The Avalanche's worst nightmare just unfolded
A camera caught Cale Makar rubbing numbing cream on his left hip between shifts. The Colorado Avalanche have a Game 1 problem.
This is the worst kind of injury news. Not a confirmed report. Not a coach update.
A broadcast lens that picked up something the team wasn't ready to share.
Hip issues for a defenseman who skates like he does are not minor. Not for the engine of the league's best regular season team. Not at this point in May.
Colorado finished 55-16-11. That's 121 points. That's first overall. The whole structure runs through the back end, and the back end runs through the kid who just won the Norris last year.
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He had 2 goals in 4 games against the Kings in round one, including the game-winner in the opener. He posted 79 points across 75 regular season games.
None of that production happens with a compromised stride.
What Jared Bednar can't say out loud about his Norris winner
Bednar is in his tenth year behind the bench and has seen every kind of postseason injury fire.
This one is different. Hip problems for a 27-year-old skater don't tend to clear up between games.
Nathan MacKinnon can carry an offensive shift. Devon Toews can quarterback a power play.
Neither one moves the puck out of the defensive zone like the captain of the back end does.
Josh Manson and Toews will likely absorb the heaviest minutes. That works for a period.
It does not work for a seven-game series against a Wild team that just beat Dallas in 6.
Round 2 starts with Game 1 against Minnesota. J
ohn Hynes is going to send waves at the Avs blue line and see what happens when the Norris winner is half a step slower.
Chris MacFarland built this roster to peak in May. The cap is committed. The window is now.
And the most important player on the team is taking shifts off pain medication.
The Avalanche aren't going to confirm anything publicly. They almost never do this time of year.
So the next answer comes from the ice, in how Makar moves on his first shift Tuesday, and whether he's still on the bench by the third period.
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LIVE
MAY 3, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Devon Toews | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Cale Makar | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Quinn Hughes | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Martin Necas | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Artturi Lehkonen | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sam Malinski | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Kaiden Guhle | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Nick Blankenburg | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Drury | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Marcus Foligno | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Ryan Hartman | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Dominic James | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Marcus Johansson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nazem Kadri | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nick Suzuki | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladimir Tarasenko | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mats Zuccarello | 1 | - | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||