It’s official – sort of.
This Saturday in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Avalanche is expecting to welcome defenseman Jordan Leopold to its lineup.
“That’s the target date,” Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said. “He’s coming on the (road) trip, and we hope to get him then.”
It has been a longer than anticipated wait for Leopold, the main player the Avs received in a trade that sent Alex Tanguay to the Calgary Flames last summer. Leopold, out from hernia surgery, has upped his training regimen of late.
He has been pulling Avalanche assistant coach Tony Granato around the ice with rope tied around his middle. Granato weighs about 175 pounds.
When Leopold returns, it will force Quenneville to sit one of his current six regular defensemen. Chances are that will come down to Ken Klee, Ossi Vaananen or Patrice Brisebois. Or, Quenneville could play one of his defensemen at forward, but that seems unlikely.
Footnotes
Avalanche center Pierre Turgeon (shoulder surgery) made a step forward in his recovery, in that he took faceoffs at practice for the first time Saturday. Turgeon probably is another couple of weeks away from returning, possibly a bit sooner. … Avs defenseman John-Michael Liles turned 26 on Saturday. … Avs goalie Peter Budaj ranks eighth in NHL save percentage (.917). He is ninth in goal-against average (2.40). … Avs captain Joe Sakic entered the game tied with Larry Murphy for 13th place on the all-time NHL assist list (929). … Sakic had the most points of any active NHL player against Vancouver entering the game (89 points, 67 games).
