Josh Manson has spent a lot of time in NHL press boxes lately, but he doesn’t want to jinx his newly regained health by naming a favorite.
“I don’t think that’s a question I want to start thinking about too much,” he said Friday.
Still, there was one happy coincidence while he was out for the past three months. When he traveled with the team on a West Coast trip that went through Vancouver, he bumped into his dad in the Canucks’ press box. Dave Manson, an Oilers assistant coach, was in town early for Edmonton’s game the next night. He and the rest of the Oilers’ staff watched the Avalanche-Canucks game at Rogers Arena.
“We got a chance to go to dinner together, so that was awesome. The timing worked out great,” the younger Manson said. “We didn’t even realize until I think it was my mom said something.”
Manson said he gets anxious watching too much hockey without being able to play. In his return from a 31-game injury absence Wednesday at Minnesota, he competed like someone who had been desperate to get back on the ice.
“He was a beast in that game,” coach Jared Bednar said. “I was a little bit concerned about him missing that much time and the injury that he had. But he just went full steam ahead.”
In a 2022-23 season defined by players getting hurt then returning from injuries, Manson’s re-installment to the lineup was the most impactful one yet. He was credited with an assist, two shots, five blocked shots and four hits. He was a brick wall against anyone who collided with him, and his defensive presence was one of the key reasons the Avalanche (29-19-5) escaped with a 3-2, tiebreaking win in the standings despite getting outshot 42-19.
In other words, he didn’t hold back.
“If you’re coming back, you want to be coming back ready to play that hard,” Manson said. “That’s why I wanted to test things as early as I could, so then I knew for the rest of the game that I was — there were going to be no problems, no issues. And I could just play my game.”
With Manson back, the Avs are one step closer to a complete lineup. Cale Makar (head) was out of his red no-contact jersey for the first time at Friday’s practice. He’s traveling with the team to St. Louis, where Bednar says “there’s a chance” Makar plays Saturday (noon MT).
If Makar plays, it will be the first time since Nov. 4 that the Avs will have their top five defensemen — Makar, Devon Toews, Bo Byram, Manson and Sam Girard — in the lineup together. It has been 43 games without at least one of them.
The blue line won’t be quite at full strength still with Erik Johnson out. Backup goalie Pavel Francouz (lower body) is also expected to miss approximately three weeks, Bednar said.
The Avs called up Ben Meyers but not Brad Hunt from AHL-Loveland, meaning they might shift back to a 12-forward, six-defenseman lineup. Goalie prospect Justus Annunen was also called up, making him an option in the upcoming back-to-back.
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