Makar won't travel with Avalanche on regular season-ending road trip

Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said star defenseman Cale Makar is among the players who won't travel with the Avalanche during their regular season-ending, two-game road trip.

Nathan MacKinnon, Ross Colton, Jonathan Drouin, Josh Manson, and Ryan Lindgren also aren't going. MacKinnon missed Thursday's 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks with a minor injury.

"We've got a lot of guys dealing with stuff, you know?" he said Friday. "Training room is full, as you can imagine, this time of the year and the schedule that we've been playing. We'll make some informed decisions on some guys.

"There's so many guys dealing with little things, you can't take them all out. It's just not possible, so we'll pick and choose some guys that we want to make sure are feeling the best they can feel come next weekend."

Colorado called up forward Jere Innala and defensemen Wyatt Aamodt and Jack Ahcan on Friday morning.

The Avalanche will face the Kings in L.A. on Saturday and the Ducks in Anaheim on Sunday.

Makar leads all blue-liners with 30 tallies and 92 points in 80 outings this campaign and is widely considered the favorite for the Norris Trophy, which honors the league's best rearguard. He became the ninth defenseman ever to hit the 30-goal mark last Thursday.

Colorado currently sits in third place of the Central Division with a 48-28-4 record. The Avalanche will likely square off against the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs.