The worst case scenario has arrived, which will test the Colorado Avalanche in a way they haven’t had to endure in years with expected absences for both Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. Prior to the win against Montreal, Jared Bednar announced both his superstar players would be out for the game and for the foreseeable future.
Both Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar left the game in Ottawa in the second period and could not finish the contest as the Avalanche lost in overtime but the biggest loss was the services from both of these key players.
For Makar, the outlook is a bit more hopeful as he’s only expected to miss two weeks. Bednar revealed that it’s an ongoing issue that is ailing Makar, which makes sense since he left Colorado’s last practice back in Denver before the road trip with some discomfort. Another reason for optimism is that the schedule for the Avalanche is very light through the Thanksgiving holiday with only three games between now and turkey day. After that, a back-to-back starting in Minnesota and then a five-game east coast road trip beckons, which hopefully Makar could join the team for.
MacKinnon’s ailment is more of a mystery as he had been resting more than usual missing practices and morning skates but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was due to injury. Clearly, the incident in Ottawa will sideline him now and the club is expecting the center to miss at least a month, which hopefully means he returns by the Christmas break and Winter Classic on New Year’s Eve.
Both absences are big shoes to fill and the Avalanche will do it by committee. Sometimes adversity galvanizes as group in the sort term but in the long term depth will be tested and veterans will get taxed. Alex Gagne made his NHL debut last night and could get an extended look on the backend with Makar out. Gavin Brindley got to finish out the road trip as help on the forward side but with MacKinnon out longer perhaps there’s a different idea for a replacement player, perhaps a center.
