Heading into the condensed 2021 season, everyone knew that depth and a surpluss of healthy bodies would be critical. Not only because of the threat of a COVID outbreak, but because injuries become more prevalent with less time to recover between games. The Colorado Avalanche have witnessed this first-hand. There is never a “good” COVID outbreak, but being shut down for two weeks allowed previously injured players to get healthy without missing too much playing time.
However, their blueline has been decimated. Currently, Erik Johnson, Bowen Byram, Cale Makar and Dennis Gilbert are all out. And while that’s certainly not an ideal scenario, Colorado’s deep defensive corps allows the team to get by while it waits for those players to return.