Eight Weeks for Manson, and Brett Kulak Is Now Colorado's Third Defenseman

Jared Bednar confirmed Friday what the trainers suspected when Manson hobbled off in New Jersey: ankle injury, roughly eight weeks. That puts him back sometime around the new year, assuming no setbacks.

The depth chart consequence is straightforward. Cale Makar and Devon Toews remain the top pair, and that's fine — those two can carry minutes. The problem is what comes after. Brett Kulak is now the third defenseman on the depth chart, and beyond him the blue line gets thin in a hurry. Colorado already had questions at that level before Thursday night.

The timing compounds things. I noted in my piece earlier Friday that the Manson injury landed on top of a roster that was already carrying vulnerabilities — the left wing situation behind Lehkonen being the most obvious one. Now the blue line has a similar problem: strong at the top, shallow underneath. Bednar will have to manage Makar and Toews carefully over the next two months, because leaning on them too hard is its own kind of risk.

Eight weeks is a long time in November. Colorado will figure out a short-term patch — they always do — but the margin for further bad luck just got noticeably smaller.