The Colorado Avalanche have faced adversity a lot this season, and have shown that they can be up but also down at times. The team is going to have to face more adversity for the entire first round of the 2023-24 NHL playoffs, a series against the Winnipeg Jets.
It was announced on Saturday that Jonathan Drouin will unfortunately miss the entire series against the Jets due to an injury he suffered against the Edmonton Oilers.
During Saturday's skate, coach Jared Bednar had Zach Parise on the second line, which is kind of interesting given the team's available players. Initially, I questioned why Valeri Nichushkin wouldn't be filling in on the first line in place of Drouin, but that makes sense to keep him intact on the second line. It is best to have multiple quality lines instead of one super line.
Drouin has had a career year for the Colorado Avalanche since being acquired. Despite starting the season slow, he had found a home on the top line as of late and hadn't been placed elsewhere for quite some time. It took him and Nathan MacKinnon a little bit longer than some had hoped to click. The two played together during their Halifax days, but that was 10 years ago, so there was bound to be some rust in the connection between the two.
The 29 year old Drouin has 56 points this season, consisting of 19 goals and 37 assists.
The Colorado Avalanche called up forward Chris Wagner, defender Brad Hunt, and goaltender Arvid Holm on Saturday ahead of their first game against the Jets, which takes place on Sunday in Winnipeg.
Colorado finished the regular season with no wins in three matchups against the Jets. Can they find a way to win the most important games against their division opponent? It was already a tough ask, but Drouin's absence makes things tougher.