Avalanche fans are getting worried after new Cale Makar development surfaced
Cale Makar and Jared Bednar are back at the center of Colorado's biggest problem after another uneasy scene at practice.
The Avalanche already opened the Western Conference Final without Makar, and it showed fast in a 4-2 loss to Vegas in Game 1. Colorado is now down 1-0 in the series.
That is why the clip from practice hits so hard.
Makar stopped for a short conversation, the focus seemed to go straight to his shoulder, and then he headed back inside instead of staying on the ice with the group. The visual alone was enough to raise the temperature around this story.
Nobody needs to overplay one clip. But nobody in Denver is brushing this off either.
Colorado already knew it was in a bad spot when Makar missed Tuesday's practice and was ruled out for Game 1 with an undisclosed injury. Bednar called him day to day.
The timing is what makes it ugly.
This is not a regular-season maintenance issue. This is the Western Conference Final, and Colorado is trying to climb back into a series against a Vegas team that already grabbed home-ice control.
So he's not gonna stay on the ice with the team
He's trying but I'm guessing he's not quite there. It's a guess
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The latest Cale Makar development may be worse than Avalanche fans feared
That is the hard truth for Bednar's group.
Makar finished the regular season with 79 points in 75 games, and even in a playoff run that looked a little quieter by his standards, Colorado still leaned on him as the blue-line driver for nearly everything important.
The concern around the shoulder did not come out of nowhere either. Reports tied the issue back to the Wild series, where Makar appeared shaken after contact and was later dealing with an upper-body problem.
So when he steps off the ice early after what looked like another shoulder check-in, fans are going to connect the dots.
And right now, those dots are not comforting.
Bednar gave no real update after Game 1, which only adds more tension heading into the next one.
Colorado can still talk about depth, committee answers, and cleaner structure.
But Makar is not a player you replace by committee in late May.
That is why this practice scene matters. It was short. It was quiet. It still said plenty.
The Avalanche are already down 1-0.
And until Makar stays on the ice, finishes a full session, and looks ready, every shoulder glance is going to feel like a warning.
*UPDATE*
Friedman has confirmed that Makar is officially out for game two.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 21, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Juraj Slafkovsky | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Nick Suzuki | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Phillip Danault | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ivan Demidov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Texier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Kaiden Guhle | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alex Newhook | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Jackson Blake | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||