As expected, the Colorado Avalanche have trimmed some of their depth after returning from a three-game road trip through the southeastern United States. Late yesterday evening, the Avalanche announced that they’ve reassigned forward Taylor Makar to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.
Makar was originally recalled one day before Colorado departed for their road trip. At the time, the team was dealing with a pair of mild injuries to Gavin Brindley and Joel Kiviranta. The former returned against the Florida Panthers on Sunday, and Kiviranta didn’t make his way back to the lineup, as predicted.
Throughout the recall, Makar only appeared against the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning, though he didn’t play much in either contest. Across the entire 2025-26 campaign, Makar, 24, has gone scoreless in five outings with a +1 rating. In Loveland, CO, with the Eagles, Makar has registered six goals and 10 points in 26 contests with a +11 rating.
Still, it’s somewhat surprising to see Makar move back to the AHL so quickly, considering that the Avalanche are returning to Denver more banged up than when they left. Although Kiviranta is expected back in a few days, captain Gabriel Landeskog is expected to miss multiple weeks with an undisclosed injury suffered against the Panthers. Unless Kiviranta returns to the lineup against the Ottawa Senators, Colorado will be down to 11 healthy forwards on the roster.
Regardless, if the Avalanche want to add a depth forward to the mix over the next couple of days, it by no means has to be Makar. Assuming they’ll prefer a waiver-exempt forward, Colorado could also recall Ivan Ivan, Matthew Stienburg, or Tristen Nielsen instead.