Colorado Avalanche Forced to Play Defenseman at Forward Amid Growing Injury Crisis

The Colorado Avalanche had a lot of expectations coming into 2024-2025. They were supposed to be fighting for dominance in the Western Conference, but are currently sitting at 5-5-0, and dealing with several injuries or suspensions to key players including Jonathan Drouin, Artturi Lehkonen, Valeri Nichushkin, Miles Wood, Gabriel Landeskog, and Ross Colton.

It's a huge setback for the Avalanche as head coach Jared Bednar has to figure out how to configure his lineup with all these ailments afflicting his stars. He took a unique approach to the situation, and it involves a drastic positional change that is a rarity nowadays:

Bednar will call upon defenseman Oliver Kylington to play wing for his fourth line tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Lining up along with Chris Wagner and Matt Stienburg, Kylington is a very temporary stop-gap method as Colorado's front office figures out their next move.

Perhaps they could look to the trade market, perhaps giving the Toronto Maple Leafs a call and inquire about David Kampf or Nick Robertson, two pieces that could drastically improve the Avalanche's current situation and be an upgrade over Kylington. GM Chris MacFarland could part with former Maple Leafs draft pick Keaton Middleton, and possibly persuade them to throw in Jean-Luc Foudy as well if they're desperate enough.

It's an intriguing choice from the Avalanche, as they might see Kylington as a better option internally than some of their prospects in the AHL, such as Tye Felhaber and Matthew Phillips. Nikita Prishchepov isn't ready yet, and it gets a bit thin after. Kylington isn't the biggest body but he'll add a different perspective for the Avalanche and presumably play a more defensive game, though he's more than capable of scoring too.

Colorado hopes that their injured players start to return sooner rather than later, as employing a defenseman in a forward position isn't always successful. It's at least a band-aid on an open wound, but the Avalanche are going to need some serious tending to if they don't figure out a plan.