Avalanche Brace for Adjustments After Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon Injuries
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The Colorado Avalanche have been hit with some incredibly heavy bad news.
The NHL have announced that star players Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar will both be out due to lower-body injuries sustained in the second period of an eventual 4-3 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 12. MacKinnon will be out for one month, while Makar will be missing in action for two weeks.
MacKinnon grabbed his right side after attempting a reverse hit on Senators defenseman Artem Zub. Makar saw limited shifts against Ottawa which came just four days after he left practice on Nov. 8 for precautionary reasons.
Colorado head coach Jared Bednar announced the status of the pair prior to the Avs game at the Montreal Canadiens.
"When I think about those two guys, it's like every matchup, they take it on, now someone else has to be able to step up and do that," Bednar said per NHL.com. "And then you are losing the depth down the lineup as you kind of do that because everyone is elevated."
MacKinnon (who has had at least 100 points in each of the past four seasons) also currently leads the Avalanche in both points (30) and assists (20).
Makar — who won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman twice (2021-22, 2024-25) — is known as one of the NHL's top defensemen and signed a record-setting eight-year, $163.2 million contract with Colorado this offseason.
Avalanche to Be Without Star Players
Both Makar and MacKinnon are additionally on the top power play unit for the Avs, which has tallied 10 goals in its last 10 games.
As such — the injuries surrounding MacKinnon and Makar are a devastating blow to Colorado, given how much they rely on both players offensively.
This latest development comes as the Avalanche sit with 25 points in the Central Division across a 11-6-3 record ahead of play against the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 14.
Bedard also said to NHL.com that he will be focused on tightening up his gameplan.
"Probably the most important is the 5-on-5 offense that they create," Bednar said. "We can be playing an OK game, chances equal, tight game, and those guys, like the top players do, will find a way to make a play that's a difference-maker for you. Whether it's Cale or 'Mac,' or both of them combined, they generally win us a lot of hockey games because of that. So with out that, the rest of the game has to tighten up and get better."
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Jennifer Streeter graduated with a B.A. in journalism from Texas A&M and received her Master of Science from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. At both schools, she focused on an emphasis of sports reporting. A former athlete herself, "Jenny" was a varsity soccer player and comes from a family who participated in NCAA athletics. She has covered hockey since 2023 and is credentialed for the Seattle Kraken, New Jersey Devils and PWHL in addition to having covered the 2026 Frozen Four.