Artturi Lehkonen will play his first game of the season against the Seattle Kraken at Ball Arena on Tuesday night. The 29-year-old has been sorely missed as the Avalanche have won just five of their 12 games so far and sit seventh in the Central Division. In Valeri Nichushkin’s case, the team struggled in several areas and could not find a rhythm due to injuries or suspensions of key players.

The 6-foot-1 forward had shoulder surgery in the offseason but spent months skiing during his recovery. He got the green light to return to work last week, and it couldn’t come at a more critical time than now.

Ross Colton broke his foot on October 28 and will not return until mid-December. Jonathan Drouin was sidelined with an upper-body injury in the first game of the season, but head coach Jared Bednar said he is close to a return. Nichushkin trained with the team for the first time on Monday and is expected to start duty after that date. November 15 – Avs’ home game against the Washington Capitals.

“He (Lehkonen) is a Swiss army knife. He can do anything. He’s fun. I love that man. He can play anywhere for us. And then, like I said, I obviously play power play, play key roles, and then I’m a big PK guy. He can block shots. And I think he’s a very underrated guy in the corners, getting pucks back, getting them back for top players. “He plays a huge role for us.”

While it would be great for the Avs to have Lehkonen back at full throttle, he will likely take some time to adjust. He will likely spend time on the top two rows until he finds a suitable spot, but even then he shouldn’t be too comfortable with Drouin and Nichushkin also approaching the return – when the lines will change again.

“He’s a really solid player. He can kill the penalty, he can play the first power play. He can do everything on the ice, which is what you appreciate the most. You know, he’s a versatile player, which is really important.”

“When you’re a really good player, a really smart player, it’s usually a little bit easier to come back. I got injured and after the summer, the first game always feels like you’re running out of time a little bit maybe. I think the biggest thing to get together is timing, but maybe it’s going to take a few games for that, you know, timing, right? Hopefully, maybe just a period, you never know how it goes, but he is an experienced player, so I don’t think it will be too much of a problem,” said Mikko Rantanen.

Lehkonen is particularly important for the team’s production. In his absence, the Avs have scored 40 goals in 12 games and sit 12th in the league. Nathan MacKinnon referred to him as “probably our best two-way player.”

Bednar talked about what Lehkonen said the Avalanche missed while he was away and how he will improve the team dynamic with his return.

“He’s a puck chaser, plays bigger than his size, high hockey IQ, can play with talented players, but it’s really just the relentlessness of the puck and being able to win races, win battles, make plays in traffic under pressure, smart plays, get high scores. “Percentage plays that a lot of other players can’t make,” Bednar said. “He’s a playmaker in his own way. And most of the time it’s just about winning 50/50, touch, and he’s tenacious with pucks. So when he wins those touches, good things happen.”