The Colorado Avalanche did not get the kind of news they expected regarding injured blueliner Josh Manson.
Coach Jared Bednar told reporters Manson would miss about eight weeks following the awkward fall he sustained in Wednesday night’s win over the New Jersey Devils at Ball Arena.
Manson left in the first period and did not return. The Avs weathered the storm with five defensemen, pulling out a solid 5-2 win.
Now, the club will need to adjust without their best shutdown blueliner.
"It's a kind of (an) irreplaceable loss. The leadership, the physicality, that experience, it's not easy to replace. So yeah, we're going to miss him a lot and just hope his recovery goes quick. I think it was just good news on the injury. Like I think it could have been a lot worse than it was."
As Brett Kulak told the media on Friday, there is a major hole that everyone else will need to fill. He added that this sort of situation is something they’ve had to deal with before.
"It's nothing new. We've all kind of experienced a big piece going down," Kulak said. "We missed Cale (Makar, last season). We've missed lots of different guys. It's just part of the business, part of the game. We know what to expect. You got to pick up the slack, and you know what? Everyone's got to have a little more bite in their game, too. You don't have to go and lay the hits 'Mans' lays, but you still got to collectively make it a hard night, hard team to play against for the other teams."
The good news is that the Avalanche have an option ready to step in.
Avalanche may only roll with six defensemen for now
Noah Juulsen, who’s already seen action this season, will likely step in to fill in for Josh Manson. That’s a situation that has Bednar’s mind at ease, potentially precluding the need for another roster move.
“We've had a lot of years here where we just had six 'D' and our seventh is a recall guy, and it's nice to have him here because he's with our group every day. There's no, like, bringing guys up to speed. He just jumps right in and continues to play well."
Bednar is right. In previous seasons, the Avalanche have had little room for error. The seventh defenseman is a call-up from the Eagles.
This time around, Juulsen should just step into the lineup. And because of that situation, the Avalanche might forego bringing someone else up. And it makes sense. Calling someone up would mean having a healthy body sitting in the press box.
If there should be another blueline injury, well, that would necessitate another move. But for now, it seems that the Avalanche’s defense corps will just suck up the loss and hope for a speedy recovery.
Colorado will host the Calgary Flames on Saturday night at Ball Arena, with a relatively healthy lineup ready to continue building momentum.
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