The Avalanche’s iron man doesn’t need extra rest heading into the playoffs

The Colorado Avalanche have officially locked up the No. 3 seed in the Central Division, and are taking advantage of not having anything to play for. Nathan Mackinnon missed Thursday night’s game, his first absence since Dec. 2022, to nurse an injury, and a handful of other Avalanche players are out with day-to-day injuries as they take advantage of the longer rest period before the postseason.

For Cale Makar, extra rest doesn’t matter to him. Makar is the only player on the roster who has played in all 80 of the Avalanche’s games this season, and he doesn’t seem to mind getting to 82.

“It’s kind of whatever the team wants,” Makar said after the Avs’ 4-1 defeat against the Vancouver Canucks Thursday. “We’ve had a lot of injuries recently here and we want to make sure guys are still dialed and prepared for playoffs. Whatever the team wants, I’ll be doing it.”

This season is the third time in Makar’s career the he has played at least 77 games in a season. Combined with him playing in the 4-Nations Face-Off back in February, he has shown that getting extra rest here and there is not important to him unless he’s seriously injured. He also played 27 minutes on Thursday, four more minutes than anyone else on the team.

Nathan MacKinnon has played 79 games this season, but the team decided to give him time to rest, possibly for the rest of the season, after it was announced he was dealing with a minor injury. It’s unclear what the team’s official decision will be, which will come from head coach Jared Bednar.

“We’ll see,” Bednar said Thursday. “We’ve got some guys dealing with some things so we’ll decide on possibly leaving some guys if they’re banged up a little bit and not feeling great.”

The team announced Friday that three players from the Colorado Eagles had been recalled for the weekend, signaling that more players should be getting some rest instead of playing in Southern California this weekend.

We have recalled Jere Innala, Wyatt Aamodt, and Jack Ahcan from the Colorado Eagles. pic.twitter.com/FzoHHGSkvB

— x – Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 11, 2025

While some players are resting to recover from injuries during this stretch, it’s also important for the healthy guys to not get injured in these final few games. Does that require a change in how the Avs play?

“No,” Makar said. “You’re still playing hockey … We want to win still.”

The Avalanche, or what’s left of them, will be in action in Los Angeles against the Kings for a Saturday afternoon bout. While the Avalanche have nothing to play for, the Kings need a win to keep control of the No. 2 seed in Pacific Division so they can keep home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. After Saturday’s game, the Avs will take a short trip across town to take on Anaheim, who would benefit from a loss in order to have a better chance to secure the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.