Cale Makar back on ice, but admits injury isn’t getting “much better”

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar skated with his teammates in a regular jersey at practice on Friday.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Makar isn’t necessarily feeling all that much better after a long summer of rehabbing and grinding. It’s hockey, so we don’t really know what’s bothering Makar, other than the fact it’s a lower body injury.

He met with the media after the session and shared some honest thoughts.

Makar confirms it is a lower body injury:

"Stuff like this, the more you work on it, the better it’s going to get. … It’s just been kind of a long process. Stuff never really gets worse, but it hasn’t really gotten much better."

— Kyle Fredrickson (@kylefredrickson) September 29, 2023

That last part has to be particularly frustrating for Makar. The Avalanche lost to the Kraken in Game 7 of Round 1 all the way back on April 30. That means he’s been working on this for essentially five full months, with not a lot of progress.

Makar battled through the 2022 season, but only played in 60 games. He still put up very good numbers, registering 17 goals and 49 assists, with his 60 points good for third on the team. But a couple of concussion scares limited his time on the ice. At least we know this isn’t related to that, given the lower body nature of the injury.

Still, if the Avs want to win their second Stanley Cup in three years, they’ll need Makar to play like the Norris and Conn Smythe Trophy winner he was in 2021. He can only do that if he’s out there for the vast majority of the games.

Let’s hope getting back to a regular routine does make the injury improve. But for now, it feels like a story we’ll be watching all season long.

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