Avs should tread lightly with MacKinnon as playoff health is paramount

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar announced after the team’s morning skate on Wednesday that All-Star center Nathan MacKinnon will miss tonight’s game in Detroit against the Red Wings.

In typical hockey coach fashion, Bednar disclosed very little about what’s ailing MacKinnon, other than the fact it’s a lower-body issue that’s been bothering the superstar for a while. Bednar added he’s hopeful MacKinnon can play Friday night against the Jets.

That begs the question, why?

MacKinnon hasn’t been truly healthy all season. He’s played in only 36 of the team’s 50 games, missing a long stretch with another lower-body injury in November and skipping the All-Star festivities and sitting out several more games after suffering a brutal face injury in January.

While Cale Makar is having a monster season and Nazem Kadri is posting career-best numbers, MacKinnon is still the Avalanche’s best player and needs to be protected at all costs.

If Colorado’s training staff wants to put MacKinnon in bubble wrap until the playoffs begin in early May, that’s good with me. He clearly hasn’t felt right all year, and the reality is the rest of regular season means very little. With 76 points entering Wednesday, the Avalanche are almost assuredly going to secure home-ice advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs. Both St. Louis and Calgary are tied for second with 66 points and not within imminent striking distance.

Does anyone in Denver care if the Avalanche win another President’s Trophy? That didn’t exactly work out last season with another second-round exit (their third in a row) and historically the award doesn’t mean much. Only one NHL team with the most regular season points has won the Stanley Cup in the last 13 years. No President’s Trophy winner has advanced to the conference finals since the 2014-15 New York Rangers.

So while fans with expensive tickets might not want to hear it, the most important thing for the Avalanche in their final 32 games is to stay healthy. If that means resting (benching?) MacKinnon for a significant stretch, so be it. Let’s say hypothetically his “lower-body injury” is an ankle that just can’t get right. Would you rather Mackinnon power through that now in games that don’t matter? Or put it on ice (not the rink) for six weeks and come back refreshed and recharged for the postseason? The answer is the latter.

The Avalanche are in a weird position this season. Anything short of a Stanley Cup Finals appearance will feel like a failure. Some might even argue they have to hoist the trophy for the year to be a success.

If Colorado is fully healthy entering the postseason and flames out again, it could cost head coach Jared Bednar his job. If they’re not healthy because they pushed guys like Mackinnon into playing meaningless regular season games, then that would be a colossal waste.

Nathan MacKinnon is out Wednesday night in Detroit. And if he’s not totally right, the Avalanche would be wise to keep him out way longer than that. This season will be remembered for what happens in June, not February, March and April.

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