The Colorado Avalanche announced that centre and team captain Nathan MacKinnon is day-to-day with a shoulder injury. MacKinnon will miss at least Colorado’s game on Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers, but TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported that MacKinnon shouldn’t be out more than a week. The team will find out more about their captain’s status in the next 24 hours.
Nathan MacKinnon injury update: Avalanche forward to miss at least one game https://t.co/7cmykvMnUj pic.twitter.com/o66RAKY4qf
— Sporting News NHL (@sn_nhl) January 31, 2018
Nathan MacKinnon Injured
The injury occurred when MacKinnon ran into Vancouver Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler with just over six minutes left in the second period of Colorado’s 4-3 overtime loss to Vancouver. Edler braced himself for the hit and MacKinnon was instantly in discomfort after it.
So far this season, MacKinnon has scored 24 goals and 37 assists for 61 points. He also added 38 minutes in penalties. His possession numbers were 51.7 percent Corsi and a relative Corsi of +5.3.
MacKinnon has spent his entire five–year NHL career with the Colorado Avalanche. He has put up 99 goals and 168 assists for 267 career points in 349 career games. He was originally drafted in the 1st round, 1st overall of the 2013 NHL draft by Colorado.
“He’s out with an upper-body injury… He will not play for us tomorrow… Hopefully, it’s not that serious,” Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told Altitude 905 earlier on Wednesday.
What This Means for the Future
The Avalanche may have dodged a bullet if MacKinnon doesn’t miss any significant amount of time. He’s a bonafide Hart Trophy contender and one of the main reasons that Colorado has been one of the surprise teams in the league.
MacKinnon leads the team and is second the NHL in points. He has already tied his season-high for goals, which he achieved in his rookie season. The Halifax, Nova Scotia native totalled 19 points in the Avalanche’s recent 10-game winning streak. Many picked Colorado to be one of the bottom teams in the league, but sit only one point out of the second wildcard spot behind the Minnesota Wild.
DENVER, CO – DECEMBER 05: Nathan MacKinnon during a regular season game between the Colorado Avalanche and the visiting Buffalo Sabres on December 5, 2017, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. (Photo by Russell Lansford/Icon Sportswire)
