March 31: So much for that concern. Today on Altitude Sports Radio, Bednar announced that MacKinnon is expected to play tonight for the Avalanche when they take on the San Jose Sharks.
March 29: The Colorado Avalanche will not have Nathan MacKinnon in the lineup tonight when they take on the Calgary Flames, and it’s not clear when he’ll be back. The superstar center has flown back to Denver to have an upper-body injury evaluated, according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic, and there is no timeline for his return at this point. Head coach Jared Bednar told reporters including Baugh that it was “possible” that the injury occurred in MacKinnon’s recent fight against Matt Dumba of the Minnesota Wild and that concern was currently “high” from the team.
MacKinnon took exception to a hit that Dumba laid on Mikko Rantanen the other night, and immediately engaged in a fight with the Wild defenseman. While the Colorado forward didn’t immediately appear to have an injury–he returned to the game for five more shifts after his penalty was served–he now faces an uncertain timeline at one of the worst possible points in the season.
Luckily, the Avalanche have built up quite a lead in the Central Division, as even the surging Wild (currently on a six-game winning streak) are 14 points behind them in the standings. If MacKinnon is out for any length of time, the team should certainly be able to hold onto that lead and still head into the playoffs as the top seed in the Central Division.
The worry obviously is whether the injury will keep him out longer-term, as there are only a little over four weeks left in the regular season. MacKinnon has already missed a good chunk of the season, but has 70 points in 51 games and continues to be one of the most dynamic, valuable players in the entire league.
That sucks was looking forward to watching him against flames tonight
Broken hand.
Everyone on social who applauded Mac for fighting, in fact everyone who thinks fighting is good for hockey, is an idiot. And you can all take that personally.
It is good for hockey and if teams still employed guys that did it more then Mac wouldn’t have to stick up for his teammate. Think Gretzky ever had to worry about dropping mitts with Semenko or McSorley around?
Completely specious argument promoted by dinosaurs.
If you don’t like it, go back to watching the Oscars.
There is a solid argument for both sides of the table here. I, myself, don’t mind the occasional tilt but the days of staged fighting are long gone. Is there a need for enforcers in the game like Semenko or McSorley- No. Hockey has already proven that by surviving even though these type of players have virtually gone extinct. Can hockey survive without fighting? Definitely. International hockey is proof of that. When’s the last time anyone watched international hockey for the fights? It’s pure skill vs. Skill and it’s the best version of hockey. I can definitely see them getting rid of fighting in the near future.
No way, not so long as 98% of players want fighting in the game. The NHL is not the IHL and should not try to be them. Just because there is the occasional fight does not mean the NHL is not “pure skill vs skill” in any way, shape or form. If people want hockey to not have physicality or fighting, there’s always women’s hockey or just go follow another hockey league.
The NHL should not be trying to parrot other leagues when there’s nothing wrong with the way it is now. The NHL is the best of the best and is the top hockey league in the world and should not try to be like other leagues. That’s not to say there aren’t other great, highly competitive leagues, but the NHL is at the top.
Enforcers of past years were guys that couldn’t really do much other than fight. Enforcers in today’s game are skilled. They can score, skate and play defense. Every team has guys that will go out and fight someone when it’s necessary. What an “enforcer” is has just changed.
You say 98% of the players still want fighting but not even half that amount actually fight. I’d actually like to see where you got that funny stat. And you do realize the move to reduce or even eliminate fighting is also a move agreed upon by the NHL and, wait for it… the NHLPA, which represents the interests… OF THE PLAYERS. All for the interest of player safety. But sure, since you want fighting, 98% of the players must want it too. Whatever you want to believe.
.. or you could just do five seconds of research instead of claiming something is BS just because you don’t like what it says. The last time players were polled on this, it was overwhelmingly (98%) in opposition to a fighting ban and that has not changed much among players as evidenced by all the fighting that still goes on in the league though a lot less than it used to be and that’s probably a good thing. There are still hockey fights to be seen in highlight shows almost every day.
There’s been 292 fights this season so far with about a month to go. Clearly, the players want fighting or they’d stop doing it and put pressure on the league to change the rules. They haven’t. If they did, it would be done.
link to hockeyfights.com
Your logic is also faulty since you’re apparently assuming the only players who would be in favor of fighting are guys that actually fight themselves which completely excludes the skill guys who are protected by the guys that do.
It’s the fans that don’t understand why fighting is a part of the game, not the players which is the only reason the NHL has done anything. If they wanted to ban fighting and there was enough support among players, it would have been done a long time ago. Some segments of fans are the only ones who cry about it, but you don’t hear many players crying about it because they understand why it’s there. It’s fans that don’t.
.. but hey, whatever you want to believe.
I guess I am an idiot but to me that was the best I have seen from Nathan MacKinnon. To me, he lacks compassion at times, despite his overwhelming awesome talent. For him to step up for his teammates, no one else has been doing it except for McDermid, showed me a lot. This sends a message to other teams who are wondering about the Avalanche: when the superstar does that, that means everyone will respond. “Nate dog” went up 10 points in my book!!!! GO AVS!!!!!!
Yes, sorry, but you are. You should look up “compassion.” It doesn’t mean what you think it does. And the only message it sends to other teams is that if you antagonize our best player, you can take him out of the game, the next game, the series. If he skates away, turns around and scores a few goals and sends the Wild home unhappy, then the Avs win, the fans win, the game wins.
Yeah well just ask the bench what that means to them . We can even win possibly one series without him. I hope he’s not seriously hurt but to me he showed what the Avalanche have to do in the playoffs: sticking up for each other because the last few years teams like Dallas, Vegas and st.louis are trying to run us out of the building. I don’t know what hockey you guys are watching? I think Mac’s response is ultimately going to pay some dividend. All hands on deck now when you play the Avalanche, especially when the Captain comes back! GO AVS!!!!!
You’re right Thomas. Mac and Landeskog will do what no other top flight players will. Much respect.
“Compassion”???
@thomasavalanche – I think you meant “passion” there…
Now one of the leagues top players is out because guys can’t take a hit and deal with it themselves.
Maybe Mikko could have fought Dumba…if he wanted to later on
Dumb how you have to fight after a body check.
The “code” of having to fight if someone throws a hit is foolish. Total waste of time. Hockey got rid of hitting (unofficially), but kept fighting and the silly “code” – unfortunate.
I liked the fight, myself. You can talk all the smack you want, but the fact is that it IS a part of the game. Sucks that mackinnon got hurt, but he showed a lot of heart and garnered respect from his teammates.
Sorry you think it’s so barbaric; maybe there’s some flag football or water polo on another channel you can watch instead.
I second what M34 said
Nice to know indefinitely meant one game.
“Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.”
-N. MacKinnon
took one article to flush out everyones tviews on fighting. think it shows who actually played hockey at a high level and who played jv soccer