Conor Timmins assigned to AHL Eagles by Avalanche

Conor Timmins looked like he’d barely missed a beat when he came back from one of the most grueling recovery timelines the Avalanche have seen in recent years. After sitting out the entire 2018-19 season, he jumped back into the fray in preseason this year and immediately looked like exactly what he’d been touted as originally — a strong, versatile defender with a complete game at both ends of the ice.

Despite that, though, the Avalanche don’t want to leave a player without any on-ice action in over a year shuffling in and out of the lineup. So after getting his shot in the team’s first two regular season games at the NHL level, The Athletic’s Ryan Clark has reported that Timmins is headed to Loveland for the time being:

The Avalanche drafted Timmins with the 32nd overall pick in 2017, snagging the two-way defender with their second pick (joining fourth overall selection Cale Makar) in the aftermath of a historically dreadful 2016-17 campaign.

The St. Catharine’s, Ontario native exploded in his post-draft season, putting up five points in seven games for Team Canada at the 2018 World Junior Championships to help the team win gold and racking up 41 points in 36 regular season games for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds as well.

Injuries then derailed him for nearly a year and a half, leaving him on the sidelines for the back end of his final junior season and sitting out his first AHL year entirely. So although he’s headed for the AHL after such a promising training camp, it’s not necessarily bad news; for the 21-year-old defender, it’s likely more of a chance to get in game reps than anything else.