The injury to Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon has certainly been troubling to everyone observing the situation.
While the crosscheck he took in last Thursday night’s game was painful, the fact that MacKinnon is expected to miss a month raises plenty of concern among fans and the media.
But as sports rehab expert Darren McConaghy believes, there might be a lot more to MacKinnon’s injury. In the notable expert’s opinion, MacKinnon could be dealing with a potential fracture, hence necessitating a month off the ice.
At least a month for MacKinnon is longer than I’d expect for a typical hip pointer.
— Darren McConaghy (@ReconHub) November 14, 2026
Given the mechanism of injury, this could be a more severe hip pointer involving disruption of the muscular and thoracolumbar fascial attachments to the iliac crest. I’d also want to rule out an… https://t.co/PkKLVEF0tU
In the best of cases, McConaghy believes that this is such a deep bruise that it will require several weeks to heal. There might have been some muscular damage that warrants more time off.
But there’s also the risk that there might be an underlying fracture somewhere, also requiring more time to heal.
And if that’s the case, that would be the most troubling situation of all. If MacKinnon does have a fracture, as slight as it might be, it could be the type of injury that could keep him off the ice for much longer than month.
Think about it. If there is even a hairline fracture somewhere in his hip, the docs won’t clear him to play until it’s fully healed. Otherwise, the risk of re-aggravating that injury would skyrocket upon his return.
Avalanche being careful with Nathan MacKinnon
The bottom line is that the Avalanche are being uber careful with Nathan MacKinnon. He’s the team’s top scorer, and so the organization isn’t taking any chances with him. Perhaps he might be ready to play in about a week or so. But there’s just no telling what could happen if he rushes back to the ice.
That’s why the Avs will likely take this situation one day at a time.
While there might be a chance that he’ll be back sooner than expected, Colorado wants to be as careful as possible.
After all, the team can’t afford to have MacKinnon play through pain, potentially see his skills diminished on the ice, and risk turning something relatively minor into a major injury.
That’s why, if it means showing patience with him, that will be the best course of action. As the team demonstrated on Saturday night, it’s deep enough to succeed without MacKinnon. In fact, you could sat that this is the type of adversity that would allow the Avalanche to rally together and become a much tighter club.
Once MacKinnon and Makar return, the Avalanche will become an even stronger team.
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