{"id":469223,"date":"2026-02-24T06:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T06:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/469223\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T06:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T06:27:14","slug":"avalanche-could-ice-shorthanded-lineup-in-utah-with-tight-olympic-turnaround","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/469223\/","title":{"rendered":"Avalanche Could Ice Shorthanded Lineup in Utah With Tight Olympic Turnaround"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a quick turnaround from the conclusion of the Olympics to the restart of NHL games.<\/p>\n

The Avalanche had four key members of their roster play in Sunday\u2019s gold medal game. Top line center Nathan MacKinnon and the top pair on the blueline, Cale Makar and Devon Toews, all represented Canada. The team\u2019s No. 2 center, Brock Nelson, played for Team USA.<\/p>\n

The game concluded late Sunday morning in Denver \u2014 just over 72 hours before the Avs play their first game in Utah. Given the short window of time for them to get back to Colorado and readjust to the timezone, head coach Jared Bednar admitted that the team could possibly ice a shorthanded lineup in that first game, perhaps with call-ups from the AHL filling in around the edges.<\/p>\n

That includes Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Kiviranta, who played in the bronze medal game on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Bednar didn\u2019t specify which of the six would sit. It\u2019s not even a guarantee that any of them will, just that it\u2019s being discussed. But if the team does go that route with any of them, it\u2019ll only be for that one game.<\/p>\n

Colorado plays again on Thursday, the second of five games in a seven-day span out of the gate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely not doing that. No. If we make a decision to sit guys on Wednesday, then we\u2019re back to business,\u201d Bednar said about the idea of load managing some of the Olympic participants past Wednesday\u2019s game in Utah. \u201cThe five in seven nights is probably the toughest part of this. But if we\u2019re fighting for first place, they need to play. Our guys are gonna have to play. Otherwise we\u2019re gonna be chasing first place instead of in it, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Avs have 27 games in 51 days to close out the regular season. That\u2019s one-third of the regular seasons alotted games in around 25% of the days it takes to complete a regular season.<\/p>\n

The competition is also going to be tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got Minny a couple times early here, we got Dallas. There\u2019s no easy games down the stretch,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cI think we get them as rest as we can before we play them, and then once we start playing it\u2019s business as usual for basically every team in the league. Like the 27 in 52 days, take the five in seven out of it. After that, it\u2019s kind of like what we\u2019ve been doing all year long.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cSo we just got to get these guys recuperated and check in on all of the injuries, if we have any, and make decisions after that. If you start sitting guys for long periods of time, or these guys one game, and those guys the next, you\u2019re basically playing the same kind of lineup we just had the last month, and that didn\u2019t work out very well for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Avs are expecting everyone to be available. Martin Necas and Gabe Landeskog are already back in Denver and practicing with the team. Both of them missed the last chunk of games before the Olympic break, during which they represented their respective nations.<\/p>\n

As for the six who return with a medal, there\u2019s no sign of serious injuries among them. There had been speculation that MacKinnon was playing hurt in Italy, but Bednar didn\u2019t have any information about that, if it\u2019s true. But even if he is, it\u2019s nothing serious enough to put him on the shelf.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, they all played [Sunday] and [Saturday] so they should be good to go,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cDoesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not going to be dealing with things, you know, that we have to manage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nelson and Team USA spent Monday celebrating their gold medal finish. Those celebrations could extend well into Tuesday or Wednesday. If so, that could very well keep Nelson out of the lineup when Colorado takes on the Mammoth. But nothing is for certain as of now.<\/p>\n


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