Avalanche forward Jonathan Drouin, who had missed the past 16 games due to an upper body injury, returned to the ice and had two assists in Colorado's 5-2 win over visiting Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Entering Tuesday, Drouin, 29, had played in only five games this season, one on Oct. 9 and four games from Nov. 15 to Nov. 23. He has six points (2 goals, 4 assists) after playing 18:15 against Winnipeg.
"It's been a long year. Kind of play a couple games and get reinjured," Drouin said Monday. "The same kind of thing happened, and kind of redo the whole process of all the rehab and treatment. ... It's very similar, very close to the same one I had to start the year in the first game."
Drouin scored a career-high 56 points (19 goals, 37 assists) in his first season with the Avalanche in 2023-24.
Tampa Bay selected Drouin with the third pick in the 2013 NHL draft. He has 343 career points (98 goals, 245 assists) in 570 games for the Lightning (2014-17), Montreal Canadiens (2017-23) and Avalanche, who have signed him as a free agent each of the past two years.
Field Level Media contributed to this report.