The Colorado Avalanche have almost made it through an offseason following a disappointing departure from the Stanley Cup playoffs. While they were able to lock down defenseman Cale Makar with an extension, the superstar is reportedly dealing with something.
The good news is that, whatever it is, it is minor. Head coach Jared Bednar said that Makar is dealing with an injury that popped up over the last couple of weeks. Bednar also said that the team is just playing it safe by keeping him out early on, but that he will be able to join the team soon.
Makar was absent from two of the Avalanche’s first two games against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Finals in May. Colorado lost those games 4-2 and 3-1, respectively.
We could go back and debate whether or not Makar’s presence would have made a big enough difference to put the Avalanche past Vegas, but at this point, that is pretty useless. What matters is now.
Bednar basically said that Makar’s status of being held out is just precautionary, which is good. It would be concerning to me if he didn’t mention that. I wouldn’t expect him to admit if the injury is a huge problem, though.
While Makar won’t be out long-term, the time he is out could give some other defensemen some looks at training camp. They’ll be able to show what they can do in a bigger role than if Makar were in the lineup.
Sam Malinski is currently paired with Brett Kulak on the second line per Daily Faceoff. I’ve personally really enjoyed Malinski’s game and his emergence of 40 points in 82 games last season was something that almost nobody expected. That’s 25 more points than he had the previous season in 76 games. I expect he will have a decent role in 2026-27.
As for Makar, I will only start to be concerned if he misses a ton of regular season games this year. But for right now, it seems to be something minor that he is dealing with.
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