The Avalanche will host the Seattle Kraken at 8:30 p.m. April 16 in the final game on the entire NHL calendar before the postseason, and Jared Bednar is still deciding who needs to play, who needs rest and who may be close to a milestone.
Bednar said after Game 82 on April 13 that some players who have been out of the lineup need to keep playing, no matter their role or ice time. He also said some players could use a break, and others are still chasing milestones, adding that the team will gather feedback before settling on a plan. Nathan MacKinnon has already reached a career-high 52 goals, while Martin Necas has 38 goals and 98 points, giving Colorado a pair of late-season targets to balance against health.
The timing matters because Colorado’s last regular-season game is landing unusually late compared with last year, and the club’s stated aim is to get to the postseason without injuries. The first day of the playoffs is expected to begin April 18, though it is safe to assume Colorado will not be playing that day. That leaves Bednar with four remaining games to manage a roster that still has moving parts.
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One of them is Cale Makar, and Bednar said after the game that it is important for him to play since he has been out for a while. Nazem Kadri is still being evaluated, and it remains unclear whether he will be ready for any of the four remaining games. That uncertainty is part of the problem Bednar is trying to solve: how to keep enough key players sharp without taking unnecessary risks in a week that now sits between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs.
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For Colorado, the final stretch is less about the standings than the balance between rhythm and caution. Bednar has enough scoring milestones, return-to-play questions and recovery decisions to make the end of the schedule feel more like a planning session than a finish line.
