Jordan Leopold’s skates were hanging upside down in his locker Saturday. They were bone dry, another day when neither saw any use by the Avalanche defenseman.
Leopold, in fact, has not skated for more than a week since he experienced renewed pain from recent hernia surgery during practice. Now comes word Leopold, the principal player acquired from Calgary in exchange for Alex Tanguay this summer, needs further medical examination. A return date, originally forecast for late this month, appears uncertain.
But Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said fans should not be too alarmed.
“I’m not worried about it,” Quenneville said. “I wouldn’t read into that.”
Quenneville declined to get too specific about what new medical testing Leopold, who was unavailable for comment Saturday, has undergone. Leopold, 26, hasn’t played for the Avs since the trade.
The former Hobey Baker Award winner was counted on to be a big part of the Avs’ defense, but saw his rehabilitation sidetracked after feeling pain again while skating.
Theodore starts
The Avalanche will go back to Jose Theodore in goal for tonight’s game with the Northwest Division-leading Minnesota Wild at the Pepsi Center.
Theodore, 2-3-1 with a .877 save percentage, sat out the past two games in favor of Peter Budaj.
Quenneville indicated Budaj probably would have been given another start tonight had he played as well in Wednesday’s game against Washington as he had in his previous two starts.
Theodore’s last start, in Montreal, resulted in an 8-5 Avs loss.
Quenneville likes Cards
Quenneville was happy the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. He became something of a Cards fan in his years coaching the St. Louis Blues, and developed a friendship with Cardinals manager Tony La Russa.
“I’ll call him soon,” Quenneville said. “There are going to be some happy fans there next week (when the Avs play in St. Louis).”
Avs defenseman John-Michael Liles is a big Cardinals fan, too, and was jubilant in the locker room Saturday.
Liles, a native of Indiana, is an even bigger Indianapolis Colts fan and regretted he couldn’t go to their game today against the Broncos at Invesco Field at Mile High.
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
