Avalanche ahead Jonathan Drouin, who has missed the previous 16 video games attributable to an upper-body harm, will return to the ice when Colorado faces the visiting Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Drouin, 29, has performed in solely 5 video games this season, one on Oct. 9 and 4 video games from Nov. 15 to Nov. 23. He has 4 factors (two targets, two assists) and no penalty minutes, and he has averaged 20:40 of ice time.
“It has been a protracted yr. Form of play a pair video games and get reinjured,” Drouin stated Monday. “The identical sort of factor occurred, and sort of redo the entire technique of all of the rehab and remedy. … It’s extremely comparable, very near the identical one I needed to begin the yr within the first recreation.”
Drouin is anticipated to play on the second line with Mikko Rantanen and Ross Colton.
“He is feeling good, too,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar stated of Drouin on Monday. “I really feel just like the final little bit he is actually been ramping up, seems to be good in observe. So, it’ll be good to get him again. We have been with out a few of these top-six forwards for the entire season, I assume, and now we lastly get him again. Ought to be a rested participant, keen participant, and we clearly know what he can present to our workforce.”
Drouin scored a career-high 56 factors (19 targets, 37 assists) in his first season with the Avalanche in 2023-24.
Tampa Bay chosen Drouin with the third choose within the 2013 NHL draft. He has 341 profession factors (98 targets, 243 assists) in 569 video games for the Lightning (2014-17), Montreal Canadiens (2017-23) and Avalanche, who’ve signed him as a free agent every of the previous two years.
