Avalanche’s Valeri Nichushkin, Nicolas Roy Back From Injury
The Colorado Avalanche will have to shake up their lineup in Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Blues. Forwards Valeri Nichushkin and Nicolas Roy are both set to return from their upper-body injuries per Corey Masisak of The Denver Post. Roy was knocked out of the lineup before March 24th’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was not clear when he sustained the injury, though head coach Jared Bednar emphasized that the team was being careful to not rush him back. Nichushkin sat out of Sunday’s loss to the Blues but has otherwise had a healthy stretch as of late.
The pair of additions will bring Colorado up to a fully healthy roster, except for one crucial piece. Star defenseman Cale Makar isn’t expected to return for “a few more games” Bednar told Masisak. Makar is still expected to return before the end of the season, which would set his return as one of Colorado’s three games next week.
Colorado will wield a fully-healthy offense, plus Trade Deadline additions Nazem Kadri and Roy, for the first time with this news. The top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, and Artturi Lehkonen is likely inseparable, which would leave Colorado’s middle-six as the housing for Roy and Nichushkin. The latter has spent much of the year alongside Gabriel Landeskog and Brock Nelson. The trio have recorded nine goals-for and six goals-against in their time together – but Kadri’s recent run of seven points in his last 10 games could force Colorado to bump him into the top-six. If it does, Nichushkin will move to Roy’s wing on the third line, likely across from Ross Colton.
That would bring some serious firepower to the Avalanche’s bottom-six. Nichushkin has scored 15 goals and 45 points in 66 games this season. That is a 56-point scoring pace across 82 games, a mark that would narrowly beat out Nichushkin’s career-high 53 points set in 54 games of the 2023-24 season. Roy has notched three goals, 13 penalty minutes, and a minus-two in nine games since joining the Avalanche at the Trade Deadline. The combination of skill and aggression between the pair could be a secret weapon as Colorado looks to make another deep run in the playoffs.
Avalanche Still Big Winners In Martin Necas Acquisition
True NHL dynasties are often defined by more than their roster. It takes confident management decisions to stick at the top of the NHL year-over-year. The Colorado Avalanche proved their willingness to make a big swing in their handling of Mikko Rantanen‘s trade ahead of the 2025 Trade Deadline. Facing a costly contract extension, Colorado opted to trade Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes in late-January. The sudden deal wouldn’t stick for Carolina – who flipped Rantanen to Dallas. The fruits of the move were much more direct for Colorado, who took a homerun swing on Martin Necas‘ ability to replace Rantanen’s role. One season later, as Necas rivals the first 100-point season of his career, it seems the Avalanche hit it well out of the park.
Necas was an instant impact for the Avalanche in the second-half of last season. He scored 11 goals and 28 points in 30 games to close out the regular season, bringing his year-long totals up to 83 points in 79 games. Even through a cloud of trade drama, that performance was a career-year for Necas, whose previous career-high was 71 points. A full summer to adjust to Colorado’s system has quickly made both of his previous heights look slim.
Necas has racked up 36 goals, 94 points, and a plus-46 through 72 games this season. All three of those stats are new personal-bests – eight goals, 11 points, and plus-21 higher than his previous bests. That success comes alongside a league-best performance from the Avalanche roster, led by superstar Nathan MacKinnon, Necas’ new batterymate. MacKinnon’s all-out energy and control over play has allowed Necas to focus on his strengths – but his improvements stand out apart from the top-tier support. Necas has looked explosive off the rush and added a goal-scorer’s ability to bury chances through traffic. He has been there to finish the chances that MacKinnon creates, one of the roles that Rantanen filled in his back-to-back 100-point seasons in 2022-23 and 2023-24. With only four games left on Colorado’s schedule Necas likely won’t reach the 105 points that Rantanen scored in his best year – but he nonetheless brings century-scoring capability to the lineup.
