Nazem Kadri out until playoffs

On Thursday night, Nazem Kadri took a hard cross-check to his chest area from Timo Meier. This sent him flying into the back-end of another San Jose Sharks player and the boards. He went down to the ice clutching his upper body/shoulder/arm area.

It was certainly a concern but that concern wore off as he finished the game with two assists returning from injury. He didn’t practice the next morning and ultimately didn’t play Saturday afternoon. It looked like he might’ve tried to play, as Ray Ferraro on the ABC broadcast said he saw Kadri leaving when he entered the building.

After the Colorado Avalanche’s great 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, Jared Bednar had some upsetting news for Avs fans. He stated that Kadri would be “missing some time.” However, he’s hopeful he’ll be back in a month for the playoffs.

This now leaves four key members of the Avs out of the lineup for the foreseeable future. These four include Kadri, Gabriel Landeskog, Samuel Girard, and Bowen Byram. The latter of the four looks the closest to returning, as Byram competed in his first games as a member of the Colorado Eagles this weekend against the Ontario Reign.

With that being said, it is still a shame what these four have to go through. Luckily for the Avs, they find themselves in a great position and can clinch a playoff spot tonight if the Vancouver Canucks beat the Vegas Golden Knights in any fashion.

For the short term, it hopefully won’t be a big issue for the Avs. So long as the majority of those guys can come back once the playoffs begin in under a month, the Avs should still feel good about their chances to win the Western Conference and fight for the President's Trophy.

So, how will Bednar react to his lineup with Kadri out of the second-line center position?

We caught a glimpse of an option yesterday with J.T. Compher getting a promotion up to the second-line center spot. And credit where credit’s due, he played a solid game including making that crucial block at the end of regulation to grab the win for the Avs.

We also saw a glimpse of what could be done last Tuesday against the Calgary Flames. For the one game Nathan MacKinnon missed out injured, Kadri moved up to the first line while Alex Newhook was moved up to the top-six. We saw a reformed Newhook, who was all over the ice, creating chances and momentum in that statement 2-1 win.

Either Newhook or Compher could work in that scenario, it’d just be a matter of how Bednar decides he’d want to line them up against certain opponents. Who would you like to see in the 2C position? Let us know what you think below and in the comments! Get well soon Naz - we’ll miss you for the rest of the regular season.