So, again, the Avs have gotten a player who isn’t ready to suit up. Jordan Leopold had hernia surgery Tuesday, and needs 10 to 12 weeks to recover. What? Did anyone know about this? Was this something I missed (not uncommon lately, as I missed the signing of Rycroft buried in the news)?

Leopold will not be ready for training camp, and maybe not for the opener (most likely). This is going to put him a step behind the rest of the team from the start. The lockout showed us all how important playing games are versus just skating and drilling. Dude is going to miss ice time with his new team, the new systems, and getting used to his new defensive partners. I expect The Q will be shuffling him around quite a bit, wondering where the magic is.

See that worry meter over there? It is supposed to gauge my feelings towards this team, and should be moving around a lot. I haven’t had a reason to move it up, and won’t move down into the black until news of Svatos comes in. But this makes me wish there was some color between rust orange and black.

For the sake of reportage, here is the Rocky Mountain News article about it. It’s much more interesting than the Avs release.

And, depending on how he does here, I have a nickname cooked up for Leopold. Skate, man, Skate.