The near-seamless replacement can make it easy to forget the rest of Colorado’s return. The Avalanche also brought in feisty, depth forward Jack Drury and draft capital from the Rantanen trade. They packaged one of those picks – a 2025 second-round pick – alongside William Zellers and Casey Mittelstadt to acquire Charlie Coyle and a pick from the Boston Bruins at the 2025 Trade Deadline. Colorado went one step further after the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, trading Coyle and Miles Wood to the Columbus Blue Jackets for prospect Gavin Brindley, a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2025 third-round pick used on defense prospect Francesco Dell’Elce. Drury and Brindley have already shored up Colorado’s depth chart, while the additional capital boosted a bare Avalanche prospect room.
Reliable depth and future upside are fantastic additions to the value that Necas has brought to the top-line. Colorado also signed Necas to a deal $500K cheaper, and one year longer, than Rantanen landed in Dallas. The Avalanche have won every bet they made in a confusing, and surprising, trade of a top-line star. Even if the 2025-26 season stands as Necas’ career-year, his impact next to MacKinnon could help Colorado stick in Stanley Cup contention through the end of the 2020’s. The Avalanche sit confidently on top of the league – six points ahead of the second-place Hurricanes – with the end of the season nearing. They will enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the favorite out of the Western Conference, offering a chance to build on their 2022 Cup win.
Cale Makar, Nicolas Roy Ruled Out For Weekend Back-To-Back
The Avalanche have received largely good news so far on the status of injured star Cale Makar and trade deadline pickup Nicolas Roy. Head coach Jared Bednar made it clear on Wednesday that Makar will be back before the playoffs. He said the same about Roy earlier in the week after he shed his no-contact designation at practice. However, neither will be re-entering the lineup during their back-to-back this weekend, Bednar told Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette. They will not travel to Dallas for tomorrow’s tilt against the Stars but could accompany the team as they head out to face the Blues on the road next Tuesday. They were tossed around by the Canucks 8-6 in their lone outing without Makar so far as he deals with an upper-body injury, while they’ve managed a 3-2-0 record in five games without Roy since he went down with an upper-body issue on March 22.
Assessing The Best Free Agent Signings From Summer 2025
As we move into the final month of the season, it has become quite clear which moves from last summer paid off and which ones did not. While long-term effects of summer trades and signings are always part of the picture, it’s interesting to look back and assess the best free-agent signings to see which teams got value for their money and which did not.
Players don’t always succeed immediately with their new teams; sometimes there’s a settling-in period. However, many moves made last summer in free agency have significantly impacted playoff races this year.
For this exercise, we will focus specifically on players who were unrestricted free agents and moved to new teams. This excludes players like Brad Marchand or John Tavares, who re-signed with their respective teams before July 1.
The first player that comes to mind is the Penguins’ top goal scorer, Anthony Mantha, who signed a one-year, $2.5MM contract (plus $2MM in performance bonuses) with the Penguins after missing most of last season with the Flames due to an ACL tear. Many believed that Mantha would have a chance to improve his free-agent stock in Pittsburgh by playing top-six minutes before cashing in during the summer of 2026.
Last summer, the Penguins seemed like a team that would be selling at the trade deadline, so it made sense that they would give Mantha a one-year deal and then trade him for future assets in February or March. However, that outlook couldn’t have been further from the truth, as Mantha has become a key part of a Pittsburgh team that has surprised the NHL this season and remains competitive in the Eastern Conference. With 30 goals and 28 assists in 75 games, Mantha has provided considerable surplus value to the Penguins and is likely to secure a major contract this summer, particularly among one of the thinnest free-agent fields in the salary cap era.
Last year, much of the talk during free agency was that the goaltending market was incredibly thin, and on paper, it certainly looked that way. But that didn’t stop the Buffalo Sabres from exploring the free agency waters, signing Alex Lyon to a two-year, $3MM contract that has proven to be an absolute steal.
Lyon has split duties with his goalie partner, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and has appeared in 35 games this season, posting a record of 20-9-4 with a 2.69 GAA and a .909 SV%. While those stats are solid, the standout figure in Lyon’s line is his goals saved above expected, which currently sits at 14.8 (according to MoneyPuck). Lyon won’t be winning any awards this year, but considering how much money teams are spending on ineffective goaltending, Lyon has been a real boon for Buffalo.
