BSN exclusive: Conor Timmins to be shut down for rest of season

He’s made lots of progress from the concussion he suffered last May. The future really does still seem bright for Conor Timmins.

But the young defensive prospect of the Colorado Avalanche will have to wait until this fall to even think about playing in an actual pro hockey game, BSN Denver has learned. While neither the Avs or the Colorado Eagles is expected to make that official, sources tell BSN Denver that Timmins still is not 100 percent recovered from the concussion, and that it would be potentially foolhardy to try and play him in a game this late in either teams’ seasons.

There had been significant hope – an expectation really – that Timmins would have been ready by now to have played a game with the Eagles, where he has been the last few weeks rehabbing. But, even though Timmins went with the Eagles on a recent road trip to California, he simply has not passed all the medical criteria to resume playing in games.

Timmins, taken 32nd overall by the Avs in the second round of the 2017 NHL draft, last played a game of any kind in May, 2018, for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League. He suffered the concussion in a playoff game for the Greyhounds, and the symptoms have not completely gone away.

Sources say Timmins still is bothered by headaches occasionally, though he truly has made a lot of progress overall. He has practiced regularly with the Avs and Eagles for much of the 2018-19 season.

But he’s not 100 percent yet. The Eagles only have eight regular-season games remaining, and the Avs have nine left. Whether Timmins continues to practice daily with the Eagles remains to be seen. He has occasionally left Colorado to either train or rest back home in St. Catherine’s, Ontario during the rehab process.