Nathan MacKinnon was back on the ice Tuesday morning, skating with Avalanche skills coach Shawn Allard separate from the team’s full practice at Family Sports Center.
MacKinnon has missed seven games since sustaining an upper-body injury Dec. 5 in Philadelphia. It was projected he’d be out approximately one month, which would be 14 games.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said MacKinnon is still on his regular timeline. MacKinnon worked on change-of-direction and other skating drills with Allard on Tuesday.
Bottom-six forward Andrew Cogliano (upper body) is also expected to miss time for the Avalanche, but Bednar is optimistic the injury suffered Monday against the Islanders wasn’t severe.