Former Penguins defenseman Ian Cole bounces back from double hip surgery

Things looked different to Ian Cole when he watched the Pittsburgh Penguins practice at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

He didn’t recognize many of the players on the ice.

Cole left the Penguins late in the 2017-18 season when he was traded to the Ottawa Senators in the deal that brought Derrick Brassard to the team. Cole then quickly was dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

During the 2018 offseason, he joined the Colorado Avalanche as an unrestricted free agent, signing a three-year contract worth $12.75 million, the largest deal of his 10-year career.

Roughly a year-and-a-half departed from the franchise he helped win two Stanley Cup titles, Cole was taken aback at how much turnover the Penguins have undergone.

“I literally have been gone for one (entire) season,” Cole said after his current team’s practice on Tuesday. “We went out and watched practice in the tunnel. There was a full power-play unit and a full penalty-kill unit of (several) guys I didn’t know. I was like, ‘What is going on?’

“So like J.C. Ihrig (the Avalanche’s head equipment manager and former assistant equipment staffer with the Penguins), we were like ‘How many guys are still here from even a year ago?’ It was like, six or seven or something like that. The turnover is insane.”

The lack of familiarity Cole experienced is partly because of the team’s injuries with forwards, including Cole’s former teammates Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust. Despite that, the Penguins entered Wednesday’s game with the Avalanche in second place of the Metropolitan Division.

Cole isn’t surprised.

“A lot of that credit goes to (captain Sidney Crosby) for being able to take new guys and young guys and assimilate those guys into the culture very quickly,” Cole said. “That’s why this team has been so good for so long. They keep getting new players, and players keep coming up and producing in large part because they are comfortable. He takes them under his wing and gets those guys going.”

Cole finally got his season going Monday when he made his debut in a 6-3 road win against the Capitals. He missed the first four games of Colorado’s season recovering from double hip surgery.

“A great summer, ” he said with his trademark wry humor.

On Tuesday, Cole spoke with the Tribune-Review about his recovery and his role with the Avalanche, which entered Wednesday’s game as the NHL’s final undefeated team at 5-0-0.

How are you feeling physically?

“Feeling good. A fairly extensive recovery. Got the first one in last night in Washington. The goal is trying to come back and get your feet wet and get adjusted to the pace again. In that sense, it was a success.”

Were your hips a cumulative issue or was it any one instance where an injury occurred?

“It was cumulative. Just over time, wear and tear, excess bone, some significant labrum issues. Had to clean it up and get it back to a healthy, working joint. Now, they’re both healthy and working the way they’re supposed to with all the range of motion they’re supposed to have, and it’s feeling good.”

How long did you need this surgery?

“Oh hell, since college. It’s been something that’s been slowly getting worse since college. Last year in the playoffs, (I) had to get cortisone shots in each hip. It just progressively got worse. It’s one of those things that we talked and wanted to get it back to a healthy joint. (I) knew that with some good rehab in the summer, I wouldn’t really miss too much time. It worked out well.”

Did you have the surgeries together or one at a time?

“Got one done, I think it was on May 20th. Then I went back in a month later on June 17th and got the other one done. I was on crutches for the first four weeks then crutches for eight weeks for the second one. It was a nice three months on crutches.”

A hip, let alone each of them, seems to be a vital body part as it relates to ice skating.

“(Laughs) It is.”

What was inhibited as far as skating goes before the surgery?

“I had two pretty large cam impingements on both sides, so just like excess bone on top of the femur. There’s supposed to be a concavity where it goes in so it has room to move. It was just like a Coke can just from rubbing for so long. I was just rubbing my labrum off slowly. Then I started to rub cartilage off. (Medical staffers) were like, ‘All right, either you get surgery or you’re going to need a hip replacement in five years, a double hip replacement.’ So I was like, ‘All right, let’s get it back to a working joint the way it’s supposed to work.’ In that sense, it was a success for sure.”

What is your role with the Avalanche? Is like it was with the Penguins in being a reliable defensive player who occasionally chips in offense? Or is it more nuanced than that?

“I would to like to think it’s more nuanced than that. In today’s NHL, as a player, as a defenseman, you need to do everything. You can’t be just a defensive guy or an offensive guy and be lacking on the other end. You still need to be able to make plays,. You still need to be able to make plays and read plays and skate and get up the ice and create things. Even if you are more defensive-minded like I am, you still need to be able to help out and jump in. Everyone is pretty much required to do that at this point.”

You were part of Penguins teams that established or reaffirmed the need for skating and playing fast. This Avalanche team seems like it has an abundance of that.

“Ton of skill, ton of speed. A really good skating team. We’re still building and still maturing as a team and still trying to round out our game and kind of iron out the details. We’re young, but we’re a mature team in the sense that we want to learn and we want to get better, and we don’t want to continue to make the same mistakes. We saw a ton of growth last year. I’ve only been back one game (this season) but even in that game, there seems like there were strides to move forward.”

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