Sticking with the goalies, another underrated signing that has paid off is Daniel Vladař of the Philadelphia Flyers. The 28-year-old was mainly a backup before this season but has become the Flyers’ starting goaltender, dressing in 45 games while posting a 24-13-7 record, a 2.50 GAA, and a .904 SV%.
Vladař has been excellent value on a two-year deal with a $3.35MM AAV. Not only is Vladař’s save percentage above average, but his goals saved above expected is up to 9.6, suggesting that his underlying numbers indicate a goaltender who has stolen some games for Philadelphia.
A signing that didn’t happen until the fall was forward Jack Roslovic, who again had to accept an under-market one-year deal. Roslovic signed a one-year, $1.5MM contract with the Oilers on Oct. 8 after his second straight unsuccessful free agency run, where he failed to secure a multi-year deal that suited him.
In Edmonton, the 29-year-old has already achieved his second straight 20-goal season and has been a reliable playmaker for the Oilers. Given his consistent production over the past two seasons, it’s unlikely he’s willing to settle for another one-year deal, especially in a tight free agent market.
Moving to the backend, veteran Brent Burns was a free agent for the first time in his career at age 40. Burns signed a one-year deal with the Avalanche that included a potential $4MM in bonuses, of which he will likely earn $3MM this season.
Burns is no longer an elite offensive defenseman, but he has still scored 10 goals and 19 assists in 73 games this year while playing in every game and averaging almost 19 minutes per game. Burns has benefited from playing on a top team and from a high PDO, but for a veteran right-shot defenseman or a bargain one-year deal, he’s worked out as well as the Avs could have hoped for.
Finally, we return to the Penguins and the skillful work of general manager Kyle Dubas accomplished in the early days of free agency last year. Not only did Dubas sign 30-goal scorer Mantha, but he also secured Justin Brazeau with a two-year deal worth just $3MM, as well as defenseman Parker Wotherspoon on a two-year, $2MM deal. The contracts gave Dubas a top-nine forward in Brazeau and a top-pairing defenseman to play alongside Erik Karlsson, all at a total cost of $2.5MM per season for this year and the next.
Dubas and Penguins Director of Player Personnel Wes Clark did excellent work last summer, finding players with lots of potential who hadn’t been given the chance to succeed. By betting on low-risk, high-upside free agents, Dubas effectively accelerated the Penguins’ retooling plans, which seemed unlikely just a year ago, when the team had missed the playoffs for a third consecutive year.
Earlier this season, there was talk that Penguins captain Sidney Crosby should request a trade because he might not make the playoffs again. However, thanks to Dubas’s bargain shopping, the Penguins now seem to be on track for the playoffs and have plenty of cap space this summer to strengthen their already impressive lineup.
Latest On Cale Makar
4/1/26: Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar addressed Makar’s status Wednesday morning, telling Altitude Sports that Makar is going to “miss some time here” but that the injury overall is “nothing serious.” Bednar stressed that the team is prioritizing ensuring Makar is 100% ready for the team’s playoff run when it comes to his recovery.
Reading between the lines, it appears the club is unwilling to risk rushing Makar back into the lineup when the team is already the likely Presidents’ Trophy winner, and the only thing at stake left for Makar this season is competing for a third Norris Trophy.
3/31/26: Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar has suffered an upper-body injury and is set to miss some time, reports ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. According to Kaplan, Makar’s injury is “not believed to be long term” but the team is still evaluating his recovery timeline. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported that Makar will “likely miss a few games in order to get him to 100 percent before the playoffs.”
Makar’s injury has implications both for the Avalanche and rival teams. For Colorado, they are forced to play at least the next few games without their top defenseman. Not only is Makar the Avalanche’s top blueliner, but he’s widely considered to be one of, if not the best defenseman in the world.
