Lehkonen is expected to be out 4-6 weeks after he was injured in the second period of an 8-4 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. He had two goals and an assist in his first game at Bell Centre since he was traded from the Canadiens to the Avalanche on March 21, 2022.
"I feel like we are losing our most fierce competitor every night," Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar said Tuesday. "This guy just goes to war. He's such a big key for us on the forecheck so it's going to be a big hole to fill. Luckily we have a lot of depth so hopefully somebody can come up, nobody is going to fill the exact same hole but everybody's going to have to take a little bit of it."
Lehkonen has career highs in goals (20), assists (29) and points (49) in 62 games this season.
"He's one of our identity guys no question," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "This is one of the hardest working guys on the ice in every single game he plays. He's an all-situation guy, power play, penalty kill, 5-on-5, he's playing on our top line or top two lines every night. When it comes to the competitiveness and the passion he plays with, he sets the bar for our team.
"We are going to miss him there's no question but it is what it is. On the bright side, it's his top hand, he's going for surgery first thing in the morning and we hope to be able to get him back and with an injury like a finger at least you can skate, stay in shape so making sure when you get the all clear, you're basically ready to go."
Colorado plays its final regular-season game April 14.
The Avalanche are also without forwards
Gabriel Landeskog
and Darren Helm, defensemen Erik Johnson, Josh Manson and Kurtis MacDermid and goalie Pavel Francouz. Each has a lower-body injury.
"We have a lot of complete players and Lehkonen is] probably the most complete with the way he defends and forechecks," Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon said. "Twenty goals already this season as well. You can't replace a guy like that. We're just going to have to try to tighten up even more defensively with him out."
Forward
[Alex Galchenyuk
was recalled from Colorado of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. He has no points in four NHL games this season, and 33 points (15 goals, 18 assists) in 33 AHL games.
"Experienced guy," Bednar said. "He's put in a lot of work on his game so we had a look at him earlier in the season. We want to see him again. … He's been one of their top producers, a guy that can help chip in so time to take a look at him."
The Avalanche next play at the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. Colorado (37-22-6) is third in the Central Division, four points behind the second-place Minnesota Wild and seven points behind the first-place Dallas Stars.
NHL.com independent correspondent Dave McCarthy contributed to this report
