The Colorado Avalanche have been one of the deepest teams in the league this year, and with some recent returns from injury, including "Shortie King" Logan O'Connor, the Avs have been getting some much needed reinforcements at just the right time. O'Connor had sat most of the year after an offseason surgery kept him from beginning the season on-ice. Just after Nic Roy, one the trade deadline acquisitions from GM Chris MacFarland returned to the lineup after an upper body injury that kept him out for the last week and a half of march, the Avs lost Nazem Kadri to an apparent hand injury.
Kadri, also acquired at the trade deadline, is in his second stint with the Avs, having become a fan favorite before and during the team's 2022 Stanley Cup run. The 35-year-old forward has been playing up and down Colorado's lineup due to other injuries in the forward corps after his acquisition, including a brief stint on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon. However, with Kadri sidelined by a hand injury after getting hit by a puck mid-game, Roy is back to the spot many assumed he would fill before Kadri came back as the third line center.
Stud defenseman Cale Makar, after knocking Gabe Landeskog back out of the lineup with some friendly fire in an important area, also found himself having to sit since the Avs game against Kadri's former team, the Flames. Makar took a hard hit along the boards and with the President's Trophy in hand, the Avs are in no rush to get him back on ice before the playoffs.
Even head coach Jared Bednar isn't safe from the puck, as the Avalanche bench boss was hit in the face by an errant attempt to dump the puck in the neutral zone. Bednar won't be behind the bench for the Avs games in Calgary and Edmonton as he recovers from facial fracture sand corneal abrasion. Also sidelined in Colorado's contest with the Vegas Golden Knights was Josh Manson, who did not return to finish the 3-2 OT loss after an upper body injury took "the Manimal" off the ice. The Avs have not yet updated the status of Manson, but like Makar, the team may wish to take things slowly as they gear up for the first playoff series.