Artturi Lehkonen suffers broken finger
Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images
Another injury setback, because of course. Artturi Lehkonen left yesterday's game against the Montreal Canadiens in his return to the Centre Bell with an upper-body injury. Some thought he may have been ruled out for the rest of the game simply because of the scoreline.
However, Jared Bednar announced to the media after the game he’d suffered a broken finger. He went back to Denver either last night or this morning and will undergo surgery.
Artturi Lehkonen has a broken finger. He will return to Denver for surgery.— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) March 14, 2023
The injury setbacks continue for the Colorado Avalanche as the storyline of the season continues. Lehkonen had just gotten career goal 100 in the Canadiens game in his emotional return. Broken fingers are no joke and hence, makes sense as to why he was ruled out pretty quickly after going into the locker room.
It is still unknown exactly how he broke his finger. He kept playing after he scored Colorado’s first goal which deflected off of him, which honestly might be his best guess as to when his finger was broken since his last shift didn’t have anything too glaring.
The Avs have dealt with broken fingers in the past. Just last season, Evander Kane sent Nazem Kadri into the boards in Game 3 against the Edmonton Oilers which broke his thumb. Of course, since it was the NHL Playoffs, Kadri did rush his return and came back just a couple of weeks later with a valiant return.
But alas, the top six loses another star and now will have to rely on others to step in and fill his slot. Lehkonen has 18 goals and 28 assists and some big shoes left behind to fill. Full Press Hockey reporter Brennan Vogt spoke on his own personal experience with recovering from a broken finger and the initial timeline of when he’d return.
News of Lehkonen and broken finger have come out. I have broken a finger (getting slashed during a face-off) and it took 4-6 weeks for the finger to heal. This would put him at the end of regular season/ start of 1st round at the EARLIEST. #GoAvsGo #Avs @FullPressNHL— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) March 14, 2023
This will be detrimental to the rest of the regular season at least for the Avs as they will have to look for offense elsewhere. Expect a call-up from the Colorado Eagles such as Ben Meyers or Mikhail Maltsev, who has just returned from injury himself sometime today.
Who comes in to replace Lehkonen? How much will the Avs miss him? Let us know in the comments below (sadly)....
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