Cale Makar could miss the start of next Avs’ season

The sweep of the Colorado Avalanche was bad. The injury update on their star is worse. Cale Makar's status for the start of next season is an open question.

BY JAKE SHAPIRO

May 27, 2026, 5:54 PM

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The totality of Colorado’s Western Conference Final exit via sweep could carry into next season in more ways than just the stink of it.

The injury that kept Cale Makar out of Games 1 and 2 against the Vegas Golden Knights is “pretty significant,” according to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, who said Wednesday that the Norris Trophy-winning defenseman’s status for the start of next season is now an open question.

“I’ve heard his injury is pretty significant,” Friedman said on his podcast. “And I know some people have been wondering, will he be ready for the start of next year? I guess we’ll find all that out, but I just don’t think that that’s the reason here. I think it’s more of an excuse than anything else.”

Vegas beat Colorado because Vegas was better, as Friedman noted. But the injury is real, and it’s serious enough that the conversation is already shifting from this spring to next fall.

It looked like a harmless collision with Minnesota’s Mats Zuccarello midway through the third period of Game 5. Makar’s reaction said otherwise. He grabbed his right arm immediately and skated straight to the locker room. He’d been grabbing that area and talking to trainers throughout the game already. He returned to the ice a few minutes later — but it was the cumulative hits, plus a hip issue, that slowed him the rest of the way.

He finished the playoffs with five points in 11 games after a 79-point regular season. It tied for the fewest points he’s tallied in any playoffs, including years where the Avs lost in the first round.

Now the Avalanche head into an offseason with one of their stars, and arguably the best defenseman in the world, facing a recovery timeline that is uncertain as of now.

It’s another brutal blow to a team already staring down hard questions. Colorado was swept in four games. The locker room used words like “waste” and “humiliating.” Jared Bednar is entering the final year of his contract. And the franchise’s championship window — built around Makar and Nathan MacKinnon — just shrank.

A shortened summer for Makar means a more complicated one for everyone trying to figure out what comes next.

Bednar said to expect more formal injury updates in the coming days after the Game 4 loss.