Avalanche hit with pair of crushing injuries with one star to miss at least a month
Colorado is going through an early-season avalanche of injuries, as the Avs will see both Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar sit out for a period of time.The Avalanche (11-6-3, 25 points) stars will be sidelined for multiple weeks with lower-body injuries, coach Jared Bednar told reporters Saturday.MacKinnon will miss at least a month, while Makar will be out for two weeks.Both players got hurt Thursday night in a 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators (12-6-2, 26 points).MacKinnon, the Avalanche’s leader in points (30) and assists (20), left with just over eight minutes remaining in the loss after a check from Senators defenseman Artem Zub in the hip area.
MacKinnon was seen grabbing his right side as he headed off the ice.Makar, who appeared to suffer a noncontact injury while stopping in Colorado’s offensive end, left the game not long before MacKinnon’s exit.The injuries are a significant blow to Colorado, which relies heavily on them for offense.MacKinnon and Makar are both on the top power-play unit, which has scored 10 goals in the past 10 games.“Probably the most important is the 5-on-5 offense that they create,” Bednar told reporters, per NHL.com.
“We can be playing an OK game, chances equal, tight game, and those guys, like the top players do, will find a way to make a play that’s a difference-maker for you.Whether it’s Cale or ‘Mac,’ or both of them combined, they generally win us a lot of hockey games because of that.” Colorado’s injury woes seem to continue from last season, when they were eliminated in the 2026 Western Conference Finals in a 4-0 sweep by the Vegas Golden Knights, which saw Makar sidelined for most of the series.Colorado is already without defenseman Josh Manson, who is on long-term injured reserve with an ankle injury.
The Avalanche rattled off six more wins after opening the season 5-4-1 and are third in the Central Division heading into Saturday.Colorado knows it won’t be easy to replace MacKinnon and Makar.“Wh...