The Colorado Avalanche have announced that their star forward Nathan MacKinnon will be out two to four weeks with an upper-body injury. MacKinnon was injured in a game against the Vancouver Canucks, and will have to put his MVP-caliber season on hold.
MacKinnon was leading the Avalanche back to relevancy this season, and had them within a single point of the playoffs in the Western Conference. With 61 points in 43 games, the 22-year old is still expected to crush his previous career-high in scoring, and has even already tied his highest goal mark with 24.
Though two weeks would only keep him out of the lineup for seven games, four would push his return past the trade deadline and into March. That makes adding at the deadline tough, especially if the team takes a step backwards with MacKinnon out of the lineup.
In his place, players like Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog will need to take even more offensive burden upon their shoulders. Alexander Kerfoot, now the team’s most offensive-minded center, will take MacKinnon’s spot on the top line according to Adrian Dater of BSN Denver.
Ouch. That hurts their chances.
Aaaaaaand they’re back to earth
That’s what they said about Vegas when Fleury went down