The Colorado Avalanche have secured what they were seeking this final stretch of regular season games. They locked up the Central Division, Western Conference, and just Thursday night, won the Presidents’ trophy.
Head coach Jared Bednar confirmed that Nazem Kadri has a broken finger and will miss some games. He missed an opportunity to play against his former Flames team again on Thursday. “Some games” indicates that Kadri will miss at least one more, which would be Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights.
As for Makar, he took a hard hit along the boards in the team’s game on March 30 against the Flames. It’s suspected that Makar’s shoulder is hurt, based off of what the replay shows of the hit.
With depth the Avalanche added (Kadri, Nic Roy, Nick Blankenburg and Brett Kulak), and the return of Logan O’Connor into the lineup, Bednar has a chance to experiment with some different line or defensive pairing combinations. Depth is crucial in the NHL, especially in the postseason.
It’s believed that the Avalanche also have a better roster than they did for their most recent Stanley Cup victory in 2021-22. The return of Kadri helps a lot, so it will be crucial to get him back into the lineup right when the postseason begins. Bednar mentioned that Kadri’s status was dependant on pain tolerance, which is a good thing.
The Avalanche could also recall some players from their AHL affiliate, the Eagles. Now, unfortunately, there are a couple of injuries over in Loveland that disappoint me—Nikita Prishchepov and Matthew Stienburg are out for the remainder of the season, while Alex Gagne and Kyle Keyser are week-to-week.
Though it didn’t seem likely that any of those players would be called up at any point, it just sucks that the option is no longer there.
One thing is for sure, though. The depth of this team is unreal. Hopefully that will translate into another Stanley Cup victory.