ST. PAUL – With the series between the Avalanche and Wild moving to Minnesota, there’s a possibility for both teams to get an important player back in the lineup on Saturday evening.

Prior to the Avalanche flying to Minnesota, coach Jared Bednar said the team didn’t bring Jack Ahcan with them for the trip to Minnesota as an extra defenseman. Why is that?

“We feel good about (Josh Manson’s availability),” Bednar said. “That’s why Jack’s not here.”

Manson has not played since Game 3 of the first round series against the Los Angeles Kings when he took a heavy hit along the benches in the first period. He tried to return to that game but only lasted one more shift. In his absence, Nick Blankenburg has stepped into the lineup, but his ice time has been cut in each game he’s played. In Game 2, he barely played seven minutes as the Avalanche went down to five defensemen for most of the third period.

The 34-year-old Manson, who plays a brand of hockey the Avalanche will always welcome to their lineup, has only practiced with the team once since the injury. Most of his work has been done individually with skills coach Mark Popovic.

Whether or not Manson makes his first appearance in this series appears to be the only lineup question the Avalanche is facing. The Wild, on the other hand, are awaiting word as to whether their top center Joel Eriksson Ek can play. He skated for the first time on Friday and head coach John Hynes said “there’s a chance” he could play in Game 3. It’s unlikely we’ll know for certain whether Manson or Eriksson Ek will play until warm-ups on Saturday night.

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) in the second period of an NHL game Nov. 30, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The other big news for the Avalanche on Friday was the announcement that Nathan MacKinnon is a Hart Trophy finalist for the fifth time in his career. The Hart Trophy is awarded “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.” MacKinnon won the award in 2024.

The 30-year-old center scored 97 points at even strength this past season, the most even-strength points an NHL player has produced since Wayne Gretzky scored 103 back during the 1990-91 season.

“For me, Nate, he’s somewhat of a unicorn when it comes to his abilities, the way he plays, the physicality and the skill level and pace he plays with,” Bednar said on Friday. “There aren’t too many guys who are putting up 100-plus points a year that go play as physical as Nate did last game. And I understand it’s 82 games of a season, those guys put a tremendous amount of pressure on themselves to produce offensively, so defensively and physically it’s not going to look like that all the time. Doesn’t mean that it’s not still in his wheelhouse and an area of his game he can’t excel in, and you see it at the most important times of the year.”

“He’s 1 of 1.”

The winner of the Hart Trophy will be announced at a later date. MacKinnon wasn’t made available to the media on Friday, but everyone knows there’s one other trophy he’s much more concerned about taking home at the end of the season.