Avalanche’s MacKinnon, Makar exit game with lower-body injuries
A Thursday night road game in November against the Ottawa Senators could prove to be highly consequential for the Colorado Avalanche.
During a second intermission in which the Avs trailed the Senators by a 2-1 deficit, the team announced that both of its super stars, center Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Cale Makar, would not return to the game with lower-body injuries.
Makar’s injury came when he seemingly pulled or tweaked something on a non-contact play. The dynamic right-handed blueliner briefly exited, came back out to give it a go, but was in too much pain to remain in the game.
MacKinnon exited after he was hobbled when he took a stick to the hip area from Senators defenseman Artem Zub.
The Avalanche are off to an 11-6-1 start to the season, which is quite strong in a vacuum, but is a striking step back from the torrid pace at which they began the 2025-26 campaign on their way to comfortably earning the Presidents’ Trophy for posting the NHL’s best record in the regular season.
Colorado entered Thursday night’s slate of games six points back of the Minnesota Wild for first in the Central Division and even finds itself behind the upstart Nashville Predators.
If either MacKinnon or Makar, or possibly even both, wind up missing extended time, the Avs will have their depth tested in a big way as the group will look to avoid falling in a further hole in the race for home-ice advantage through at least the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
MacKinnon, the 2024 Hart Trophy winner, is producing at his customary outstanding pace with 30 points on 10 goals and 20 assists through the first 19 games. The Nova Scotia native has been extremely reliable in terms of his health and availability, as he’s missed just five games across the past three regular seaons.
Makar has two Norris Trophies to his name and has finished in the top three of the voting for the award six years running. Like MacKinnon, he has maintained his impressive scoring pace with 5 goals and 18 assists for 23 points in 18 contests.
