Jonathan Drouin To Begin Skating Today

I had planned to ask Jared Bednar about Jonathan Drouin this afternoon when the team holds their availability at the team hotel, but he answered my question this morning on the radio.

While the Avalanche are not skating as a team today, Drouin is going to begin skating on his own. That’s the first step in his recovery from a skate cut to his upper thigh.

Here’s what Bednar had to say on Altitude Sports Radio…

“Skating today for the first time,” Bednar said. “He’s making progress.”

The 29 year old winger has been around the team since the injury occurred, and has travelled on all road trips since it occurred on April 18. He initially had a pretty nasty limp, but that limp has slowly disappeared as time has gone on, and he’s been seen working out off the ice of late.

After the Winnipeg series ended, Bednar confirmed that it was about a four week injury. Tomorrow (May 9) marks three weeks from the date of the injury, so he appears to be on track with the timeline that was given. The reason why they had to wait this long to get him on the ice was because of the risk of infection with hockey pads. If he’s skating today, that must mean that risk isn’t really there anymore, or at the very least, it’s minimal.

In his place, the Avalanche have moved Zach Parise into the top six, and he’s filled in admirably. However, a healthy Drouin is an upgrade, and would make this team quicker and even more dangerous up front.

I’ll make sure to keep everyone posted after we talk to coach in a few hours if there are any further updates on Drouin.