The Colorado Avalanche added Josh Manson ahead of the deadline, but weren’t able to secure any more defensive additions yesterday. Unfortunately, just a few hours later, one of their regulars went down and is now out indefinitely. Ryan Murray, who blocked a shot just 31 seconds into his first shift, is out “weeks not days” according to head coach Jared Bednar, who confirmed it was a fracture but did not specify if it was a hand or an arm injury, according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic.
The Avalanche were playing with seven defensemen Monday night, though one of those was Kurtis MacDermid, who is a hybrid for them, usually lining up at forward when the entire group is healthy. In Murray’s absence, and with Manson making his Avalanche debut, Cale Makar went over 30 minutes and Devon Toews racked up 27:38 — the only two defensemen to even crack the 20-minute mark.
While the Avalanche do have quite a bit of defensive depth, Samuel Girard is also out with an injury and Bowen Byram is still a question mark because of his ongoing concussion issues. The young Byram is back on the ice with the team — in a regular jersey even — but it’s not clear when he will actually re-enter the Avalanche lineup.
Of note, Justin Barron, who has played two games for the team this season, was traded to the Montreal Canadiens as part of the Artturi Lehkonen deal.
Murray, 28, has dealt with injuries his entire career, only once completing a full season unscathed. Through 37 appearances this year, he had just four points, but he was still a useful depth piece for a team looking to go on a long playoff run. Now sidelined for the next while, it will be interesting to see if Murray ends up losing his spot in the lineup, should Colorado get comfortable with a new deployment of defensemen.
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