Avalanche may have Cale Makar injury concern to deal with

The last thing the Colorado Avalanche need right now is a Cale Makar injury.

Just when it seemed that Makar was regaining his usual form, news on Sunday has sent the Avs fanbase heading for the blood pressure meds.

According to Colorado beat report Evan Rawal, the Norris Trophy winner left Sunday’s practice with an apparent lower-body injury.

The move initially sparked a wave of concern throughout Avalanche fans. But Rawal’s following update provided a little comfort to fans concerned about Makar missing a significant chunk of time.

All right, so a couple of things here. First, if this is a lower-body issue indeed, then there’s not much concern related to the Cale Makar injury that afflicted the team at the end of last season. That was a shoulder issue, one that required offseason attention to fix.

Second, if it was just one of those precautionary things, well, you can’t blame the Avs for not taking any chances with their star defenseman. Teams often overreact at the first sign of trouble with every player, but even more so with a guy like Makar.

So, for now, it just seems that this could be nothing more than a Cale Makar injury scare.

Avalanche cannot afford to lose Cale Makar

The Colorado Avalanche cannot afford to lose Cale Makar, period. But if there was a time when his loss would be less damaging, it’s not now. The Avs are down a regular defenseman in Josh Manson, while some of the other regulars aren’t exactly playing up to their best. We’ve seen Brent Burns and Sam Malinski make some questionable plays, while not exactly making up for it on the offensive side of the puck.

That’s why now is not a good time for Makar to go down.

But there’s even one more reason that is arguably the worst possible time. Manson’s injury put seventh defenseman Noah Juulsen into the lineup as a regular. As such, the Avs are rolling with only six blueliners, given their current cap situation.

That’s why losing Cale Makar now would force the Avs to call up someone from the AHL. Now, they have already recalled Keaton Middleton. But doing so now would mean actually putting him into the lineup.

Is that something the Avalanche really want?

Well, if Makar is indeed hurt, the club would have no other choice. They’ll have to bring someone up and put him into the lineup, whether they want to or not.

So, let’s just hope the team is acting out of an abundance of caution and leave it at that.

The Avalanche will be in Toronto on Tuesday night. So, there’s still time for Makar to be ready for the Avs’ next matchup.

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