The Colorado Avalanche are absolutely furious with the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety, and now we’ve got a pretty good idea as to why.
On Friday night, veteran Avalanche forward Andrew Cogliano was on the receiving end of a nasty looking hit from Seattle Kraken forward Jordan Eberle. The hit immediately looked terrible, with Cogliano going head first into the boards at a sickening angle, resulting in a penalty being called against Eberle.
Eberle only received a 2 minute minor at the time, much to the chagrin of the Avalanche, and following the game the Avalanche would receive no help from the Department of Player Safety either. The Department of Player Safety didn’t so much as levy a fine against Eberle, something that likely will only serve to make them look all that much worse given the most recent update on Cogliano’s status.
According to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, Cogliano has now been diagnosed with a fractured neck, and more specifically a fracture of the C5 Lamina. This is of course a very serious injury and as a result Cogliano has been ruled out “indefinitely” with no indication that he will return at any point during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It is a huge loss for the Avalanche, one that will be very tough to swallow given the circumstances of Cogliano’s injury. It will be very interesting to see how both teams respond in Game 7 of this series.
