Defensemen Johnson, Byram complete their quarantines
Veteran Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson practiced with the team Sunday, a day after his quarantine for a positive COVID-19 test ended.
Johnson, 32, also skated Saturday along with top prospect Bo Byram — the 19-year-old defenseman who has been placed on the taxi squad. Byram had been in quarantine after traveling fromCanada.
“It was difficult,” Johnson said of the positive test that forced him to miss all of training camp and the first two regular-season games. “You train all offseason to get ready and then just before camp having a positive was discouraging. I just try to look at the bright side. It’s a global pandemic. It’s killing people. I’m grateful that I’m healthy now and able to play hockey.”
An alternate captain, Johnson has a keen opinion on the Avs’ firsttwogames—a4-1losstoSt. Louis and an 8-0 rout over the Blues. Colorado, the prohibitive Stanley Cup favorite, was severely outplayed in the opener but gave the Blues no chance in the rematch.
“I think the first game, we probably believed the hype about ourselves — thought we were better than we were. Didn’t put the work before the skill, in my opinion,” Johnson said. “The second game, saw what we needed to do differently and the guys responded and put the work first. When you do that the skill will follow.
“It was impressive to watch. When the power play puts up six (goals) and the penalty kill doesn’t give up any, you’re setting yourself up for a pretty good night. So I was happy to see the guys respond the way they did and I’m looking forward to joining them.”
The Avs are now carrying 10 defensemen, with two on the taxi squad. Coach Jared Bednar doesn’t expect Johnson or Byram to play anytime soon, but both will travel with the team when it departs for Los Angeles on Monday. The Avs play the Kings on Tuesday and Thursday before bussing to Anaheim and facing the Ducks on Friday and Sunday.
“You’ve got a lot of work to do to try to catch up to guys that have been grinding for two weeks,” Bednar said. “When you go into the protocol like that, you can’t do anything. If you have an upper-body injury and you’re missing games, you’re still on the bike, you’re still skating, you’re still getting a lot of conditioning in. When you enter COVID protocol you’re not supposed to be doing anything.”
Byram had been playing highlevel hockey as Canada’s co-captain at the World Junior Championship in Edmonton. Bednar previously said the young talent will play as many as six NHL games before a decision is made on keeping him or sending him back to his junior team when, or if, the Western Hockey League begins its season.
“He’ll be doing video for the next two or three days, get him up to speed on everything that we’ve been doing as a team through training camp, so he understands the system and the structure,” Bednar said of Byram, Colorado’s first-round selection (fourth overall) in 2019. “Once he’s on the ice for four, five days hopefully he’ll be an option for us.”
Footnotes. The Avs on Friday sent defenseman Conor Timmins to the taxi squad but Bednar said the rookie is “absolutely” still a fixture in the top six. Timmins is waiver exempt and is paid on his minor-league contract when placed on the taxi squad. … Colorado also reassigned young forwards Logan O’Connor and Shane Bowers to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles on Saturday in moves a team spokesman said will happen frequently this season as teams learnhowtoworkwiththetaxi squad.