If you thought the Colorado Avalanche signing defenseman Greg Zanon was a little odd, there’s a good reason why they did it.
Courtesy of fan blog Eurolanche, defenseman Jan Hejda let’s it be known he’ll miss 4-6 months after having wrist surgery. Adrian Dater of the Denver Post finds out from the Avalanche that Hejda had surgery right after the season ended which helps push up his date to return. Nice of the Avs to let us all in on that tidbit.
With Hejda out until at least the start of the season, Zanon being brought on board makes sense as a replacement. They’re both defensive-defensemen but, as Dater points out, when Hejda returns they’ll have a logjam on the blue line. As it is now they’ve got seven defensemen signed and still have Erik Johnson to get signed on long term. With eight guys, someone is likely to get moved later on.