- Cale Makar opened Avalanche training camp on a lighter program with a lower-body injury
- Jared Bednar says the issue came out of offseason training and has nothing to do with his playoff injury
- Read below for what Bednar said and how long Makar actually lasted on the ice Thursday
Cale Makar did not make it through a full first day of Avalanche camp.
The Norris finalist is dealing with a lower-body injury that turned up during offseason training, and Jared Bednar flagged it a day before Colorado hit the ice Thursday morning.
Bednar was asked at media day Wednesday whether his best defenseman would be ready for the opening session.
“He’s been on the ice. He’s just on a little bit of a lighter program than probably most of our guys coming into main camp. So we’ll see how that sort of sorts out. Whether he’s ready to go Day 1 of training camp is probably unlikely.”
Watch Bednar’s full media day session:
The coach went out of his way to keep the temperature down on it.
“I don’t think it’s anything to be worried about at this point. It’s not related to the injury he had last year in the playoffs. It’s just something new that popped up here with training.”
Makar was out there Thursday, just not for long. Colorado reporter Jesse Montano watched him stay with the main group for roughly 20 minutes before he headed to the room, and said it looked scripted rather than sudden.
The rest of the group got the usual camp-opening treatment:
That playoff injury Bednar referenced was an upper-body issue that cost Makar two games last spring. He went pointless across the final four games of Colorado’s five-game second-round win over Minnesota and was held off the scoresheet in Games 3 and 4 of the conference final sweep by Vegas.
Everything before that was vintage. Makar put up 20 goals and 79 points in 75 games while logging just under 25 minutes a night, and he was a Norris finalist for a sixth straight year before Columbus blueliner Zach Werenski took the award.
He also signed the biggest defenseman contract in league history on Aug. 28, an eight-year deal worth $163.2 million that starts in 2027-28.
Bednar had his own contract question to field at the same media day, and he told reporters those talks with Joe Sakic have not gotten anywhere yet.
Colorado has three days of camp before a preseason game against Utah on Sept. 20, then opens the regular season at home against the Kings on Sept. 30. Bednar expects Makar to be a full participant well before then.
