Artturi Lehkonen not returning any time soon; John Ludvig arrives | Avalanche notebook

Jared Bednar has been adamant for a few weeks that the Avalanche were going to give Artturi Lehkonen as much time as possible to heal his surgically repaired shoulder.

He wasn’t kidding.

On Monday, Bednar dropped a bit of a bombshell – the Avalanche might not get Lehkonen back until November.

“He has a five-month check-in at the end of the month and then we’ll get word on how he can advance from there,” Bednar said.

Lehkonen has been skating for two months, which is why the timeline is a bit of a surprise, but skating isn’t really the concern. While his shot seems to be getting stronger each day, it will be about how he handles contact when he gets cleared. And for a team that’s currently missing two other top six forwards, they don’t want to risk him coming back too soon and getting injured again.

With the news that Lehkonen will be out for a fair bit longer, it makes sense that Calum Ritchie is still hanging around. The Avalanche can give him a nine-game trial before his entry-level contract kicks in. If he performs well, he can stick around, but if not, they won’t have any issues sending him back to the Ontario Hockey League.

Ritchie spent Monday’s practice on a line with Casey Mittelstadt and fellow rookie Nikolai Kovalenko. That could very easily be a line when the Avalanche open their season against the Golden Knights. The two wingers got enough individual coaching from Bednar and assistant coach Ray Bennett during practice, mostly regarding defensive zone coverage.

Ivan Ivan also appears to be making his NHL debut on Wednesday, but we won’t know for sure until the puck drops. There’s always a chance the Avalanche will make a surprise move or two in the next 48 hours that could change things.

Ludvig arrives

Speaking of surprises, who had the Avalanche picking up another defenseman over the weekend on waivers on their bingo card?

In is John Ludvig and out is Erik Brannstrom, who the Avalanche signed as a free agent over the summer. The 24-year-old Ludvig was on the ice paired with Oliver Kylington during practice. Those two will likely be healthy scratches on Wednesday, as Sam Malinski seems to have locked down the sixth spot on the blue line.

As for why the organization added Ludvig, it’s simple: they wanted to add a different element to their defense.

“If you look at our defensive core and their abilities and what they were able to do through training camp and exhibition, we’ve got some skater, puck-mover type guys and had an abundance of them,” Bednar said. “Now you get another rugged guy that has some toughness and some sturdiness to his game.”

Expect the team to give Ludvig a bit of time to adjust before throwing him into the lineup. Beyond learning a new system, Ludvig needs to adjust to the altitude.

“I found out today that was a big change and it’s going to take some getting used to,” he joked.