With lots of uncertainty surrounding the availability of Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin next season, the Colorado Avalanche could really use a healthy Artturi Lehkonen. After off-season shoulder surgery, there’s been some question as to whether or not Lehkonen will be ready when training camp opens in three weeks.

There’s a chance he might be limited when camp opens, but there are encouraging signs that he’ll be good to go when the Avalanche open their season on October 9 in Las Vegas.

Lehkonen has been on the ice each of the last two days at Family Sports, skating with a handful of players preparing for the upcoming season. While it’s clear to me he’s holding back a bit on his shot, which is to be expected, seeing him handle the puck at all is encouraging. The Avalanche had previously said they’ll know more about his injury around Labor Day, which is this coming weekend.

Here’s some video I took of Lehkonen today during the informal skate that took place.

I still would not be surprised if the Avalanche open camp with Lehkonen limited, simply because there’s no reason to push it that early in the season, but this is all good news. The 29 year old winger is a big piece for the Avalanche in all facets of the game. He’s one of the few players on the team who plays big minutes on both the powerplay and penalty kill, as well as being a vital piece for this team at even strength. His style of play makes him susceptible to injuries, but it’s the way that he plays that makes him so effective.

You may also notice Logan O’Connor in some of the clips. He looks like he’ll be ready to go when camp starts, which has been the expectation for months now.

It’s still a pretty light group of players skating at Family Sports. Most players start showing up around Labor Day, so I suspect we’ll see a much bigger group next week.