Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar provided updates and timelines on Colorado's most recent group who have suffered injuries.
After returning to the lineup against St. Louis on Feb. 18 - for the first time since Feb. 7 after being sidelined with an upper-body injury that he sustained against Pittsburgh - defenseman
Cale Makar
did not play against Edmonton due to a collision with Blues' forward Alexei Toropchenko. Bednar announced on Tuesday following practice, that Makar was placed back in concussion protocol and will miss the team's pair of games this weekend against Winnipeg and Calgary.
Prior to his most recent injury, Makar had produced 45 points (13G, 32A) in 46 games and led the Avalanche in average time on ice per games played at 26:57 minutes.
"He was already in the [gym] today," Bednar said about Makar after Tuesday's practice. "They monitor the symptoms. You have to do a symptom test every day and then you start with your exercise. It's X amount of minutes of exercise, then 24 hours of rest. You monitor it. If any symptoms pop back up then you [re-do that step]. You want your system or chart to have the numbers go down until he feels like he's good. Then, he has to do the baseline test. It's basically exercise, exercise again, then he's on the ice alone, then he's on the ice with no contact and then it's on the ice with contact and then hopefully he's cleared if everything goes well."
Bednar also provided updates that defenseman Erik Johnson sustained a broken ankle against Florida on Feb. 11 and will be sidelined for "weeks." Goaltender Pavel Francouz has not played since Feb. 7 and will be out for an estimate of three weeks due to a lower-body injury. Forward Darren Helm has been out of the lineup since Jan. 12 - after only returning for five games - but has begun skating on his own.
A positive on the injury front is that Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog - who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on Oct. 18 - has returned to Denver and hit the ice for the first time on Feb. 20, but still has no timeline regarding his return. While Landeskog has not made his season debut yet, just having the team's leader back around the room provides an immense morale boost for the organization.
"All of the guys were excited to see him, the coaches were excited, I was excited," Bednar said of Landeskog. "Guys will be happy that he's back and working towards a return. It's helpful. It's a set of eyes, one of their peers and someone that everyone respects who will be watching the games and sharing his thoughts. He's been doing it from a distance, but now to be able to be in the room, come in and talk to guys, practice days and game days he'll have good insight."
