer. So Colorado’s special teams also suffer because of their absences.
Grubauer was probably the likely opening-night starter in net based on him being the No. 1 guy to begin the playoffs last year.
Cup or bust. The Avs made veteran defenseman Ian Cole available Tuesday, and the two-time Stanley Cup winner with Pittsburgh said Colorado undoubtedly has one clear-cut goal this season: Winning the Stanley Cup.
“We’re very excited about our group,” Cole said. “I think that everyone individually thought this but we had a pretty good meeting (recently). It is quite clear that, for us, our goal is to win a Stanley Cup. Anything short of that is a disappointment. I think to do that, you need to have a deep team, and a team that can contribute all four lines, all three D-pairs, both goalies and eventually extra guys as well, because like we saw last year there will be injuries.
“So it’s a season we’re excited about, a season we’re ready to get going.”
Footnote. Former Avalanche forward Colin Wilson officially announced his retirement from the NHL on Tuesday in a story published by the NHL Players’ Association. Wilson, 31, played the final 230 games of his 632-game career for Colorado. He saw action in just nine games last season for the Avs, and in October he wrote about his career-long struggle with OCD that led to drug-and-alcohol problems.
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Avalanche continues training camp without four key players, each “unfit” - The Denver Post
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