The 27-year-old is a two-time Norris Trophy winner and has also won the Conn Smythe Trophy. His 2025-26 season has been strong, as he has 75 points in 73 games, marking his fifth consecutive campaign scoring above a point-per-game rate. While the uncharacteristic struggles of the Avalanche power play have lowered his scoring rate from last season, he’s still among the league’s highest-scoring defensemen.
Makar plays a massive role for the Avalanche, as one might expect, averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time per game, including 4:10 on the power play and 1:58 per game short-handed. The Avalanche will need to find a way to replace those minutes while Makar is absent. It’s likely Devon Toews will play an even greater role with Makar absent, while veteran Brent Burns could get a turn on the top power play unit.
Beyond Colorado, this news has implications for other teams, namely those with defensemen vying for the Norris Trophy. Earlier this month, Makar tied with Columbus Blue Jackets star Zach Werenski in votes for the Norris Trophy in the anonymous poll of PHWA voters conducted by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. Given Werenski and Makar appear to be neck-and-neck for the Norris Trophy this season (Werenski finished No. 2 in voting behind Makar last year), Makar’s injury could end up being the factor that separates the two.
The injury is likely to cost Makar a few games, and those few games missed could cost him the chance to surpass Werenski in scoring. Consequently, this injury could be the difference-maker that allows the Blue Jackets defenseman to secure his first Norris Trophy. Of course, there are still a little over two weeks of games to be played, so there is room for things to change. But based on the way things have been tracking, this injury could be significant from an end-of-year awards perspective.
Cale Makar Leaves Due To Injury
Colorado Avalanche superstar Cale Makar left mid-game against the Flames tonight and would not return, per the team. The defender left late in the second period with an apparent upper body injury, but it was not immediately obvious what happened.
Avalanche’s Nicolas Roy Will Return Before Playoffs
The Colorado Avalanche are slowly assembling their playoff roster after a wave of acquisitions and injuries. They’ll soon add another piece back to the depth chart, with center Nicolas Roy progressing back from an upper-body injury sustained on March 22nd. He has already missed three games with the injury, but returned to practice in a regular jersey on Monday. That progress will put Roy on track to return to the lineup within Colorado’s final 10 games of the season, head coach Jared Bednar told Corey Masisak of The Denver Post.
Roy appeared in nine games with Colorado before going down with injury. He recorded three goals and 13 penalty minutes in those appearances. Despite taking 556 faceoffs with the Toronto Maple Leafs prior to his Trade Deadline move, and winning 52.9 percent of those draws, the bulk of Roy’s minutes with Colorado were spent on Brock Nelson‘s wing. The duo recorded a 66 expected-goals percentage (xGF%) per Natural Stat Trick.
Roy was a productive third-liner for the Maple Leafs prior to his move. He scored 20 points in 59 games with the Maple Leafs, after joining the team in a summer swap with the Vegas Golden Knights for the rights to star winger Mitch Marner. Roy filled a similar depth role with Vegas for six seasons prior to his move. He rivaled 30 points in his final four seasons with the Golden Knights, including posting a career-high 41 points in 70 games of the 2023-24 campaign.
Colorado built out a deep depth chart with the additions of Roy and Nazem Kadri at the Trade Deadline. When Roy is back to full health, the two will compete with Nelson for a spot at their natural center position, while the odd-man-out likely moves to the a top-nine winger role. Roy could be the one to land in that position, alternating faceoffs with Nelson who has a 50.7 faceoff percentage this season. His return will add another pillar to Colorado’s league-best offense just in time for another run towards the Stanley Cup.
Avalanche Sign Matthew DiMarsico
The Colorado Avalanche will once again dip into the pool of college free agents. They have signed Penn State winger Matthew DiMarsico to a two-year, entry-level contract set to begin in the 2026-27 season. DiMarsico will join the AHL’s Colorado Eagles on an AHL contract for the remainder of the 2025-26 season.
