Avalanche facing long-term complications on the blue line

The Colorado Avalanche look to be facing some long-term complications on the blue line.

The team placed on Monday, defenseman Josh Manson on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) following his untimely ankle injury a few games ago.

The move signals that Manson will miss at least 10 games or 24 calendar days before being eligible to return to the ice.

That situation means Manson is likely gone for the rest of November, potentially returning at some point in December. Beyond the evident hole in the lineup, the Avs used the move to open up some artificial cap space.

With Manson and Zachary L’Heureux on LTIR, the Avs have $3.95 million in cap space. That situation, plus the open roster spot, allowed the Avs to call up Alex Gagne from the Eagles to take up the seventh defenseman spot.

Now, that’s also interesting because there’s the potential Cale Makar injury situation. There is no word that Makar will miss any time due to injury. Coach Jared Bednar stated that Makar would travel with the team on their next road trip.

What remains unclear is if Makar will play against Toronto on Tuesday night. It’s worth noting that Makar left Sunday’s practice with an apparent lower-body issue. It’s believed that he tweaked something on this play:

You can see a bit of an awkward move on the drill. Then, he sort of shook his left leg as he skated out of the frame. He spoke with trainers and left the ice.

If Makar can’t go, that situation would me that Gagne would have to fill in the bottom pairing.

Avalanche have enough depth for now

One of the things we’ve speculated here on Mile High is the possibility of a deal to acquire some defensive depth.

While such a move would make sense on the surface, it’s not really a priority right now.

As it stands, the Avalanche can pluck as many as four defensemen from the Eagles to fill out roster spots. The club already called up Keaton Middleton last week. Now, it’s Gagne. If the Avs wanted to keep a bit of a rotation going, they could call up Domenick Fensore and Christian Wolanin, both of whom have some NHL experience, even if limited.

The need for a trade would become evident if the Avalanche found themselves without Manson for the rest of the season, or if there was a catastrophic situation in which multiple blueliners went down at the same time.

That’s why, for now, there is no pressing urgency to make a deal. So, let’s just hope that these injury situations don’t amount to serious, long-term issues.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow