As a University of Denver freshman in 2015, Logan O’Connor was scratched from his first 13 games with the Pioneers, and doubt started to swirl in the forward’s head.
“That was the first time in my career that the vision of making it to the NHL was blurred, and I wasn’t exactly sure it was going to work out,” O’Connor recalled on Tuesday. “But I focused on being a good teammate, on what I could prove in practice, and I used that offseason to make sure that didn’t happen again.”
Fast-forward eight years, and LOC’s come-up is on full display early in the season for the Avalanche. O’Connor, the league leader with three shorthanded goals, earned a promotion to Colorado’s third line last week. Over the past two-plus years, he’s gone from an undrafted variable into one of the Avs’ pillars amid another season with championship expectations.
“He’s been a guy where through these first 10 games we can look at and say he’s probably been our best player,” defenseman Cale Makar said. “He’s definitely been the most consistent player on our team this year. And he’s the model for the work ethic that every single guy should come in and have.
“He’s at that point where I’d like to see him continue to build that leadership role of his. He can start talking more, because he’s earned himself that type of leadership role.”
O’Connor played just five regular-season games as a rookie in 2018-19 but has since stair-stepped his ice time and productivity for the Avs. He appeared in 16 games in Year 2, then 22 in Year 3, then 81 during Colorado’s run to the Stanley Cup two years ago. Last season, he played all 82 games for the first time in his career and emerged as one of the team’s top penalty killers.
The advanced stats back up Makar’s sentiment about the importance of LOC so far this season. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Avs are taking 71.43% of the shot attempts when O’Connor is on the ice for 5-on-5 shifts, which leads the league. O’Connor also ranks second in the NHL in expected goals for percentage (xGF) at 70.56%, indicating he’s consistently helping generate quality pressure.
But even with the early success, O’Connor is looking ahead. He doesn’t want his production to tail off this season as it did last year, when he tallied five goals in six games early on, but then went 38 games without scoring again.
“It’s something I try to look back on (where I started in the NHL), because I don’t want to get complacent,” O’Connor said. “I’ll always remember the hard work that got me to this stage in my career. At DU, being scratched at the beginning of my freshman year, and turning into a solidified college player, winning a national title (in 2017), to now working to round out my game as an NHL player. Every game is trying to build on that, and never losing sight of where I came from.”
O’Connor describes himself as a “classic late bloomer” in the sport, but believes the compounding effect of his day-to-day work ethic is “finally showcasing (my talent) more the longer I’m in pro hockey.”
“Playing to my identity has been the biggest thing — and in college, it took me a long time to find that,” O’Connor said. “My identity as a player comes down to forechecking, skating hard, rounding out my game in different areas to try to avoid that type of (scoring) drought again. I’m focused on good defense, because that creates good offense.”
A case-in-point is O’Connor’s work on the Avs penalty-kill unit this year, which is tied for second in the league with a 92.5% kill-rate. Colorado’s first penalty-kill line features O’Connor, Andrew Cogliano, Devon Toews and Makar.
“His speed stands out, and how he moves around the ice during the penalty-kill, and how he can create space by skating away from guys to give himself opportunities,” center Ryan Johansen said. “He’s been able to finish off plays on the penalty kill, and that’s been a big bonus for us.”
Colorado assistant coach Nolan Pratt said that in particular, O’Connor and Cogliano “read so well off of each other (on the penalty-kill), and it’s become instinctual for them as a pair.” O’Connor agrees.
“You don’t play over 1,200 games without being habit-focused (like Cogliano),” O’Connor observed. “He’s sort of the mold for that role within the bottom six (of the lineup), and he’s made a career out of it. … It’s great for us (non-stars) to have him around and use him as a sounding board and learn from him.”
But O’Connor’s main influence is his father, Myles O’Connor, who appeared in 43 career NHL games with New Jersey and Anaheim from 1990 to ’94. The son and father talk on the phone after almost every game, with the younger O’Connor acknowledging “everything I know and have learned comes from him.”
“I’ve had the advantage of being able to rely on him as I was going through the ranks, and having his constructive criticism after games,” O’Connor said. “He’s been a great sounding board to get my game to the place I want to be at. A lot of the decisions along the way, he was there to help me with. … I know I wouldn’t be here without him.”
As the Avs settle into the season, O’Connor wants to become a more consistent offensive player. The right winger hasn’t found the net since registering a shorthanded goal in three straight games on Oct. 17, 19 and 21.
“I want to chip in offensively a little more,” O’Connor said. “I need to turn more chances into goals, and create more sustained pressures for the other lines to come out and build off what we created, so we have something to show for those chances. Within that role, I can help this team get to where we want to go.”
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