It’s rare that you get an NHL player going into detail about an injury they dealt with last season, but that’s exactly what Colorado Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson did on Monday.
The 31 year old defenseman was limited to just 27 games last season in Colorado, and explained why he wasn’t able to continue playing in round one against the Seattle Kraken.
“At the end of the day, what ended up happening was I tore my QL and oblique,” Manson said. “I think it was in game two or three, and I was just trying to get through game three, four, and then halfway through five, I just couldn’t do it anymore. It got to the point where I just couldn’t move at all.”
While that does not appear to be the injury that limited Manson during the regular season, it’s what he needed surgery on this summer. He’s confident that it was fixed, and according to Jared Bednar, Manson is “likely” to get into a preseason game this week.
Let’s get on to the other news of the day…
- While Bednar did leave some wiggle room for Manson to skip out on preseason altogether, he didn’t with Cale Makar. When I asked if he’s scheduled to play in either of these final two preseason games, he immediately answered with a “yes.”
- One guy who will not play in preseason is Andrew Cogliano. He’s still in a red, non-contact jersey at practice, although he does not seem to adhere to that rule.
- “We’re just working the timeline with him,” Bednar said. “He feels great. There’s no issue with him going into regular season, but we’re just giving him as much time as he can to make sure he’s full to go.”
- For the first time since camp started, the Avalanche are down to one group. This morning, they assigned goaltender Arvid Holm and forward Ivan Ivan to the Colorado Eagles, who start their training camp today. Neither cut is a surprise, but for Ivan Ivan to have stuck around as long as he did is a testament to how well he played. It’s rare that players on AHL only deals last four preseason games, but he did just that. Now, the Avalanche need to get him an entry-level contract. Because he’s on an AHL deal only, any team in the league could technically sign him, but I’d say he’s showed well enough to earn one.
- Expect more cuts today or tomorrow morning. Since practice ended, it came out that Wyatt Aamodt and Corey Schueneman are on waivers. As long as they pass through, they’ll be sent to the Eagles. They likely won’t be alone.
- There was still no update on Maros Jedlicka, who left last nights game with an injury.
- Bowen Byram was back at practice after missing a day due to illness.
- Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Ben Meyers all took rest days.
- Bednar confirmed that the expectation is Pavel Francouz will not be available to start the year. Justus Annunen will likely get one more game to show he can handle the backup role until Francouz returns.
- With players missing, we probably shouldn’t read too much into the lines at practice, but Fredrik Olofsson was center Logan O’Connor and Andrew Cogliano. Might want to pencil that line in for opening night.
That’s it for today. The Avalanche will hold morning skate tomorrow morning before flying out to Dallas to play the Stars. I’m not sure if that game will be streamed, but I wouldn’t count on it.
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