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Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon to miss at least 3 weeks

MacKinnon

DENVER, COLORADO - NOVEMBER 03: Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche skates against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Ball Arena on November 03, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images)

NHLI via Getty Images

The Colorado Avalanche are off to a shockingly slow start, winning just four of their first 10 games this season.

Things are about to get even tougher for them over the next couple of weeks when they have to play without their best player, Nathan MacKinnon.

Coach Jared Bednar announced on Wednesday that MacKinnon will miss somewhere in the neighborhood of three weeks due to a lower-body injury that he suffered in the Avalanche’s loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.

Injuries and absences to their best players have already been a problem for the Avalanche this season. MacKinnon has already missed two games, while Mikko Rantanen has missed three. Gabriel Landeskog also missed time due to a suspension while Valeri Nichushkin has missed nine games. On defense, Cale Makar and Samuel Girard have both already missed a pair of games this season while Devon Toews has yet to appear in a game.

MacKinnon is one of the league’s best players and has been one of the top point producers in the league over the past four years.

Like the rest of the Avalanche he is off to a slow start this season (by his standards) with only one goal in eight games. He does have nine assists, but the goal scoring has not yet been there for him. It is only a matter of time until it returns for him, but this injury is going to obviously delay that a bit for the Avalanche.

Colorado returns to action on Thursday night at home against the Vancouver Canucks.

If the three-week timeframe stays the same for MacKinnon he should return sometime around early December.