O'Connor Still Not Close To Returning, Kiviranta (Eye) Will Play Tonight

The Avalanche have been without winger Logan O’Connor all season as he works his way back from offseason hip surgery. However, as Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now relays, the 29-year-old is now dealing with another issue that head coach Jared Bednar says is still being evaluated. The team hopes to know more about his status within the next week or two. While he has been cleared from the hip injury, it appears that Colorado will be without one of their key bottom-six forwards for a while yet. O’Connor is currently on LTIR although the Avs have a low enough team payroll at the moment that they’re not actually using it at the moment.
Meanwhile, the news is better for winger Joel Kiviranta. The 29-year-old exited Thursday’s game with an eye issue but Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports mentions (Twitter link) that Kiviranta will suit up tonight against Nashville. Kiviranta had a breakout year for the Avalanche last season, scoring 16 goals in 79 games but offense has been harder to come by this year as he has been limited to just a goal and an assist in 14 outings so far.