The Colorado Avalanche seemed invincible at one point this season. They were on a historic pace that could have led to shattering various NHL marks.
Since the calendar turned to 2026, however, injuries have taken their toll on the club. There was the unfortunate Gabriel Landeskog injury, in which he crashed into the net in early January. More and more, injuries have piled up for the Avalanche.
At the moment, it seems like injuries have really caught up to the club. The Avs are currently down three regular forwards. Landeskog is out once again after falling to friendly fire. Artturi Lehkonen sustained what seemed like a shoulder injury in early March and may not be back any time soon. Meanwhile, Ross Colton has also sustained an upper-body injury.
That situation has forced the Avs to roll with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. And that’s a situation that’s discombobulated Colorado’s lineup. Instead of deploying newcomers Nazem Kadri and Nic Roy as centers, coach Jared Bednar has put them on the wings.
As such, the Avalanche have loaded up their top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas with Kadri. Roy is skating on the second line with Brock Nelson and Valeri Nichushkin. While that’s a formidable top six, it has essentially reduced Colorado to playing with three lines.
As for Zakhar Bardakov and Gavin Brindley, they pretty much become afterthoughts. Brindley has played under 10 minutes in four out of his last five games. On Saturday against Winnipeg, he barely saw action, skating for just 5:26.
Bardakov has seen even less ice time. On Saturday, he hit the ice for 3:48. That was less than half of the 8:04 he played on March 12 against the Seattle Kraken.
The current lineup is temporary, no doubt. But the Avalanche will need to bring somebody up to restore more balance. The Avs have enough cap space to do it. Someone like Valtteri Puustinen, Danil Gushchin, or even Jason Polin could round out a fourth line that could take some pressure off the top nine.
The Avalanche have sufficient depth in the AHL to give the top guys a break. It’ll be something necessary as the current setup just isn’t working.