This will be another boost to a big season for DiMarsico. The undrafted forward posted a career-high 18 goals and 42 points in 37 games with Penn State this season – one more goal and nine more assists than he managed in 39 games last year. He was also selected to represent the NCAA at the 2025 Spengler Cup, as part of a historic U.S. Collegiate Selects squad. DiMarsico posted two goals and a minus-two in four games at the international tournament. Much of his season was spent alongside, or behind, star prospect Gavin McKenna on the depth chart. Where McKenna offered flashy playmaking, DiMarsico brought poised drive and finishing around the net. His 6-foot, 180-pound frame stood tall against college competition, helping DiMarsico win his battles and fill multiple roles on the forecheck.
The 22-year-old has spent three seasons in college hockey’s Big Ten. He slowly worked his way up the Nittany Lions roster, propelled by a breakout year across from Nashville Predators prospect Aiden Fink last season. DiMarsico only had one year of junior hockey experience before his days as a college athlete – scoring 25 goals and 46 points in 59 games with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers in the 2022-23 season, the season after his first year of draft eligibility. He spent his age-18 season playing 18U hockey with the Buffalo Regals and high school hockey at Avon Old Farms.
DiMarsico was a workhorse talent for the Nittany Lions. He played upwards of 23 minutes a night in must-win games and helped push the puck downhill when Penn State broke out. He will get his first chances to translate that to the pro level with eight games left in the Eagles’ regular season. The Eagles are well-positioned for a playoff spot, though they haven’t yet clinched it. DiMarsico’s hot offense could be a major playoff boost and help him work towards the goal of one day slotting into the Avalanche’s bottom-six.
ECHL's Utah Grizzlies Sign Marek Hejduk
Like Rantanen, Faksa is dealing with an injury he suffered during the Winter Olympics in Milan. Meanwhile, Hintz has been recovering from a lower-body injury he suffered during the Stars’ loss to the Colorado Avalanche on March 6th. Regardless, being one of only two teams to have already clinched a spot in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Stars will spend their remaining nine games ensuring home-ice advantage against the Minnesota Wild in Round One.
- The ECHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche, the Utah Grizzlies, has brought in the son of one of the franchise’s former legends. According to Brogan Houston of Deseret News Sports, the Grizzlies have signed Marek Hejduk, son of Milan Hejduk, to a professional contract. Hejduk recently concluded his collegiate career at Harvard University, scoring two goals and seven points in 32 games throughout his senior season. Over his entire tenure with the Crimson, Hejduk registered 17 goals and 32 points in 124 contests.
Avalanche Reassign Gavin Brindley
The Avalanche announced following Thursday night’s win over the Jets that they’ve reassigned right-winger Gavin Brindley to AHL Colorado.
Brindley, 21, has not yet played in the AHL this season but was sent to the Eagles for a few hours at the trade deadline to make him eligible for reassignment down the stretch. He had played in every game for the Avs since Jan. 3 before exiting the lineup for this week’s games against Pittsburgh and Winnipeg, falling victim to a roster crunch created by the returns of Logan O’Connor, Ross Colton, and Artturi Lehkonen from injuries.
The undersized but high-energy winger impressed early in a depth role in Colorado this season after being acquired from the Blue Jackets last summer in the deal that sent Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to Columbus. An early second-round selection in 2023 (34th overall), Brindley has a 6-7–13 scoring line in 56 games but only has two points and a -6 rating over his last 25 outings, so he’s hit a tough stretch in the second half of the year.
Colorado saw enough out of Brindley to sign him to a cost-effective two-year, $1.75MM extension back in November. He still has another season of waiver-exempt status after this one, so, especially considering they structured the first year of that extension as a two-way deal, he may still see some AHL time in 2026-27 before ideally transitioning to a full-time role in a couple of years.
The Florida native was a star offensive producer at the University of Michigan but struggled as a first-year pro in the Columbus organization last season, limited to a 6-11–17 scoring line in 52 AHL games. Given how he’s fared in his NHL minutes this season, Brindley should be in line for an expanded role with the Eagles with a corresponding increase in production.
The Avs have carried a thin roster through much of the season, so the fact they only have 13 healthy forwards without Brindley on the roster isn’t anything new. His demotion is less about resolving a roster crunch and more about getting the still-developing winger some playing time.